We brought our three babydoll Southdown sheep home in May 2016. Babydoll Southdown sheep are a miniature version of the Southdown breed of sheep. They have the cutest faces that look like a cross between teddy bears and koalas.
A Hard Start
We adopted a ram who we named Shepherd and two ewes we named Delilah and Clementine. Delilah and Shepherd were siblings and Clementine was born prematurely. We originally were only going to adopt Clementine and her brother. Clementine got cold after birth and her mom rejected her so she was a bottle baby which means she had to be fed with a bottle. Her brother died shortly after birth and when we talked with the breeder he wasn’t sure if Clementine was going to survive even with being bottle fed. We told the breeder we’d like to adopt Shepherd and Delilah since we probably weren’t going to be able to bring Clementine home. Once it was obvious Clementine was going to pull through, we told the breeder we wanted to adopt her along with Shepherd and Delilah.
Picking Up The Babies
We had to drive several hours to pick the babies up from the breeder. They were so small that we were able to bring them home in a dog kennel! Once they got home, they explored the barn and settled right in.
Clementine
Clementine had a condition where she would regurgitate her food and it would leak out of her mouth. We were concerned that since she was born prematurely, her mouth didn’t form correctly. We spoke with the veterinarian and breeder who said the condition is common and with time it would go away. After a year of her “leaking” green fluid from her mouth, she finally stopped and has been a happy, healthy sheep since.
Gone Too Soon Sweet Clementine
We lost Clementine on May 8, 2021, after a very short illness. The illness came on so suddenly, but it felt like it took her forever to let go. She was perfectly fine on Thursday. She was eating, drinking, playing, and active. Nothing about her was out of sorts or unusual. Friday morning when we went out to take care of everyone in the barn, we noticed Clementine wasn’t acting like herself. She was weak and trembling and she lost her vision. We gave her thiamine shots Friday morning and started syringe feeding her a liquid replacement meal. The doctor came out and did blood work and gave her calming and pain meds. The doc stayed with us all day and didn’t leave until she was sure Clementine would be okay. She said because of our quick action with the thiamine shots, we saved her. We went to bed that night thinking everything was going to be okay.
Saturday morning Clementine started having seizures. I held her head in my lap all day as she continued to have seizures. Just after 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening she had one last seizure and was gone. The doc said it’s possible Clementine had a thiamine deficiency because that can cause sudden blindness, seizures, and death in otherwise healthy sheep. She said there’s no way to know ahead of time that it’s going to happen, and it’s possible even when sheep have a mineral supplement and good quality hay.
Goodbye Shepherd
In February 2017 we lost Shepherd. He was acting fine and when we went out to the barn a couple of hours later we discovered he had died. The veterinarian said there could have been a number of reasons why he died but since it happened so quickly, she didn’t suspect a virus or bacterial infection because he wasn’t showing signs of illness before he died. She wanted us to keep an eye on the girls, but she said he most likely wasn’t contagious. Thankfully, the girls never got sick.
Always On The Run
The sheep are really timid. When we feed them, they’ll come over to us and rub against us, but if we try to pet them, they run. Clementine was a little more social, but when Delilah spooked and ran, Clementine followed her. Like with most of the animals on our farm, they’re prey animals so their first instinct is to flee in order to survive. Even if that means running away from the people who raised them since they were little lambs!
Hoof Trimming
Hoof trimming is done every twelve weeks by the veterinarian when she comes out to do wellness checks on everyone in the barn.
Shearing
The girls’ first wool shearing was in the spring of 2017. We’ve used a few different shearers since 2017 and haven’t been happy. After each shear, we spoke with other sheep owners. Everyone, including our veterinarian who shears her own sheep, said the process is a necessary, but unpleasant, part of sheep keeping. We were told it’s normal for sheep to be hurt during the process. Even though it’s supposed to be “normal”, we didn’t like it and felt very uncomfortable during each shearing. When we found a new shearer, Brandon, all of that changed. He showed Delilah, and us, that shearing doesn’t have to be done roughly. Because of his quick and gentle work, Delilah is always calm throughout the process. She just looks around when he’s working and doesn’t have a look of fear on her face. When Brandon is done with her, he helps her get up and onto her feet and she calmly walks right over to her hay. The lesson we learned after years of watching the sheep go through so much trauma with other shearers is even though something is the norm, it doesn’t mean it’s right. Deep down inside, we knew what we were watching was wrong, but we were told it’s the way it’s done. Brandon showed us it’s not the way it’s done.
The Barn
Faylinn and Delilah have their own area together in the barn and in the yard that’s blocked off from the other goats. The goats are bullies to them and chase them away from the hay feeders. By separating them, Delilah has a companion and Faylinn isn’t picked on any more.
Feeding
Like with the goats, we feed Delilah grass hay twice a day. We don’t give her any treats, other than a carrot on her birthday. She usually doesn’t eat her birthday carrot, but it never goes to waste. Faylinn is always happy to eat it!