Excited to announce we have adopted a baby doll Southdown ram over the weekend. He is approaching a month old this week. Our new lamb is named Oscar.
Oscar is currently bottlefed and living in our laundry room. We bring him out for exercise several times a day. It is exhausting but such good work. I am elated to have him here.
The best part, we will have wool next spring!
Of course, like all herd animals, we can't have just one. The plan is to have him castrated and then we will bring on another wether when he is ready to go outside. In the meantime, I put a deposit down on another baby who will be ready to come home in April. Having two bottle babies, although great for him to have a friend, is a lot to contend with.
All I have done is clean and feed for three days. He is much too small to be with our alpaca or really anywhere near them. But again, our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our animals. Bottlefed babies often stay away from the herd until they are ready to go outside especially when separated from mom.
I have done nothing but learn, too. Rams need to be handled carefully. They aren't like bottle fed alpaca (which can become berserk) but will be an animal you have to watch when they get older especially if they aren't castrated which is why I made the decision to castrate when he gets a little bit older.
Oscar also really doesn't like being pet. Which is honestly a relief because then I'm not tempted to overly love on him. He likes to cuddle for warmth and to chase me around. Bottle babies need to be fed standing up because milk can get into their lungs.
This week has been a taste of what it was like to have a newborn again. He wears a diaper and needs constantly changed and cleaned. Just like with my human babies, I am going to blink and he is going to be ready to go outside. I'll be here soaking up every moment.
