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ne day, in April 2002, we decided it was time to borrow an Arapawa ram, so lambs would be born in September 2002. Because Lily was a Romney, we decided to send her on holiday to our neighbours, Ruth and Des. Des told us he was quite happy to have Lily visit, but he had a ram in the paddock. “That’s OK”, I said. “She is an old lady in sheep years, so she probably won’t have a lamb”.
On the day we took Lily to her holiday paddock, she was most upset with us! We got her onto the trailer without any trouble, but she didn’t want to get off. She tried to run away, but I managed to grab her and push her through the gateway. When we got back home, we could see her from our house, and she was baaing and baaing. Never for a moment did we think she would be unhappy. She is only a sheep, after all! Now we know better. The Arapawa sheep were also upset – they were looking across to Lily and baaing in response. We were unhappy knowing that Lily was unhappy, but Des checked his animals every day and Lily soon found she had a new friend and so did he. Des said he enjoyed having a pet sheep.
Whenever we looked across to where Lily was grazing, she would be at one end of the paddock and the rest of the sheep would be at the other end. “No chance in her having a lamb”, said Des. Several weeks later, it was time to bring Lily home again. This time we had no trouble getting her onto the trailer or off again. She was very happy to see her old friends, the Arapawa sheep. A few weeks later I said to Great Uncle Norman that I was sure Lily was going to have a lamb – she was getting a big tummy. When I repeated this to Des, he thought I was joking. “I’m not joking. I’m sure of it”, I exclaimed.
One morning, exactly 154 days after Lily went on holiday, I was eating breakfast on the front deck, enjoying the view. Suddenly, Lily started baaing with great gusto! It was a new sort of baa – I hadn’t heard anything like it before. It was coming from a patch of bush, a couple of paddocks away, where the ewes were awaiting lambing time. I called to Great Uncle Norman and told him what I had heard. We decided we had better check to make sure Lily was okay.
Great Uncle Norman went down into the paddock – he seemed to take so long, I became concerned. Then, all of a sudden, he walked out of the bush holding a little white lamb – a female. Behind him walked Lily. Well, she didn’t walk – she strutted! And every few paces she would baa. This time it was another new baa – it was the loudest, proudest baa I have ever heard. Norman brought the lamb and Lily into the paddock nearest the house where we could keep watch. Lily was the best sheep-mother of all – none of the Arapawas showed the same devotion to their lambs. Lily looked after hers as though she was the most special lamb in the world!
A couple of nights later it was raining and very cold. Great Uncle Norman made a jacket out of a plastic Mitre 10 shopping bag. At the bottom of the bag he made two holes for the lamb’s back legs and put her front legs through the bag’s handles. That spring the weather was very wet and cold and poor Des lost five of his first seven lambs. Great Uncle Norman suggested we should let Des adopt Lily’s lamb, so we gave her a name that could be shortened to “Des” – we named her Desmine. Look the word up in a dictionary. It is very appropriate.
We invited Ruth and Des to meet the new lamb, without telling them what we had in mind – intending to present them with adoption papers, but we didn’t have them ready in time! When Ruth and Des arrived, we handed Desmine to Des (she was still quite tiny) and told him that when she was older, we would give her to him. He looked at us in a very strange way (we thought) then said “Well…. as a matter of fact, we are selling our farm, so, although we really appreciate the thought, Desmine can remain with you”.
Ruth and Des are happy in their new home. They visit us sometimes and we all enjoy the story about Lily and her holiday! Lily and Desmine still live on our farm and appear to be very happy and so are we – and now we have two, very special, pet Romney sheep.
