Tuesday 14 February 2017

Rescuing a lamb with its head stuck in fence

Before I tell you my story about the silly lamb, I would like to give some information about sheep, information that I have learnt just living next door to a field.

Every year around Easter time, the farmer brings his ewes and their newly born lambs to the field at the back of our house. They spend the whole summer there feeding on the grass. Then, in autumn, when the lambs are nice and fat, they are taken away from their mums to be slaughtered. The ewes are left on their own in the field for two or three weeks, after which time the farmer brings the ram. They will stay together until just before winter arrives.
So, now let's get back to my story!
Sometime back in August 2015, we heard a lamb crying on, and on, and on.... Hearing sheep is not an unusual occurrence as these animals are quite vocal, ewes and lambs regularly calling each other day or night.
But, on that occasion, the noise was a constant pitch and seemed to come from the exact same place.
Having found a dead ewe in the river a few weeks earlier, we assumed that another ewe had died and her lamb was crying for her.
As we climbed over the fence to investigate, we saw a lamb across the field with its head stuck in the stock fence.
As we were approaching, the lamb seemed a little agitated but then, it calmed down. It could not go anywhere anyway.

Have a look at the video clip below to find out how we managed to free the lamb.
What the clip does not show (because I stopped my camcorder too early!) is that the lamb then ran up to its mum and vigorously suckled milk from her.
This lamb is so big that you can mistake it for a ewe but seeing it suckling just prove that it is just a baby.




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