Xerxes, Cleopatra’s second born, was a surprisingly large ram lamb.
Shortly after he was born, and his mother had licked him clean, we
were right on it with sterile scissors and gentle iodine. His
umbilical cord was somewhat fleshier than the others had been. We
trimmed it and applied the iodine. Much to our surprise, when we set
him back down, he collapsed in a heap. This had never happened
before. While we were contemplating the situation, Cleopatra came
over to investigate. First she nuzzled him, then she nudged him with
her nose. When that did not produce a reaction, she started to paw
him with her foot. She pawed him more and more vigorously until he
finally roused himself.
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| Cleopatra |
Over the course of the next few days we noticed that while Xerxes
was the biggest of the baby lambs, he was spending an awful lot of
time sleeping. We even joked that ‘Perhaps he had not spent enough
time in the oven’ While the other lambs were all engaged in
playful pursuits, Xerxes would be off to the side fast asleep.
It was on one of these days that I happened to be in the barn and
look over in time to catch a rather remarkable episode of sheep
mothering.
Xerxes was fast asleep in one of the corners of the big stall.
Cleopatra walked in and stood there looking around. As noted, Xerxes
was asleep in the corner. Scattered around the stall were about
three groups of lambs playing among-st themselves. Cleopatra walked
over to Xerxes and nudged him with her nose. When that didn’t
produce any results, she started to paw him with her feet. First one
foot then the other. She continued to paw him more and more
vigorously until he finally roused himself and got up. His mother
then led him over to the first pair of lambs. They paused in their
play, and all three touched noses.
Cleopatra then led Xerxes over to the next group of lambs. Again,
they all stopped and came over to greet him. From there they went
over to the last group of lambs. They welcomed him into the group,
and Xerxes joined into the fun. They were all still playing when I
left.
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| Friends |
From then on it seemed as though Xerxes’s Rip Van-Winkle stage was
over, and a lot more playing than sleeping was henceforth observed.
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