05/20/2026
There were so many ways this could have gone wrong. She’s a bit high strung, super stubborn, and gets freaked easily.
Nighean is the only dam to ever give me a bottle baby (Nola, my ewe lamb), and I was worried about breeding her again this year. Last year she had twins and only wanted one. She was a great mom to one, and a terrible one to the other, so it wasn’t that cut and dry for me when it came to deciding what to do with her.
This year, she birthed twins again. Unlike with the others, I made the decision to step back and watch through the camera instead. First baby, she bathed and began the bonding process immediately. Then the second came, and she left it in a heap on the floor and went back to the first.
I’ve spent my winter reading, and I’ve learned that some sheep are so hormonally confused and traumatized by the birth that they can’t divide their thinking at first. Thinking back, I remember how I intervened when she gave birth the first time, and part of me started to wonder if I triggered the rejection of the second baby. This year, I was resolved to hang back as long as I could.
For 10 minutes, I watched on the camera as the second lamb, cried, learned to stand, and searched for his mother, all on his own.
I started to prepare a bottle. Another five minutes went by, and I watched the lamb find her, move towards her, and I saw how she took the first lamb and tried to back away from it.
I gave it 10 more minutes after that, which was agony, and then grabbed my gloves, a towel, and the warmed up bottle when I realized the crying had stopped. I looked down at my screen and there she was, washing her second baby and talking to it 🥰
It’s been a week now, and she’s been a good mom to both. I’m so happy I held back, and that she got herself under control ❤️🩹
