The Farmer and I

Monday, February 19, 2007


The Joys of Lambing
It happens every year, but it still feels new to me. Each year the birthing of the new lambs has the magic to transform even the most winter worn farmer. For months they've been trudging around the farm sporting unshaven faces and long-underwear that's been worn like a second skin since December.
Will winter ever end, they wonder to themselves as they fight with a frozen manure spreader and dodge the hooves of a cantankerous cow with chapped teats. Then one night it all begins. Slowly at first and then with a rush as the ewes begin dropping their lambs by twos and sometimes threes.
My good-natured father-in-law slips into his mid-wife role as his precious ladies begin their labors. With over 200 pregnant ewes in the barn, most of them delivering twins, this poor man runs day and night, making sure that all is well. On any given day, he will arrive in the barn to find three new sets of twins. By the time he leaves for lunch, two more have been added to the tally. And if it's a year of triplets, he can easily add 26 new lambs to the count by the time his head touches his pillow.
No one is immune from the miracle of life. Just holding an hours-old lamb in your arms makes believers of us all. My 10-month-old grandson, however, is not too sure about these little black creatures that constantly bleat for their woolly mothers to rescue them.
Even the most jaded observer cannot help but smile at the antics of the older lambs springing and leaping around the large pen in a frenzy while the old ewes grab a quick bite at the manger. The young kids stand at the edges of the high-spirited melee, wondering if among the frisky lambs is another grand champion at this year's fair. Who knows? But in spring, anything is possible.

1 Comments:

  • At 5:50 AM, Blogger RustnevrSleeps said…

    Thanks Colleen.
    Now I want a lamb.
    Badly........
    Can we keep one in the city limits?

     

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