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Friday, June 9, 2017

Biscuit's Buddies!


You've seen this lamb before.  There's just a hint of a clue left to jog your memory.  Look at her right ear ;-).

There's a bit more to the rest of her story.  Getting her "on the ground" was a bit of a gamble.  Her mom was one of the grand dame ewes at Final Frontier Farm and while Kathy knew it was a risk, she thought/hoped the old ewe had one more lamb in her.  If she could just get a ewe lamb...and she did! She had a beautiful black ewe lamb.

Of course, not all fairy tales have a happy ending.  Momma put everything she had into the baby...and then didn't have enough milk.  Everyone pitched in to take care of the baby and things were looking good...and then we noticed the tell tale signs of a selenium deficiency.  Selenium is a killer - too much or too little.  Lamb care went into high gear.

She and her mom lived in the front of the lambing barn all spring.  They could come and go into the front yard, but mostly the lamb just stayed in the barn.  Momma would go out and graze around the parking area, keeping a close ear and eye on her lamb, and come back in to check her every few minutes.  She took the very best care of her that she could.

Other than worrying about her, I enjoyed having a bottle lamb to snorgle during breaks in lambing and barn work.  I fed her, held her, took some adorable pictures of her...  Watching momma monitor every single thing we did to her lamb was heartwarming.  She was a funny old ewe and I enjoyed her almost as much as the lamb.

There were a couple times we thought about putting her down.  She was one very sick little girl. She was also one very tough little girl and she never gave up.  When I decided I wanted a buddy for Biscuit, she was the top of my list.  And, having watched the two together, I knew I'd never want to split them up, so momma got to come, too :-).


And now Biscuit has a buddy (she's actually his half sister - they have the same dad :-) and a surrogate mom.  


Several folks have asked about Biscuit's collar.  It's for his leash ;-).  Being the helicopter mom that I am and with how much trouble he's had lately with his tummy (that seems to be in pretty good order now, thankfully!), I've taken to keeping his eating under very close watch.  

Biscuit will eat anything.  I started to wonder if his propensity to eat everything except good old grass was possibly due to being raised on goat milk (goats are notorious for eating anything ;-), but the black lamb was raised on goat milk as well and she's a good grazer.  She has a better mom. Hopefully she'll teach Biscuit.


They are off to a good start.  


"I guess this grass stuff isn't so bad..."


Right before he realized I was busy taking pictures and ran off to grab some probably poisonous pokeweed along the fence...and she followed him :-o.  That wasn't what I had in mind, kids.  Sigh...


This really is a funny old ewe.  One of my favorites.  She still watches that lamb like a hawk and still watches everything I do to her, whether feeding her a bottle or holding her for a vet check up. She didn't think twice when I offered her a cookie and when she took her first look around the paddock, she found the free ranging mint and I swear I heard her say "Hmmm, they even have a mojito garden here!"


She reminds me a bit of Boo.  Remember him?  As Saint Tim said, sometimes you do get to move to "a nice farm in the country" :-).

Speaking of dogs, Kate shouldn't be out there, but she keeps sneaking into the field when I'm in there :-/.  There is a gap in the gate and even though I told her to stay out, sitting out in the field together is sort of our thing and she is not to be denied. That's fine when you know the sheep are okay with that, but this ewe is very distrustful of border collies and made it clear from the start that she was not afraid to take Kate out!  

Kate seems to know that and has gone above and beyond to show her that while she must be obeyed, she'll be fair and can be trusted.  The lamb snuck out through the same gate when I was feeding two nights ago and Kate so, so gently and quietly and slooowly walked her back through. Mom watched the whole time with me in between (like that was really going to do any good if things went south :-o) and I think we all breathed a sigh of relief.  


Neither has a real name yet.  Grandma and "the crippled lamb" will not work ;-).  20's Uncle John has hooked me on the Tiffany Aching stories from the hugely popular (but nowhere on my radar) Discworld series.  I'm toying with Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany...but I really don't like the name Tiffany...even though it's perfect for a tough little brown eyed, brown haired girl.  

Mostly I'm mentioning the series to recommend them to anyone else who may not know about them. I haven't tried any of the Discworld books yet, but the offshoot Tiffany Aching series has this non-fantasy reader's interest piqued.  There are sheep and shepherding in the stories :-D.  And the writing is very good.  I've listened to two now and can't wait to start the third.  

In the nature of fairy tales, let's all hope this one does end up with a happy ending.  It still might not, so be prepared. I can't tell you not to get attached to anyone...because I know we all already are. We are not going to dwell on what could still go wrong and we will continue to do all we can to take the very best care we can, right?  Right.  

Now let's come up with some good names!


And enjoy having a new puzzle!  

You'll need to click on the image to get to the puzzle.  I think that worked okay for everyone last time, right?


24 comments:

Mary Ann said...

I am not good at naming, but what a WONDERFUL story , and I am so glad for Biscuit!

ElaineChicago said...

What a great story. Biscuit goes great with Honey and Honey goes great with Grits!!

Jo said...

What a sweet story. I like Elaine's choice of names.

Michelle said...

