a PET lamb.

[giz]

@ davie.. i know isnt that a HORRIBLE story.. id bloody kill em if i find out who done it... arsebiscuits... grr..

[red]

he shouldn't need water whilst he is getting milk, though it never hurts to offer it.

he will gum at grass etc, but not much goes in for a while, but its all practise.

Good luck with him...

[Mrs H]

I don't mean to shit stir or upset u in anyway but I just had to say as a farmer I am horrified at your post!! I can't understand how you could even consider housing a lamb on a housing estate with dogs in a house!! To me that's just wrong and to be honest a bit bonkers!! ;)
Its great that u can find hay and straw that cheap but honestly that is the least of your worries.
I personally believe there is NO way that you can keep LIVESTOCK in a house in an estate. No matter how much love and attention you give it. Its bred to be in a field with its own kind.
On a harsher more welfare related front and maybe this is because I am a farmer but rarely do poorly lambs survive to adulthood and if they do they generally have weaknesses that mean a shot of Lead is the only humane thing to do. Sheep as a bread r either alive or dead there isn't really a grey area with them!!!
With regards legislation, did you get a holding number? To be honest I really doubt that on inspection ur house will have met with DEFRA's required standards, if u did not get one u r now keeping him illegally which means every time u move him u don't hav a transport licence, also illegal. Now much as DEFRA's rules and regs do my head in the majority of them r put in place to ensure animal welfare. I also believe that ur local council will have something to say about it as well. As many town councils do not allow chickens to be kept I really can't see them accepting a sheep.
Don't get me wrong at all I love and care for all my animals but there is a fine line between caring too much and being cruel. Its important for us all to maintain that line.
I do hope that u make the right decision with regards his welfare. Sometimes the hardest decisions r the best ones. Xx

[giz]

well 1st off, seems like a lot of people have estates as just poo holes, or poky little crap bag houses.
this is a Bought big 4 bed house, with 2 large gardens, and a stable out the back...
i have my called for my CPH number (last monday)and the council (last monday)i have to ring back when the number comes thru. they are all aware of whats happning and was really pleasent on the phone, the council animal guy said they will/Might do spot checks at a later date so they will see. i also do keep chickens, its a Rooster were not allowed due to the noise. even thou a house at the end of my road has one, i herd it yesterday. And may i say, Tbh i wouldnt come on a fourm where all my details are visable to adims/people and be doing illigal stuff..
Again as i stated, he is going to go to a comunity farm when he is off bottles, i wouldnt keep him as a grown adult, That wouldnt be fair, Btu as a 3 week old he is more than happy to just mince about with us, milk, poo , have a cuddle then a sleep.

[Mrs H]

Giz I am not saying that u r intentionally doing anything illegal!!
And bonkers as I think u r keeping a lamb indoors I'm sure you have the best intentions I personally do not believe it is right. Xx

[Thomzo]

Hi Giz
I'm sorry you've come under so much attack on this subject. I've never kept sheep so I don't know if what you are trying to do is sensible or not. But it sounds like you've got things planned out, you've experience of keeping sheep and have far more land than the average small urban back garden.

I'm a bit confused why everyone seems to think you live on a tightly packed council estate - where has that assumption come from? I also live in a bought house in a residential area but I still have quarter of an acre. Whilst I would never try to keep a fully grown sheep on that space, a small lamb, whilst it's being reared, would be ok, surely?

As for the cost of the feed, that sounds cheaper than cat food to me.

When he goes into the field with the goat and the other sheep, then he will have company of its own kind and when it moves to the farm then he will be doing something useful. Do you have a date when he goes off to the farm?

Whilst I can understand that some members of this forum will think it's very wrong to keep a single sheep on a domestic plot, from what you say, that is not your long term plan. You are simply rearing it to prepare it for going to a proper home when it's old enough.

Good luck - I hope he grows up fit and healthy and enjoys his life on the community farm.

Zoe

[oldjerry]

Zoe,if you'd read the pre-edit version of the first post you'd realise why some of us were a bit animated ,it included all the 'council estate','take for walks',live in the house' stuff which is now disappeared.Personally I couldn't care less if someone wants to keep a blue whale in their fishpond,but the post asked,originally,what we thought of the idea..

[red]

oldjerry is right Zoe - the original post has changed... there was no initial mention of the lamb going off to live on a farm... it was going to live in the house. The original post asked for advice and the advice was given and rejected. part of it was that there should be more than one lamb... it seems now that there was only one left.. so perhaps it was not so desperate for a home after all if the others were taken...

my main objections to this whole plan are that the lamb will not be living with its own kind, which is a fundamental aspect of keeping any animal happily, and particularly with sheep.

I've made NO referrences to the sort of estate etc he will be living on, but the initial ideas of walking the lamb about on a halter or lead so it can graze is not only irresponsible (think biosecurity) but as far as i understand it, against the law.

In order to keep sheep, singular, pet or otherwise, you need a CPH number, a herd number - as i understand it, these have not been given yet, but are in progress.... then to move a sheep, you need movement paperwork. The lamb has not been tagged. this is also illegal. its these sort of flaunting the rules that give small time shepherds a bad name. If there is an outbreak of disease, the smallholders get pointed at, and no wonder if someone has moved a sheep without any paperwork, without a holding number,without any traceablility and then takes that lamb for a walk about the place....

Also you have to wonder at the sort of farm that also flaunts the rules - they also cant have done the paperwork (they would need the new CPH number ) and did not tag the lamb.... so...says to me they were not too bothered.

A garden can be a mistake for sheep grazing - many garden plants are poisonous to sheep, and it is surprising how much grass you need. also you really need to rotate the grazing, not just have one plot, as you get a build up of worms, and this can be fatal to a lamb. A quarter of an acre is not likely to be enough to do this, particularly if you were to provide other sheep for company.

