We went out to work with Senate today. It went better than last time. It took about 15 minutes to catch her, we need to work on that part! But after we caught her we took her away from the other sheep and tied her to a fence. Then we just sat with her and pet her while she freaked out about the halter for 5 minutes or so. She calmed down and just lied there looking like she wanted to die. We gave her a lot of pets and tried to give her some treats, but she isn't really eating food yet so treats held no appeal. This time was a lot less stressful, at least for us :)
Gemini the cat decided to come help us. Cats are always helpful.
After working with Senate for about 20 minutes, Logan got to give Loretta her bottle. Loretta is getting really obnoxious, she followed us around the whole time we were there yelling at us, and chewing on my pants. It was pretty funny, we were chasing Senate around trying to catch her, and Loretta was chasing us crying the whole time!
Look at her get into that bottle.
I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but when she was done her whole face was covered in milk.
And a pretty black and white lamb for those of you who like that type of thing :).
There is a really pretty new baby that is black with white spots all over. I wasn't able to get a picture today because she is still in the barn, but when we go back she should be out on pasture and I'll get a picture of her. The spots are precious!
Gemini the cat decided to come help us. Cats are always helpful.
After working with Senate for about 20 minutes, Logan got to give Loretta her bottle. Loretta is getting really obnoxious, she followed us around the whole time we were there yelling at us, and chewing on my pants. It was pretty funny, we were chasing Senate around trying to catch her, and Loretta was chasing us crying the whole time!
Look at her get into that bottle.
I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but when she was done her whole face was covered in milk.
And a pretty black and white lamb for those of you who like that type of thing :).
There is a really pretty new baby that is black with white spots all over. I wasn't able to get a picture today because she is still in the barn, but when we go back she should be out on pasture and I'll get a picture of her. The spots are precious!
6 comments:
It's possible you explained this already, but why can't Logan work with Loretta instead of Senate? Not that Senate isn't a beautiful little lamb and all, but Loretta just seems so much more willing...
That's a good question. We were given a few reasons that Loretta wouldn't be the best choice, firstly she doesn't really need to be worked with, she is already really friendly. Trebs wanted us to work with a lamb that needed it. Secondly, bottle lambs are very spoiled and stubborn and it can be hard to get them to do what you want them to do. So while Loretta would be easy to catch and get the halter on, she is less likely to be trainable to do what we want her to do. I sort of figured we'd work with Senate a few more times but if she doesn't get easier to catch we may switch to an easier lamb.
I love the black and white lamb. Can't wait for the pictures of the new one. thanks for answering the question from FarmGirl. I was wondering the same thing.
What a challenge Senate is turning out to be. When Logan finally tames him, he's going to be so proud of his accomplishment. It will just take time and patience.
I didn't know that bottle lambs could be stubborn. Is that just a sheep thing?
As you know we are bottle feeding our new goat. He is 6 weeks and was just acclimated to the bottle last week, right before we bought him.
We were told before we bought him that he was shy, skittish and difficult to handle, especially when he was with his Mama.
But just a week later with bottle feeding and lots and lots of handling, our little goat is completely willing to go anywhere we go and do anything we want him to do. Malleable and pliable ae good words that come to mind when thinking of him.
Is Senate still nursing from his mama? I wonder what would happen if logan started bottle feeding Senate and he was removed from his Mama?
I can't imagine he'd be anymore stubborn that he's being right now....
BY the way, I love the black and white lamb! I would ahve loved the spotted one, too. I have a soft spot for the 'orca' and 'tuxedo' critters.
Twinville - I've read quite a bit about bottle babies having behavior issues later in life. I've read especially llamas and alpacas. They see the person as being the same species so when they get older they can get aggressive because they don't see people as being different. Males in particular can be bad about this. I don't know if it is true for goats but I do know it is true for sheep. It may be something you want to read up on with goats just in case.
Wow! These pictures are amazing and they are so absolutely adorable!!! I am so in awe of what you are doing and where you are going with this! I can't wait to hear more of your stories!!!
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