So you know the rule of thumb that 20% of your ewes give rise to 80% of your problems, etc etc? Well, meet Caribbean....
One day, I was visiting a friend to see her lambs and remarked on how smart I thought one of them looked. A few minutes later I said "ooh, I like that one too". "That's the same one" came the reply. When I did the same a few minutes later, looking from behind, my friend said "she is for sale you know", and that was that! We actually also bought her Mum too, who gave us some great lambs for the next couple of years, and was a really devoted parent.
Anyway, roll on two years and I was out checking the flock one morning, when I saw what I thought was a feed bucket in the next field. "I'm sure I collected that yesterday", I thought. Then the feed bucket wiggled its ears and let out a meeeeh! One of the ewes had lambed a week early, and somehow lost the lamb under the gate or through the hinge, where it was being looked after by the tups! A quick check of ewe bums revealed that Caribbean had a very sticky volvo, and was hence undoubtedly the culprit.
What had happened then? we didn't know. This was her first lamb though, and she really didn't want anything to do with it. In the end, we spent nearly a week with her in an adopter before she finally agreed to let it feed.
The next year we found another early lamb in the early morning, running round the flock, motherless. Caribbean's volvo was duly inspected once more, and the same conclusion reached. Perhaps somebody had tried to steal it from her this time? We didn't know. So, it's back in the adopter for you my dear.....
Roll on to this year, and I was determined I was going to see her actually give birth, to figure out what was going on. Sure enough, two days ago I watched her give birth to a lamb, who she duly licked off, followed by a second, which she completely ignored. We tried the usual trick of dumping the second lamb on top of the first, but then she just decided she didn't want either of them, and went back to eating grass

Eventually, we managed to convince her not to kill them, and even to suckle a little, provided she didn't have anything better to do........ until last night, when I found her alone at the other end of the field, with her lambs snuggled up next to Bossie, who was yet to give birth.
Caribbean was thus incensed when I dragged her into the shed and insisted she take them back, whilst Bossie was convinced she'd lost them, and broke her wee heart balling for them until the arrival of her own lamb this morning, which has taken her mind off it somewhat. I did feel really bad for her TBH, since it's not as if she really stole them; after all, Caribbean didn't want them, and they were looking lonely, so.....
Anyway, all's well that ends well, but it's burgers for Caribbean. Thankfully both of her lambs this year are boys, so that will be the end of that. Sometimes as smallholders, we're guilty of persevering where we shouldn't. I'm starting to learn that I should trust my gut and cut my losses much earlier when it's not working out. Now I just need to listen to myself more often, and all will be well!
P.S. Caribbean's two year old daughter just had a lamb and loves it to bits! Isn't nature strange?