Cutsey lambkin time :)

The lambs are everywhere now. Don't you love them?
This is the black sheep of the family ;)

This one's got socks on, lol

This one's having a gambol (as opposed to taking a gamble ;)

It's a special wool breed and is born with this lovely dappled jacket

All that playing makes a person hungry......

OH! Is there anything more fun to watch than lambs playing? They are so frisky and cute!

Yes, Zany - I never cease to wonder at the contrast between baby and adult!
Not that I have anything against sheep. They'd probably think the same about us lol

When I was young I gamboled about like a lamb but now I have become much more like the old ewes, slow and lazy. When I was young I was lean as lamb and now I resemble a bad cut of mutton. But sheep like to be in flocks and I hate crows so the analogy ends here ;~}

Sounds as if you and I have a lot in common lol.
(Particularly the crowds bit, though I like crows ;)

LOL! Good ole typo again. These fingers are gettin lazier all the time.

But you like crows? Those pesty, loud thiefs that will take anything shiny and fly off with it...We do have a lot in common because I love the rascals too.

Yep, I like the whole family :)

We have a small leisure farm nearby. A working farm though small. It stocks some rare breeds. I went up on Monday, had a saunter. There were quite a lot of lambs gambolling about. I was able to pat one woolly head. My, they're noisy bleating away!!!!

Yes, fills the whole countryside around here
Nice though.

do you ever listen to lambs calling their mums?

maaaaaa

and they always reply

whaaaa'

Our mums sometimes answer bhuuuuuuuuu'

No, the little ones say bääääbää, or sometimes mm-määä määää ;)

LOL - I knew I needed something else to get the sound across! It's all your different symbols Evert :)

yes the wee ones go maaaa calling their ma
and she replies whaa? as in whaaat do you want now!

say both out loud and you will recognise what they both say

Yes, Mark, very good. I did understand - they say that here, but they say a lot else besides :)

Beautiful photos Philomel.

Sheep are vocal creatures, they use their voice for a large number of reasons. The first thing a lamb learns is it's mothers bleat, it'd be almost impossible to survive on their native mountains otherwise.

They also learn their bipedal mother's voice quickly when they are babies too. As they age they answer back just like teenagers. I'd stand up in front of the customers and as I began to speak they lambs would all call to me, 80+ lambs telling Mom they are behind her, make a deafening noise, each one trying to drown out the noise of the others. I'd harshly tell the lambs, 'Be quiet while I'm talking' and silence would ensure immediately, I'd then say 'Thank you', one lone voice would always, without fail, let out a single, little defiant bleat, which would cause a great deal of laughter and often broke the ice with a difficult audeince.

The Shetland ram (Jim) would bleat his head off when he wanted to go out for a walk, he sounded like he was belching sometimes in his efforts to be heard. I'd put his halter on and he'd turn his head this way and that to make it easier to fit the rope over his horns, he adored meeting the public and being groomed. The two pet sheep, Dylis and Heather, would run up to the fence bleating their hellos, I'm happy to see yous, the only reward they wanted was attention, even if you were a distance away, they were happy just hearing a familiar voice.

I suppose it's like people and their pets, only the owners understand what their dog/cat/budgie is asking for. Anyone who says animals can't communicate effectively have never been close to one.

Too true Debby. They speak something much more universal than human talk
Where were you doing this work - sounds great

In the New Forest theres an open working farm, I was the head stockman (unit manager) of the showfarm there. It's now had a change of management so it's run differently now but it's always a popular tourist and school place. Being a townie I was always a great advocate of opening up farms to customers to bridge the farmer/townie gap. I got the chance to put my money where my mouth was for a couple of years.

Such a good idea to let non country folk get a taste of what it's all about. It must have been great doing that job.
We have an open rare breeds farm looked after by disabled children and its just amazing to see how they respond to working with the animals and an equal privilege to be able to take your own brats (or in my case gbrats) along.

We also have a native species 'park' which houses a wide range of our native animals and birds. They are all rescued animals unable to be returned to the wild (except a few that are part of captive breeding programmes) and its a joy to see children learning about the animals that are out in the countryside in closeup.

Here are Maaaaaa and Whaaaaaaa that I met today, lol