Darlin' and Fancy

January 2015 most of our ewes had babies. One of the lambs was being rejected by her mom, so we took her in the house and named her Darlin'. She would be considered a runt but I like to call her a premie. She was bottle fed and wore baby diapers. She just sort of became part of the family. Darlin' would walk up the driveway with us and the dogs to check the mail and play with the dogs in the yard...it was very entertaining. After about 2.5 months we decided it was time to put her outside to be with the herd. That was not an easy thing to do. The first night she cried...and cried...and cried. We just had to try to ignore it and tell ourselves it's the best thing for her. She needs to be with other sheep. Not only that, she kept eating all of my hubby's computer cables in his office. He had become her "mama" and she rarely left his side. My hubby is an animal whisperer. Seriously, it's weird. lol So, the second day Darlin' was outside she found her way through the fence into our yard and literally knocked on the front door. As funny as it was, it was also kind of sad and pathetic. My hubby picked her up and took her back to the other sheep. After a few weeks she got the hang of it and became part of the herd. She is still the one who will walk straight up to a person while the other sheep are trying to avoid people as much as possible. Ok, so there's the back story about our Darlin'... Fast forward to yesterday (3/15/16). Darlin' had a baby. This baby is precious and would really love to be with her mama but she was born with a bum leg. She tries to hobble along, but she just can't keep up. It was heart breaking to watch this so we took her to the vet to see if there is anything that could be done. The vet put her in a splint and we'll have to take her back for a follow-up in 2 weeks. We also had to put her in a pen with Darlin' so they'll bond. I'm not sure it's working. Darlin' is stubborn and when sheep have a difficult birth or a lot of pain during labor they will reject their babies. We have to hold Darlin' and force her to feed the lamb about every 4 hours. Actually, we have the lamb in a separate pen inside the big pen because Darlin' kept knocking her over. So, I would like to introduce you to Fancy...

I've also done a lot of stepping lately, so I've hit my step goal every day this week! I hope to keep that going! 244