Annual Visit To The Neighbors' Sheep Farm

My sheep farming neighbors told me it was lambing season and to come on down and see them. So I drove to their house and went into the barn to find them. No one was there but Doug, their old horse (and the sheep, of course). Doug was happy to have a visitor and we chatted for a while, but I left the sheep alone since no one was home:

I returned later in the day, just as my neighbors arrived home. They'd been gone for hours and wanted to check on the sheep also. It turned out that 11 lambs had been born that day:

The bigger, stronger lambs were in the pens with the big sheep. Those who were small, weak or had other problems were put in smaller, separate pens like the ewe and lambs in the background:

A mother and her two little ones:

There were two brand new, black patterned lambs whose mother was still passing the afterbirth:

The second lamb of that pair had even cuter markings:

This ewe and her two babies was in a pen of their own:

There were also two chocolate and white newborns with their traditionally white mother:

The daughter-in-law of the farm owners comforted a rejected lamb. The ewe had triplets and was feeding the two smaller males. This larger female, however, had been rejected. The solution was to put the ewe in a stanchion and hold the lamb up to nurse. They planned to take the baby to a friend for hand feeding later, but first it needed colostrum:

Two babies, watched closely by their guarding mama:

Several mothers and their lambs shared a spacious pen:

My neighbors had lots of work to do, so I thanked them and headed for the exit, stopping to snap a photo of a friendly barn cat as I passed by: