So...one day Shane tells me that he had been talking to his dad and they thought it would be a good idea to get a couple of dogie lambs and let the kids raise them. I had so many reasons why this was a BAD IDEA! You see, when I was young, we had dogie lambs that we had to take care of and my memories of that were not all warm and fuzzy. I remember having to get up early enough in the mornings to feed them bottles or put them on the "nannies" (goats) before we could go to school. I remember holding a bottle in each hand plus putting one between my knees to try to get the task finished faster. I remember having hives so bad (because I'm allergic to them) that it seemed like I would be dis-figured for life. I won't even talk about the smell of the lambs themselves...You can't wash that smell off! I remember the stench of the milk we would mix to put in the bottles AND spilling the sticky stuff all over the counters trying to get it in the bottles. If you didn't spill it on the counters, inevitably the lambs would suck so hard they would pull the nipple off the bottle thus drenching your shoes. I remember nights/mornings of hearing gunshots from the porch because someones dog had gotten into the dogies and killed them. I remember baby lambs dying for no apparent reason...just because.
No, this was not a good idea AT ALL!
I informed Shane that I would not have any part of this. He assured me that him, Grandpa, and the kids would take care of everything. Grandpa went to Koosharem and bought 4 dogies and they were in business. I had to laugh when grandpa came back from his first feeding with that sticky, stinking milk dripping from his hands. I must say I have quite a chuckle every time I think about it.
After a few feedings Shane decided he did not have time to sit and hold the bottles while the lambs sucked so he came up with a "great idea" to make a feeding bucket. Ya, that didn't work out so well. He got a plastic bucket with plastic tubing and attached the nipples to it. The lambs would tip the bucket over and there was no way to measure how much each one had eaten.
One of the babies died shortly after we got it. Who knows why??? Once again my childhood memories came rushing back.
The look on Lexi's face says it all. That is exactly the way I feel!
Haylie was so careful in making sure that each one got his fair share.
They may look cute but...
Brody and Haylie both sharing in the responsibility.
She is my little animal lover. She liked letting them suck on her fingers.
This was a daily occurrence at our house. Brody returning from feeding.
They ate this much.
As luck would have it, the sheep adventures didn't end there. After visiting with Howard and Jordan at the station Brody and Shane decided they needed to buy some lambs to fatten up then sale. The price of lambs were up so they felt it was a pretty good idea. Little did I know...they came home with over $1,000 worth of SHEEP! Are you kidding me. Brody was so proud of himself because he bought 4 of them himself. However, he wasn't as excited about the hit his bank account took.
Par for the course, the price of sheep plummeted about the time we were ready to sell. So, the next idea was to get a buck sheep from Jordan and breed the ewes then the would be worth more money. We are still waiting to get rid of our "sheep herd".
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