Motherhood

Infancy is one of the most vulnerable periods in one’s life. That’s why lambs have mums. Mum is the most important person in a lamb’s life (and lambs are the most important people in their mums’ lives). Mums provide milk so lambs can grow into happy and healthy adults, mums are the best place to snuggle up, they give love and kisses, and act as a secure base that lambs return to every time they feel a little insecure out there playing with their pals and exploring the world. Among the free-living populations, weaning of lambs may not occur until they are 6 months old. In these later stages, the suckling serves comfort purposes rather than nutritive ones, since lambs are able to eat other types of food. Lambs will learn what to eat and what not to eat by watching mum’s food choices (an example of vertical transmission of knowledge, which is a component of cultures). On farms however, lambs tend to be forced-weaned between 8 and 12 weeks of age, while on dairy farms they young may be removed from their mothers within a day or so after birth. This section features stories of love but also of loss, it includes accounts of sheep rescued from the dairy industry, an industry notorious for savagely breaking the mother-infant bond.

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Former dairy ewes and the complicated relations with their children

Text by Sharon

Dolores, Penelope, and Mehreen-Amina all joined the flock with their young babies from industry – they previously existed in a sheep dairy. I say existed because the conditions they were in could not be defined as living. They were “things” to the man who ran the dairy.

After arriving from Freehearts Sanctuary, and completing necessary periods of quarantine, the ladies and their babies were given access to the rest of the flock.

Dolores quickly established her no-nonsense approach to being part of the flock. Being a big Awassi ewe who was surprisingly friendly to us humans, she asserted herself confidently with all the other flock members.

Dolores made it clear that her baby girl, Rigby was a no-go zone, and the slightest curiosity would not be tolerated. Dolores used deep grunts, kicks, and firm head butts to deter any who came too close.

At the same time, Dolores was very affectionate with us, often nuzzling us and choosing to spend time with us. She showed complete lack of acknowledgement of the rule of the senior males, instead bonding with the females of the leadership group, Seline and Hermione.

Dolores’s daughter Rigby used her privileged and protected position to harass and annoy the bottle raised lambs, Winston-Eugene and Niamh, who are both merino x, and approximately 6 months older than her. Given their smaller stature however, Rigby was almost their size when she arrived with her mother at about 4 weeks of age.