Of course "free at last" is part of the closing line of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. The "March on Washington" recently celebrated its 53rd anniversary, so perhaps that's why it floated into my mind.
But here at Struan Farm I'm appropriating it to provide an update on the pet lambs. Pickle, Chalk and Cheese have been liberated from the confines of the Pet Pen in the backyard, joining Peaches and Fig out in the front paddock. John laughed as they all went running and leaping around in their new found freedom. We're keeping them separate from the bigger lambs, Buzz, Sugar and Spice, thinking this will keep bottle times a bit easier. Hopefully. At times things approach Armageddon regardless, especially when it's pelting rain.
Right now they're hanging in a cluster by the gate. They know this is where the bottles magically appear at the appointed times. Peaches and Fig have figured out the shelter provided by the nearby redwood trees, so they will teach the newbies the lay of the paddock. I had to laugh seeing them jockeying to stick their heads through the gate to say hello.
My only problem at the moment is trying to tell which lamb is which. Peaches has a black spot on her leg and Chalk has black spots on her nose, but I'm going to have to spend a bit of time sorting out the others so I don't call someone by the wrong name, prompting an identity crisis and years in therapy. We've recently removed Peaches and Fig's collars since they are growing fast, and catching them to loosen collars starts to get tricky.
With this number of lambs at this gate feeding is fine with two people, but it's going to get messy for one person (Karen) to try to cope on her own. So I'm thinking about engaging nephew Mike to construct lamb feeder #2 on this gate. It might not be pretty, but it could make feedings over the next three months easier for me if we can get them to settle into using it.
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