I guess the lamb was taken on with the best of intentions, (although the questions on making money out of him make you wonder), but the conditions are far from ideal. I feel sad for the lamb.

(having said that, the story is changing so rapidly.. im still wondering if its a wind up)

[MKG]

Well, I'm going to jump in at least half on Giz's side. She came here looking for advice and got it in spades - but not the advice she wanted to hear. You'll forgive me, Giz, I'm sure, but I get the impression you're very young? Who didn't want to do this kind of thing when they were young and less hardened to the realities of the world? Okay, Giz can be obstinate (again, who of us wouldn't have been at one time?) and she's (hmmm ... I assume she) as wrong as can be - but I also reckon she's probably determined enough to see it through and get a result. Her heart is certainly in the right place, and she gets Brownie points for that in my book.

Giz, all the people on here mean well - but they tend to be more aligned with the lamb than the person. And they're very experienced and right (unfortunately). You've already got your lamb, I gather - so work your butt off and prove everyone wrong (so I wonder about that working holiday in Brittany?). And don't get terribly upset if it doesn't work. I hope it does.

In the meantime, the world would be a nicer place if there were more Giz's in it - even if they do need a lot of guidance. Isn't that why she came here in the first place? Having said that, she does get on a high horse when challenged - perhaps you could do something about that, Giz?

Mike

[giz]

hello.. hello, it was ALWAYS the plan for him to go to the comunity farm,
yeah i have him now, hence i edited the first post and to ake it more clear to people whats what... i said a counicl estate and you all seemed to think it was som poky wee hole. thats why i changed that bit..

As for being young, im 25, and spent the last 8 years in the army. left that and now run my own pet sitting/training and grooming service, so as young as i am i still feel i have achived a lot in my young years.
thanks.

[jimmyh1988]

i think some of you folks seem to have mis-interpreted what some of our intentions were!!!

one she asked a question and original post has changed since i posted. so we gave an answer . it may come across with giz as the deer in the headlights but its not meant that way . as a farmer and an animal lover(s) we should all make sure animals are looked after and legislation that has been put there for farm livestock is adhered to one for the animals benefit and two for giz's benefit because if she slipped up on a rule she could be in deep water and face heavy fines which none of use would like to see.
hate it when things are twisted to make out like the people who offered friendly advice in the best of heart and intentions made out to be some sort of hit squad out to get the poster when thats far from the truth .

and as far as the hay and straw price this varys from area to area so sorry jerry you may be right for your area but please dont assume your price is the right price for the whole of england cos its not the case .

all the best giz glad he's on the mend . jimmy

[chickenchargrill]

A sheep is perfectly fine being raised without other sheep as long as it a) has lots of company and b) you never need it to live with other sheep again. Lambs latch on to whatever family they have. We had one at the rescue farm I used to work at whom we looked after seperately as he was a sickly thing, but the farms' owners kept him with them too long and he wanted to stay with the border collie and humans.

If he's going to a community farm when he's older, why can't they take him on now? It'd be much better for the lamb. Surely it'd be good for the local children to see a lamb too and may be help a little with the feeds. That's what we did when local kids came to the rescue farm.

[oldjerry]

I'm sorry we aren't going to agree on this,if I've come over as patronising or condescending it's an irritating trait of mine,and I apologise for it.
I appreciate that many people see all life as sacrosant per se ,but others see individual entities as part of a greater whole. No doubt Circus and Zoo animals are largely well looked after(and no sane person would suggest they shold all be eliminated overnight) but they are just goldfish swimming around in a bowl.I see farm animals kept out of their usual enviroment in entirely the same way(although that enviroment is largely artificial too,it's developed with the animals over centuries).
I've spent years,argueing against the drive towards factory faming methods,not just from a philosophical perspective,but equally from that of animal welfare,but if there's anything that does animals a greater disservice than modern farming techniques it's the ,largely British, tendancy towards anthropomorphism.
This inability to see a life as part of the whole of nature,and merely in human terms, is surely as much a core element in enviromental destruction as the ignorant greed of capitalism.

[giz]

They cant take him as its a New thing and there littrly JUST building it.. they have just got their Horse stables built, as they got the land just last year.. if you understand what i mean..

as for everyone else,, its ok.. iv tried to explaine best i can, he was Always going to go to the farm... and i did say that im sure..
but hey ho, whats done is done... some people dont agree with others thats what makes us human, and not.. 'sheep'

so.. lets just leave it at that, no point in going round in circles.
got a new dog staying with me, so all you dog folk, ill probley need the help on this.. .grrr shes a.....belgian malinois x.. with Some issues.. tut tut.

[giz]

In order to keep sheep, singular, pet or otherwise, you need a CPH number, a herd number - as i understand it, these have not been given yet, but are in progress.... then to move a sheep, you need movement paperwork. The lamb has not been tagged. this is also illegal. its these sort of flaunting the rules that give small time shepherds a bad name. If there is an outbreak of disease, the smallholders get pointed at, and no wonder if someone has moved a sheep without any paperwork, without a holding number,without any traceablility and then takes that lamb for a walk about the place...

CAN i please just say... i have asked about the tagging, the girl said non of them had been done, and will when i take him back. also asked someone from burley who had sheep till last year,, he also said i can do it myself from getting the taggs off DEFRA, i have looked on the site and i coulndt find anything about that.. so if this is breaking the law That is a genuine mistake. Hence i joined a site hoping to get all this info advice and help.. so ill have to get on about that in the morning... as iv stated Plenty of times, on the phone to defra last week he said i could have the lamb and as soon as my number comes i give it to the council..
as for walking him, again, You lot have informed me its not allowed and i have listend, so thanks for all this stuff..