Wool for warmth


We know what you are thinking.

Shame on you.

Lamb season has begun across Tasmania, and will continue into spring.

Every year there are orphan lambs that are, for whatever reason, rejected by their mums.

Many country kids raise the orphans by hand, and geez the lambs get spoiled. As you can see.

We can never tell which ewes will be good mums.

We have one, Tripod, missing a foot, that feeds and protects her lambs while other able-bodied sheep show far less maternal instinct.

The number of orphans depends a lot on the weather and the condition of the pasture. If it rains heavily and grass doesn’t grow, or the worm load surges, more ewes reject lambs.

For the most part the orphans survive long enough to be caught and brought inside, unless they are born during terrible weather, which occasionally happens. Crows, quolls, devils and eagles are always waiting, ready to pounce.

As they are hand-raised, the orphans grow into tame sheep, and their lawn-mowing ability and friendly nature makes us very happy, but not the way you were thinking.




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