As we all sit and wait for the lambing season to really get underway, my mind’s been turning to this time last year– the very first lambs and kids to be born, and the sleepless wait for the inevitable (the fact that it’s inevitable somehow makes it worse: you just want to tell the ewes, Come ON already! Let’s get it over with! I wanna see lambs when I come check back on you in an hour!)
Piper was our first lamb born last season, but Wren was her close-behind younger sister.
She checked out all their little siblings as they were born last April (this is one of my favorite pictures of all time, and, to me, summarizes what uneasy big-sister-hood is all about):
The most distinctive thing about Wren is her voice– her baa is sort of flat, muted, and whiny. Once you’ve heard it, there’s no way you can her hear baa and not recognize her. I can’t distinguish the voices of the other sheep– they’re too similar, for the most part– but one of the most impressive bits of shepherding show-off I engage in is, Oh, her? Baa-ing way in that other pasture? That’s Wren.
Since Wren was supplementally bottle-fed (her mama had had udder problems in previous seasons), I got to know her voice intimately.
This past year, she’s grown into a fine, lovely yearling ewe:
She’s sweet, even-tempered, and neither too skittish nor overly familiar. She’s our friend Amy’s special favorite, and I really don’t think she could have picked a better sheep to dote on!
Now, of course, Blanca & Fresca and Camembert have Wren and Piper’s old job of older-siblings-in-charge. As soon as we can get this show on the road (any ewes out there listening?), they’ll be running circles around their new friends.
NEXT WEEK on SotW: I’m going to introduce you to my favorite goat!
NEXT NEXT WEEK on SotW: Check in on one of last year’s angora kids!