Weaning Time

Rikki was the first in line for weaning.  She was 10 weeks old and the milk bag was empty.  Her parents were darn tired of remembering to bring out the bottle every 8 hours.  Of course Rikki wasn't too keen on the idea, even though her belly looked plenty full just from the grass, and at times she just couldn't finish that big bottle of milk.  How much can you cram into a little sheep belly?  The thought of all that grass topped with a little milk, yuck!  So Rikki was the first lamb of the season to go vegan.  She still gives us the complete body search when she sees us, just to make sure we aren't hiding a bottle of milk in there somewhere.
     The other lambs had there mommies taken away at a little over 11 weeks of age.  The moms seemed ready, some looked like a bag of bones, the babes were sucking the life right out of them.  So last week we moved the moms into the lower paddocks and put in the earplugs.  Fortunately the weather was a bit cooler, less stress on the babies and more likely that the neighbors have their windows closed.  Oh and there was yelling.  We did get one neighbor calling about whether or not we had purchased a special noise permit from the county.  No, but they were just kidding, thank god.  All our neighbors are saints in that way. 
     So now everyone looks pretty settled.  The moms are quiet and drying up.  The babes are happy with the special foods they are getting and having the run of the barn.  All is quiet on McTavish Farm, except for the sound of the grass growing!

Little Kiki, a young ewe lady now!