Back in Time - Sheep

John S.
near Pavillion, WY
approximately 1940
This photo of John, my oldest brother, was taken on the farm in its early days. Because of the transformer attached to the power pole, I am pretty sure that is the pole that stood in the center of the farmyard and later had the yard light attached to it. Later another transformer was located by the dairy barn.

The only sheep I remember during my childhood were bum lambs, purchased to be fed excess cow's milk. The lambs' pen was near the house in the area that was later seeded with grass. The bums were always a hit with visiting city relatives.

Because the lambs quickly learned to pull the nipples off of the bottles, we began feeding them with bottles without nipples. Even though the lambs were cute, I preferred feeding calves.

Comments

  1. Our neighbors in New Jersey had sheep. The lambs were always so cute.

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  2. Oh my, does your post bring back memories!! We raised bum lambs all my childhood. In Southern Wyoming there were hugs bands of sheep and my brother was always on the docking crew, so he would bring home any bums. One year we named them numbers in Spanish - Uno, Dos, Tres, etc. They were cute - but then they grew up!! LOL

    Blessings!

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  3. Great photo! Bottle lambs - and calves - get pretty fast at pulling off those nipples. The 10 years we lived on my in-laws farm we ran about 750 breeding ewes and you can only imagine what lambing time was like. I used a red wagon to transport enough bottles to the barn for the bottle lambs, plus often had them hanging out of pockets and tucked into my coveralls. Your photo brought back some great memories.

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  4. Looks like a little "mutton busting" going on. LOL Cute picture.

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  5. That picture tells a good story of early days on the farm. I like this "back in time" photo of your brother.

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  6. I love lambie pies (that's what we called them growing up). Now I call them, yarn makers. I had to google "what is a bum lamb" as in bummer/orphan. How interesting!! Your brother looks like he's a giving some good nurture and care, there. very cute.

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  7. I love photos that capture everyday life. I sometimes don't think to take photos of showing the routine of my day. Things change so much over time, though, and I really appreciate photos that show "the way things were." This photo is one of those--very familiar to those who grow up on farms, foreign to most kids nowadays.

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  8. I love your old photos Nancy! At first I thought your brother had a dog with him. I had to look a second time to see that it was a lamb. Great picture.

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  9. Im so stupid about the farm life. WHy by lambs to drink extra cows milk??? IM confused Nancy

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  10. What fun! Lambs/sheep are not livestock I have experience with (horses, cows, pigs, chickens), so I'm fascinated by the problem with bottle nipples.

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  11. I can't get enough of you collection of black and white photos.

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  12. Great old photo! We used to go up to the neighbors and help feed the bottle lambs:)

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