Honey (lamb) and Grits are great names. Until I read that I was thinking Granny and Ellie May from the Beverly Hillbillies. ;-)

I need orange said...

I, too, have only just recently found Tiffany Aching, and I love her (and Terry Pratchett....)! I have never liked the name Tiffany, either, but ---- even Tiffany isn't sure about the name Tiffany (when you read The Wee Free Men, which comes before A Hat Full of Sky)........

"There was a small part of Tiffany's brain that wasn't too certain about the name Tiffany. She was nine years old, and felt that Tiffany was going to be a hard name to live up to. Besides, she'd decided only last week that she wanted to be a witch when she grew up, and she was certain Tiffany wouldn't work. People would laugh."

You are so right about perfect for the brown-eyed girl with brown hair......

What about Granny Aching, and Tiffany (since Tiffany's descended from Granny Aching?)?

:-)

Jane G. said...

I love "Honey" and "Grits"!

thecrazysheeplady said...

I, too, have thought Granny Aching, especially because her name was Sarah and somehow that seems to fit this ewe. I'm Sara without an H so would not be the same ;-).

Marguerite said...

I love Tiffany Aching, and the whole Discworld (though Ive only read a half dozen or so of the books). At some points in Tiffany's story the Nac Mac Feegles give her other names, including Kelda (Queen).

Unknown said...

Brown-eyed, brown haired girl plus (Breakfast at) Tiffany = Audrey Hepburn.

Amanda said...

It would be Nanny Ogg who would appreciate finding a mojito, not Granny Weatherwax. The youngest witch in the bunch was Margat Garlick - her mother was a lousy speller. She wound up as Queen of Lancre in one of my favorite Discworld books, Wyrd Sisters. Margat would suit a lamb a lot better than Tiffany. Easier to spell, too.

sophy0075 said...

So St Tim has given Biscuit and Muffin their "floury" names, so something along that line for Mum? I grew up in Virginia with a fine cake flour, called White Lily. You could shorten it to Lily (although, to be polite, the ewe should be "Miz Lily".

Cheryl West said...

I love that this little group has been reunited to live together on your farm and certainly wish the best for everyone's good health.
Like Marguerite I thought of Kelda after reading the description of the series.
Kate is wonderfully thoughtful about the new sheep in her flock.

Elnini said...

So glad you were able to take mum along too :-)

I love Terry Pratchett's work, once you've finished with Tiffany try "Reaper Man". Death is such a wonderful character ! You'll probably also appreciate any of the Night Watch ones too.

I was just wondering what books to take on the plane flights next week, now I know it's going to be a couple of Pratchetts :-)

Suzanna said...

Brownie!

Linda said...

I so remember Boo, he was a beautiful, beautiful soul!

As for Kate...WOW! What a great dog. I can understand the ewe being concerned...border collie/dog/sheepdog...but Kate is just there keeping order to everything.

I adore your new sheeps!

Deb said...

Grammy and Elly May are what I choose as mames.

LannieK said...

So mom might enjoy a Mojito, you say... Well maybe her nickname should be Pilar, a Hemingway character and the name of his boat on which he drank a Mojito or two - they say. I still like Biscuit and Muffin for the lamb's names. They are both have such little round tummies, like they've ate a lot of biscuits and muffins (ok-cornbread), and are so lucky to have been adopted into the Equinox Farm Family ~
:-) Congrats on the new and wonderful additions! Love the ewe, too! I think she deserves a Mojito!

Shirley said...

I too like St. Tim's choice of Muffin for the new lamb. For mama, what could be grander than Duchess?

Tewshooz said...

We always give our newborn lambs a shot of BoSe at birth and free choice selenium mineral salt for all. Our soils are deficient, too.

Aaron said...

Love the Tiffany Aching books. As soon as I read the bit about the ewe being ready to take Kate out I thought about Granny Aching's cure for a sheep chasing dog. "An old ewe will fight like a lion to protect her lamb."

T.L. Merrybard said...

Love all the Pratchett books, in fast we even own them all. The Aching ones are my faves, along with the other witch ones. We have a black australorp hen here called Nanny Ogg. :) Next of my faves come the night watch ones. What I like about sire Terry's writing is he puts enough reality into his fantasy to keep it grounded. It is no surprise that my bro-in-law who is a copper loves the night watch books the best.

Lisa Smith said...

So very happy for your latest additions to the Equinox Farm flock! It's wonderful that Biscuit has a buddy, and Momma can be there to keep her eye on both of them. That sweet lamb has really worked hard to be there, and there's no better place for Momma to live out her golden years than at Punkin's Patch. Perhaps Momma will become a new card-carrying member at Del Boca Vista? I had to laugh... in the nearby town of Sherwood (Oregon) about 10 miles from where I live in Lake Oswego, they have created a new subdivision called Del Boca Vista with 13 homes on 3.5 acres. I guess folks won't have to go all the way to Florida to live the dream "where living has no limits!"

Thank you for the new puzzle!

MarmePurl said...

Just getting to live out their days, no matter how few or how many, at Equinox automatically makes it a happy Ending.

Ruth said...

SPOILER ALERT: Fairytale is a go, people! :)

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