Dolores didn’t seem to care who initiated the close contact, Rigby or Winston-Eugene, or anyone else, it was always the others who were remonstrated with. To this day Dolores can walk through most of the flock like Moses parting the seas!

I mention Dolores and Rigby, as an example of mothering, which as I will explain, was completely different to how Penelope raised her son Parker.

Dolores abruptly decided Rigby had nursed long enough when she turned 6 months old. We watched as Rigby was continuously turned away from her mother’s teats.

It soon became apparent that Dolores had decided it was time for Rigby to be weaned and grow up.

Coming from a sheep dairy, we wonder whether Dolores would have had the ability to raise any of her babies in the past.

Dolores seemed intent on making Rigby as self-sufficient as possible as quickly as possible. After she weaned Rigby, she also tapered off her protection for her daughter; now allowing others to show their displeasure to Rigby when she annoyed them or harassed them.

In contrast, Penelope, who we believe was a first-time mother, held onto Parker, feeding him until he was well over 14 months old.

It was almost comical watching this rather large sheep, no longer a lamb, crouch under his mother for a drink.

Penelope however clearly enjoyed this time and often would call Parker, or seek him out to have his milk, gently sniffing him and nuzzling him as he drank. She would become distressed if she could not immediately find Parker when they got accidently separated at feeding times, amongst the other sheep.

From our observations, it was Parker and not his mother who called time on his feeding. To this day they share a close bond, even though Parker has made other friends in the flock, and his mother is often with Dolores and Hermione, who have also formed a friendship. They still rest together most of the time.

The third ex Dairy mother is Mehreen-Amina. Mother to a big Awassi son, Malik. Malik was 1 in September 2023.

Malik has always been a big confident lad. Unafraid of even the biggest males in the flock. Interestingly, they tolerate him rather well too.

Malik rarely has his pushy behaviour corrected, unlike some of the other young males like Winston-Eugene and Elwood-Finn, who are quickly corrected for any infraction real or otherwise!

Perhaps they are astute enough to realise that he too will grow big?

It’s certainly not fear of his gentle and medium sized mother. Mehreen-Amina is a timid ewe, very gentle and affectionate, like Dolores, but without the size and assertive confidence!

Like Dolores, we believe that Malik is not Mehreen-Amina’s first baby, and that she may have had others taken from her shortly after their birth. The dairy they are from had a protocol of removing most lambs, particularly boys at 3 days old.

Mehreen-Amina seemed almost confused about why Malik was still with her. It took her some time to realise that we were not going to take him away.

We worried Mehreen-Amina wasn’t feeding Malik enough at times, and seemed to not understand that he required feeding. This we feel suggests she was bottle raised. It also explains her interest in our drink bottles.

After some time and thankfully due to Malik’s persistence and insistence, Mehreen-Amina acquiesced to allowing Malik to drink.

Like Dolores, she called time on feeding at around the 6-month mark.

From what we observed, the ex-dairy mums had been conditioned to expect their babies would be removed.

The affection shown by Dolores and Mehreen-Amina to their babies is vastly different from that of first-time mum Penelope.

It was as if Dolores and Mehreen-Amina had avoided emotionally investing in their babies.

It was only after Rigby had still been around at the 12 months mark that Dolores once again took an interest in her daughter’s welfare.

Pre weaning, she was protective, fiercely so. Post weaning, it seemed she expected Rigby to be removed at any moment. Try as she did to be aloof, we would often see mild signs of distress if she could not immediately see Rigby.

The signs of distress heightened after 12 months, with Dolores becoming frantic and running and calling to Rigby if she could not see her. It was obvious Rigby’s absence was the cause for Dolores’ distress, as she would become calm immediately upon Rigby being present. As Rigby approaches her second birthday in January 2024, Dolores seems to be relaxing into the idea, that no one is going anywhere!

Mehreen-Amina has shown very similar behaviours.

Mehreen-Amina seemed to forget Malik, as she would often walk off and leave Malik if he was distracted, causing him to call and chase after her.

Once again, this aloofness, seemed to change to concern after it became obvious to Mehreen-Amina that we were not going to remove Malik.

The first instance of this was when we had to separate Mehreen-Amina and Malik briefly, while Helen the vet saw to Malik’s ‘wedding tackle’.

Malik had to be anaesthetised, and we didn’t want mum Mehreen-Amina getting distressed at seeing her son that way, and the rest of the procedure.

Mehreen-Amina called frantically and needed to be reassured. Her relief at seeing Malik after he was given reversal drugs was unmistakeable, and I wish we weren’t too busy at the time, so we could have filmed it.

As Malik nears his first birthday, he still stays close to mum. Unlike his friend Parker however, he is no longer being fed, he chooses to stay close.

The difference we feel is not, breed, but expectation and experience.

Dolores and Mehreen-Amina were or may not have been allowed to raise their infants previously.

They had become conditioned to having them removed and thus did not invest in them as heavily as first-time mum Penelope did.

Penelope had not experienced the pain of having her baby removed. She did however instinctively, or perhaps observationally, understand that we humans could indeed remove Parker if we chose to.

We feel this has contributed greatly to her initial and ongoing protectiveness of Parker. She expected us to try and remove him. She would stamp in fear anytime we came near her son. As Parker came to us already ‘banded’ from the sanctuary that saved him and Penelope, we had no need to separate him for castration. We are thankful of this as we feel it would have been extremely distressing for them both.

To this day she has very little trust in us or tolerance for us and has instilled this in Parker to an extent.

Parker who has known nothing but kindness and treats from human hands seems torn at times.

If his mother is not close by, he will accept scratches and treats from us. Allowing us to rub his chest and ears. However, if Penelope is close by, he is much more reserved, almost as if he doesn’t’ want to disappoint her or defy her teachings.

Penelope has been with us almost two years. She has observed the way the rest of the flock and her ex-dairy companions are treated by us – with kindness, and gentleness, yet she remains distant. We wonder what happened to Penelope to traumatise her so.

A clue to this may be her almost complete lack of tail, which exposes her vulva to the elements. This mutilation must have caused her extreme pain. The exposure to the elements creating ongoing discomfort and pain, something we are working to remedy with our kind shearers help.

A type of fleece tail is our aim, leaving parts of the fleece in that area each shearing and crutching time.

Former dairy ewes and the complicated relations with their children (continued)