[Jacob-list] sibling memory and recognition of each other,

[Melody]

I have not had any experience with lambs and their mothers being separated for long periods and then reunited, but I know that family groups in my flock tend to stay together, perhaps not "inseparable" but they hang out in the same areas and bed down together, lambs, moms, and grandmas.  Also had a young ewe "adopt" another weaned lamb.  The adoptee is a shetland/jacob cross ewe lamb, whose mother and twin brother were sold to the same person shortly after the lambs were weaned.  The little ewe lamb was completely lost for a couple days, and then started following Pippin and her lamb Bunny, who was about the same age and also weaned.  Bunny's twin had also been sold, so Pippin was short a lamb and soon began to act as though the newcomer was her own.  Now both lambs are nearly 7 mo. old, and the three are still a recognizable family unit in the barn and field.
Melody at CritterLand
Redmond OR

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: SharHill at aol.com 
  To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 5:30 PM
  Subject: [Jacob-list] sibling memory and recognition of each other,


  <but we also should consider "the Jacob lamb survivability" ... and their "loose flocking" with  (ewe AND lamb / >

  I am interested in the bonds retained between ewe and lambs after weaning.  For example,  last week, I moved 2 wethers, aged 1 1/2 years to a field directly adjoining a field where their mothers were.  They had been weaned well over a year ago and had been in separate fields all summer.  Somehow, the wethers found a place where they could wiggle under the fence and get into the field with their mothers.  It seemed strange to me, because the field the wethers were in had been resting for a while and had more and better grass.  I could see no reason for them to go to all that trouble to get into the inferior field.  The only thing I could think of was:  Their mothers were there.  Do Jacobs normally retain family bonds this long?  Or perhaps they got under the fence because it was there, and they wanted to see if they could do it.

  Also, an 8 month old pair of twin lambs, wether and ewe, are so closely bonded, they stay with each other constantly.  Sometimes the whole flock is in one place, and they are off together, someplace else.  I couldn't bear to separate them and put the wether in with the other wethers.  It seems very sweet to me, that they are so close.
  It is one of those things that makes raising these sheep so enjoyable.

  Sharon Hill
  Kingston,GA

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