How to Summon Sheep - and Sisters

Charlotte and James' Opa lives on a small holding near Bega where he grows veggies, a huge range of fruit trees and runs a small flock of Dorpers.  Recently one of his ewes died a few days after giving birth and he suddenly found himself the surrogate mother of a small black lamb affectionately called Rambo*.  I could hardly contain Charlotte's excitement at the prospect of hand feeding a little black lamb so we duly loaded up and headed down the coast for the weekend.

Rambo was indeed adorable and the kids loved him.  He has a small pen under my Dad's pergola where he can sleep, safe from foxes and close to "Mum".  He's quite tame which is a good thing because Charlotte was determined to force her affection on the bewildered little thing at every opportunity.

The kids had a blast.  Doing farm chores with Opa is always a big hit.  Their favorite part is loading up with sheep nuts and going down to feed the sheep and the two alpacas charged with their care.

See little Rambo there?  Very cute and almost all black.  Rambo also gets dropped off for the day - a sort of ovine day care to make his transition from pet to sheep easier later.

Charlotte spent all weekend fizzing like a Coke Mentos bomb with excitement and alternating between zooming around the farm getting into everything and sleeping with gusto.

The End of a Long Day at Opa's

James was more sedate but the farm visit made a much deeper impression on him than we realised.  Since we've been back James has been demanding "Opa breakfast" almost every day - a bowl of muesli with fresh fruit and yoghurt stirred through.  But he's also adopted Opa's method of summoning the sheep - dropping his voice and bellowing "C'MORRRRRN" at the top of his tiny lungs.  Only thing is he's using it to summon his wayward sister, not sheep. Opa is extremely pleased.

Farmer James

*  My Dad's little joke - when they castrate him he'll lose the ram and just be Beau.