Why is it so hard to ‘do the right thing’? I am having no end of ‘mind trouble’ with getting Ema to stay out in the paddock by herself. Let me explain … (might help me too)
Ema doesn’t have any other sheep that she is bonded to (yet), and so I am surrogate mama, that I understand, and as a mama must let the Ema be a sheep, but, and this is my issue, I see that because she hasn’t bonded with any other sheep, she is alone in the paddock a lot of the time. Yes she feeds with them, plays with the other lambs (sometimes) but when it comes to just sitting around and chewing the cud (which is up to 50% of the time) she has no-one to sit with. The other lambs sit with their mamas, or with other lambs (ie their twin).
So this is my dilemma, do I let Ema ‘fend’ for herself and in time hopefully will bond with the others (if I am not in the paddock) or sit with her sometimes when the flock are at their rest? The problem with the second option is that she is staying by me, and not going off with the other sheep even if I walk around with them … she doesn’t seem to want to investigate by herself. At this point Ema is only just on 4 weeks old; the oldest lambs are now nearly 8 weeks old and are starting to be weaned (by mama sheep) and are also going off by themselves so I guess I have answered my question, that she is still young and needs time.
I know, “Ema is only a sheep” (you say) but at this point I have invested a lot of time and effort into keeping her well, now I would like her to find her place in the flock, but how to do that and not be a ‘helicopter parent’ is my problem. I do leave her by herself for up to 3-4 hours but there comes a point in the day when she continues to baa because she’s looking for company. So I go and sit with her, she climbs into my lap and has cuddles, and then when I walk away she continues to follow me. Leigh on the other hand, seems to not have the same problem, she comes and goes where and when she likes with him. I will probably have to ask Leigh to do more paddock time with Ema to ‘wean’ her off my dependence.
Well that makes sense to me, but doing it is not as easy, but this makes me feel a little better having written it down. I hope you understand the nature of this ‘story’ and I’m sure you will understand: 1) if you have ever had baby pets, 2) if you have hand reared any animals and 3) it’s a bit like having kids just before they leave home…
Good chatting to you all again… see you all soon.