Agriculture

How quickly they grow up. Those of you who followed the early tribulations of Doodle, the rejected lamb, will undoubtedly be pleased to learn that he has, at nearly two months old, grown into a feisty, vigorous little fellow. No longer does he need gentle encouragement to drink his bottle. The minute he sees me he pulls at my pants leg, insistently seeking the sources of milk he knows I bring him. He can drain three bottles in just a few minutes. Only now, he’s been cut back to two bottles. The weaning process, transitioning him from milk replacer to a normal sheep diet of hay and grain, has begun. Weaning generally happens earlier in bottle fed lambs than in those raised by their mothers. It can proceed because the rumen, the adjunct chamber to the stomach where grass or hay ferment and become digestible, has developed. Accordingly, Doodle has joined the herd in grazing the pasture, which they do for ever more extended periods now that the punishing sun of the summer has abated. When the sheep get their