Young age

There’s a period in life – human life, sheep life, etc. – between infancy and mature age that is both fun and funny. It’s a vibrant time of exploration and experimentation, we make a lot of mistakes but we also learn a lot, we feel we own the world (even though in reality, the ‘ownership’ of our world has simply shifted from our parents to our peers). This section includes stories of young sheep and their little big adventures.

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Jason succumbs to peer pressure

Text by Teya

Jason came to us when he was about a year old with totally rotten feet. We put him in quarantine because footrot is highly contagious, and for about 2 weeks I treated his feet twice a day. He was just lying there patiently, letting me do whatever I needed to do. He’d obviously been someone’s “companion sheep”, he was very used to humans, he’d been surgically castrated, etc. Two weeks later the DPI vet confirmed that it wasn’t the virulent type of footrot and Jason could join the other sheep. He could always see them through the fence, and they could see him, but they couldn’t come too close to each other. The moment – and I mean this literally – the moment I let him in with the others, he was transformed. He turned from this docile, gentle baby into a wild rebel that would not let me touch him, ever again! He changed his mind a few years later but for a while I couldn’t touch him, not even for cuddles. I don’t know what the other sheep communicated to him, or how, but it was a clear instance of horizontal transmission of information, which is an ingredient of culture formation. Sharon and Paul have also observed this phenomenon with all their orphans – male and female – so it appears to be quite common in sheep: 'They are snuggly and easier to handle when small and still having a bottle, and just after weaning. But when they join the others they can become quite aloof. It goes on for a while, but then when they mature a bit, and become more settled and confident with their peers, they tend to relax again. Sometimes it takes many years.'