I bought Lily from a friend in early March 2019 along with Noddy and Norbert. Lily was just 24 hours old when I picked her up and so very tiny next to Noddy and Norbert who were huge at 5 days old. Lily looked cold and feeble when we got her home so we quickly made a makeshift jumper for her from the sleeve of my mums cream coloured wool and mohair jumper – perfect! Of course, she moved into the house straight away and made herself at home in a large cardboard box in our upstairs bathroom. At a few days old I felt there was something not quite right with Lily. She struggles to stand and hardly moved about at all. Her breathing was erratic, she just seemed dull compared to other lambs. I popped her down to the vets fearing she might have the beginnings of Pneumonia. A lovely vet checked her over and concluded that it was not her lungs that were the issue but actually her heart. She had been born with a severe heart defect and I was told it was likely she would not do very well, she would always be small and may suddenly have a heart attack and pass away. The vet didn’t think she was in pain but she offered to put her to sleep which was absolutely not an option at that time. Lily didn’t know any different and she was definitely happy so we decided to carry on and let her have whatever life she could. For the first few weeks of her life, she was very delicate and I feared she would collapse at times when she exerted herself but she grew stronger and stronger and just never looked back. All that seems like a distant dream. Looking at Lily now I forget how fragile she was and how I feared I might find her dead each time I went to check on her. Lily grew into a big beautiful adult sheep she has always had such a gentle sweet personality. Not pushy or greedy like a lot of hand-reared lambs. She is just perfect and I hope she will have many happy healthy years ahead of her. When Lily was sheared for the first time in 2020 she was very well behaved. I have saved her precious baby fleece to make something special for our own home. Lily herself is a bit big now to fit in the house…though I think she would still give it a try.
