Page 20 - SuperCowboyFlipBook

Suddenly, his eyes sparkled as he continued. “This year, however, she gave me three. She shoved the runt away. Usually they would die, but I’ll be darned if he’s not just like his mother. Come see what I mean.” He took me to the outside pen, where the older lambs and the ewes were in one large group. Here the little lambs would frisk about and butt each other. “There he is,” Old Mr. Brown said. “There’s the little fur-ball.” He pointed to a lamb that was much smaller than the rest. The little lamb snuck up on a ewe that was nursing her own lambs. He got up near her back end, and then got under a lamb twice his size. He knocked the bigger lamb off of the teat, taking the milk for himself. The little lamb only got a few good gulps before the ewe felt udder distress as the two lambs fought for position. Mr. Brown continued to explain the situation. “Sheep have an inborn survival mentality to protect their own. A sheep may reject one of their lambs to guarantee the survival of the others. That’s why his mother shoved him away.” When the ewe noticed the imposter, she turned to chase after him, tromping her own lambs in the process. The little lamb bounded away, the ewe right on his tail. Around the pen they went, with all of the other sheep joining in the chase. “Won’t he get hurt?” I asked. “Nah,” Mr. Brown said, “you just keep a-watchin’.” The little lamb darted through a hole in the fence. Some of the bigger sheep crashed into the fence, but a couple of little lambs followed him through. “Can’t keep that little burr-magnet in the pen for