Springing Lambs
It's spring. The sheep are lambing in spades! The first pair hit the ground as I was packing to leave for Norwescon. Panic! By dint of moving that cord and a half of wood out of my lambing pen, (so who's prepared here???) I got Mom and her baby ram and ewe safely ensconced before I (wearily) hit the road to the con. Came home to a missing ewe. Yikes! Drop the suitcase in the house, head for the woods in the dusk in wellies to find her. And her twin ram lambs. Thanks for the welcome home, Ma. Yeah, I really would have liked to get to bed early, but they really are nice looking little boys you got there. Wet armful, but you know what? I like a wet armful of just-born critters. :-) That, I think is the real beating heart of spring, the raw, lusty, echo of sex that shows up in flowers, baby birds, lambs... Spring isn't delicate and pastel. Stravinski got that right.
I just lugged in the third pair. BIG jet black ewe lamb with a white top knot that I had to chase down and tackle. (Hey, girl, I'm trying to keep you out of a coyote's belly!) A smaller, gray and speckled ram. It was just dusk, that bird-song transition between day and night, and the lambs had dried off in the spring sun, but I could feel their hearts beating as I carried them into the barn, safe from coyotes. Mom followed, talking gutteral mama-talk, the 'senior' lambs all came to the gate to greet the newcomers and you know what?
It was a nice evening. I think I'll go listen to Rites of Spring now.
I just lugged in the third pair. BIG jet black ewe lamb with a white top knot that I had to chase down and tackle. (Hey, girl, I'm trying to keep you out of a coyote's belly!) A smaller, gray and speckled ram. It was just dusk, that bird-song transition between day and night, and the lambs had dried off in the spring sun, but I could feel their hearts beating as I carried them into the barn, safe from coyotes. Mom followed, talking gutteral mama-talk, the 'senior' lambs all came to the gate to greet the newcomers and you know what?
It was a nice evening. I think I'll go listen to Rites of Spring now.
posted by Mary Rosenblum | 9:50 PM
2 Comments:
Oh boy, does this take me back! I remember calving season back on the farm. Fortunately, I've missed out on that for a few (45) years. I did like playing with the calves when I was younger. They grew up faster than we did though, and they weren't quite so much fun as cows. (We had to milk them!) I remember seeing some of the neighbors lambs about 50 years ago, and they sure were cute.
A week ago I talked to my brother who runs the ranch now, and we had lost a couple of calves to weather. Not much trouble with coyotes though. Either the calves are a bit too big or the cows are better protectors.
Wow! I didn't realize you were a poet at heart:-)
Sounds wonderful!
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