[twizzel]

Our 12 oldest orphan lambs have had their first afternoon out in the garden- learning about electric fencing (don't worry they are under supervision) and how to eat grass, the weather has been really wet down here the last couple of weeks so they have gone out later than hoped but seem to be enjoying their new found freedom


The white texel lamb at the front is Rupert... the curly one is Fizz... the rest are nameless!

[ZaktheLad]

Looking good - I like the one with the brown face over to the left of the pic - with a white lamb just behind.

[twizzel]

Thats a little ram lamb, he had a bit of an eye ulcer caused by inturned eyelid when he came but is fine now. I like the little ewe lamb next to him on his right with the patchy white and black legs Unfortunately all going in the freezer though, too tame to keep.

[ZaktheLad]

Yep, I like her too.  If I remember rightly, you had a cracking suffolk ewe lamb from last years batch.  I was very tempted tobuy her from you and save her from the freezer but I very rarely buy in ewes now.

[twizzel]

Ah yeah we did... I think I've got a picture of her somewhere. The farmer we get the lambs off breeds real good quality stock, there's a few from this year that would be too good to kill but with them being tame I'm not keen on keeping them.
We've got some friends who breed and show pedigree Texels... if we were to start up our own small flock we'll pay them a visit didn't get round to it last autumn... might think about it this year.

[ZaktheLad]

Yep that's her 

[Possum]

They do look happy. How old are they?

[twizzel]

The 6 with a red mark are 6 weeks old, the 6 without the red are 8 weeks. I've got 5 down the shed still that are 4wks along with a runt that's 7 weeks but staying on milk a little longer than normal.
 

[Rosemary]

The joys of Spring! 

[madcat]

They look cute , I tend to see them as fleece producers so liked the look of the speckled one and the black ones. I'm not slow in turning up to eat when roast lamb is on offer though.

Just out of curious why is too tame a problem. I've heard it said before but never thought to ask why.

[twizzel]

They are just a bit too in your face. They will knock you over when fully grown and whilst they are easier to move around and catch I wouldn't want to keep them to breed from. Plus they say orphans never do quite as well as normal lambs although I wouldn't entirely agree (the Suffolk pictured a few posts above was one of ours last year). The farmer we get our lambs from also says they can be very fat as hoggs which I think is true- there are 4 of last years here still that belong to my partners mum and sister and they are like barrels!

[SallyintNorth]

Looking well, twiz - they're a credit to you

[madcat]

Thanks twizzel, my hubby remembers pet lambs from his childhood visits to his uncles farm. I think he got pushed about and butted a bit, smallish boys being fair game to a well grown lamb.

[twizzel]

Thankyou! They have gone out again this lunchtime and heads straight down eating- won't be long till they can go out in the fields