Pumpkin was born on Thanksgiving day to one of our resident ewes named Nema. Her and her brother, Peanut, need a new home that will feed her because Nema is now too old to do so. With all our projects associated with helping our farmers, our plate is overly full for bottle lambs. Now before you farmers reading the post pass judgement for us naming our sheep which we know is a big no, please know only 5 of our 300 sheep have names, and 3 of them are being discussed in this post. While most of our animals are tracked on farm with eartags and numbers, there are a few like Nema that are unique enough to have a name. Nema was Rebekah Smith’s, nicknamed Bekah Bug, first bottle lamb. Bekah is the 4th Smith child to grow up at This Old Farm. When Bekah was just 7 she was able to save Nema. Bekah always had the best eye for potential problems with the flock. When she was just a little girl, I learned to listen to her when she said there was a problem as she took the time to know each animal in the flock. Her observant eye could alert us hurried adults to the need for extra care. Fast forward 8 years and Bekah is now 15. While she still does her barn chores, the sheep certainly have to compete with her many other interests (horses, piano, photography, friends, etc). Without Bekah’s keen eye available all the time, we were forced to develop a system to monitor new lambs. Part of that system is to take temperatures morning and night for each lamb’s first 3 days of life so we know if the lambs are getting enough to eat. When Nema’s lambs had low temperatures we knew they were not getting enough to eat and we started bottle feeding. Nema has been our flock mascot for many years now. She is the first to lead the flock to new pasture when we rotate sheep throughout the growing season. She will lead them up for sorting and care. All because a young girl named Bekah Bug took the time to care for her when she was just born. Raising a bottle lamb is rewarding for child and adult alike. The nursey rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb” is indeed truthful when it describes a lamb following Mary to school as they will go anywhere with you. Might you make room on your homestead for Pumpkin or Peanut or Both? Call Jessica to take them home today at (765) 324 2161!