Our beautiful baa–babies!

Cookie’s story….
Remember back when we had a sick little lamb come to us? A farmer found her being left behind by her Mum, who had already dropped twins the day before. She was emaciated, couldn’t stand, and it was doubtful she would live. He put her in my arms and asked “please do something.. if I leave her out there she will die for sure”. On the spot we named her ‘Cookie’, because that’s what she was going to be, a tough little cookie if she was to survive. Here she is at a few days old…..

For three days round the clock, myself and Charlea stayed up and syringed milk into the side of her mouth… bit by bit, as she was too weak to suckle, and probably didn’t know how. Being too weak to stand or move she would ‘wet’ where she lay, so we also had to gently bath her twice a day and get her warm and dry quickly so she didn’t catch a chill.

A week later, as the weather warmed up, we would put her outside in this little wire run where she could enjoy fresh air and sunshine and not get knocked over by any other animals passing by. She was still very weak. One day, as Cherry came up to greet her she stood up on her own…. we were overjoyed! I shall never forget that moment. Her funny little routine of syringing milk first and then ‘sneaking’ the bottle in was working. She still suckled slow, and never finished a proper feed, but she was getting enough to keep her strength up… enough to stand. We still had our work cut out, and still had to get her to suckle proper feeds if she was to continue, but the signs were good.

And here she is a month later, outside on grass, almost weaned and yes…. standing and walking on her own! Another turning point for her. Being a sickly baby, Cookie developed eczema on her ears. It is something lambs can just pick up from the land. It doesn’t mean our land is bad, but those ‘susceptible’ can get it, and having such a poorly start Cookie got it over both ears which caused hair loss and small crusty scabs. Something else we had treat her for. Cherry on the other hand was fine, and grazed in the exact same places where Cookie grazed… in fact they had become inseparable.

And here is Cookie today. She is so beautiful! Her eczema is gone, all treated and healed up, her fur is back on both ears and not a single scab in sight! She is completely tame and will come to her name, and call for us if we don’t call her. She leans on your leg when you stroke her, and I swear she’s giving us a real cuddle back! She is adorable, affectionate, …and a tough lil cookie indeed!
Cherry’s story….
Cherry was an orphan lamb too. Her problem was her eyes. Her bottom eyelids would curl inward scratching and scraping her eyes, causing them to weep and be sore.

For the first 3 days, we had to check her eyes every hour, and carefully pinch the lower lids and pull them back the right way. We then had to carefully wash her eye area with slightly salted water, and keep the fur clean and washed too. Next morning they would be so bad that they would barely open…. and so began another day of eye washing, and eyelid turning…. but we kept going.

By the end of the week her eyelids finally stayed out the right way, and her eyes could slowly rest up and heal. Here she is enjoying her bottle time.. aw. She always was a good feeder, and even after she was weaned she would often try to pinch Galaxy’s (our Jersey calf) bottle too! And Cherry today?

There she is on the left, isn’t she gorgeous? These girls are so affectionate. They walk the fence line following us when we are about, knowing for sure they will get a scratch and cuddle. But yes, they are dumb too! Cherry is the ‘switched on’ one, and the leader. Cookie will bleat for ages if she loses sight of… or can’t get to where Cherry is. She cannot seem to figure out to go 5 paces left and through the same gap Cherry went.. she just stands there and bleats until myself or Charlea go and lead the way for her, or Cherry comes back and shows her. They can be right up the top acres and out of sight, yet we can call them and both come running for their cuddle time. They are both doing so well.

We rotate their grazing, which we have too much of at the moment! Cherry has a very soft fleece, she is a pure Romney (think jumpers/sweaters) and Cookie’s fleece is slightly courser but still soft (think hats and gloves) Cookie is a Romney X Poll Dorset. Two different breeds, two non related girls… bonded by location and united in love.

Here Cookie is having her ‘cuddle time’. Something we do with EVERY animal here on the farm. Look at that face… you can just tell she is smiling! They are so tame that we let children who visit here call our lambs over, and they too can enjoy petting the sheep and sharing ‘cuddle time’. One young boy was so smitten with Cherry he wanted to take her home! I let them experience feeling their different fleeces too, and explain the ‘oily’ feel on their hands after petting them is the lanolin they produce. This is why their fleece needs to be washed before spinning the wool, to remove the lanolin.

Cookie here is enjoying munching down the grasses in the ‘rooster range’.

They are never far from Galaxy, our Jersey cow. This trio live together, graze together, play and sleep together. They are inseparable and will call for each other if one strays away.

Because of the impending ‘makeover’ we have been asked NOT to cut the grass, or tidy up etc. With all the hot sun and showers, our three grazers cannot keep up with it all, lol. The paddocks are long, but better too much than too little eh?

I couldn’t resist showing you this ‘photo bomb’! It made me laugh so much! The sheep are actually munching in the rooster range, and that’s Melody who ‘photo bombed’ into Cookies picture! Houdini there is totally oblivious as he searches for bugs inside a tyre. Never a dull moment eh?

And so we leave our ‘girls’ happily grazing in the front paddock. The sun is shining, birds are singing and these three have friendship, security, love and maximum quality of life. With our ‘makeover’ and new pens, shelters, water troughs etc, we hope to save and rehome many more animals, and give them the chance they deserve…here at Little Acres.