Saturday afternoon we found a black ewe who strongly resembled Cora, Julia's bottle lamb from a couple years ago. All three of us were standing in the back of the barn, checking out the newest lambs when a brown ewe walked up to us. We looked at one another and all wondered out loud ---- "Could this be Cora?" The ewe kept hanging around and after about 20 minutes of Julia patting her without the ewe leaving the scene, we decided that Cora must indeed still be with us. We were all overjoyed.
The next day, we arrived to find Cora had delivered a huge white ram lamb. Amazingly big - it was a wonder petite Cora didn't have trouble with her lambing. Here she is with "Jackson" as Julia has named him. He is taking his first steps.
Jackson is a few days old now and Cora is darn proud. She is such a splendid mama.
Here is proud "grandma Julia."
We were mistaken! Boy are we glad!
43 comments:
What a cute baby...I'm glad Cora is all right.
I'm very happy for you all - especially for Julia! I'm from every bit of a practically minded farm family as you are, and yet your news this morning brought a huge smile to my face...and (I'll admit) a few tears to my eyes. I had my own loss (mine was a cow) when I was Julia's age, and I'm very glad for her sake that Cora showed up again.
Yay!!! i'm so happy for Julia!!! How unexpected and what a wonderful surprise. i would be overjoyed.
Oh I love it!! That picture with Cora and Julia and Jackson...they do look like family. :)
oh what a wonderful surprise! may all be healthy and happy!
Oh yay! What a wonderful surprise. Julia looks like such a proud grandma. :)
Hurrah for Cora! How nice for Julia and for Jackson!
It has been so much fun to see all the lamb pictures. Thanks for sharing them, Kristin.
Barbara M.
Oh my gosh, that is such good news! All I can think of is "CORA! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" If she could speak English, I bet she'd have a grand adventure to talk about!
I'm loving your lamb pictures. Don'tcha just wanna squeeze each one until they squeak?
And Julia looks right at home as the little mama. Such a joy!
Lucky you,
Leslie
Loving the lamb photos and boy did reading about Cora start my day out right!
Great news! What a lovely happy post to read today. Julia looks blissful - the last photo exudes her happiness and love for Jackson and Cora. I've been enjoying the lamb posts tremendously and look forward to them. Keep 'em coming!
SusanR
What a nice, DOUBLE surprise! Love the photos. Congrats to Mama, Grandma Julia, and Great-Grandparents Kristin and the Farmer!
That's FANTASTIC news! And Julia's face says it all!
Hooray for Cora! Julia's early care and love in Cora's life surely made her strong! Jackson is enormous and handsome! Congratulations!
Wow!
How was Cora missed in the flock? Surely she stands out because of her coloring. Or did she just wander in from the woods, sadder but wiser, after all this time?
Wow! How cool and lovely and unlikely.
The little ram has such eyelashes.
Such good news! Your lamb pictures are making me wish I was starting lambing now instead of March (except maybe wait til next week since it was below zero this morning).
Awwwwwwww!
That last picture is a classic.
Great news.
Kristin, I just followed the links back to read the whole story on your blog, and it occurred to me what a great children's book this would make--almost exactly as you wrote it. You could even use the pictures, or artists' renditions of the pictures. Title: "Cora and Julia." What do you think?
Yeah - a lamb post with exceptionally good news. So glad to hear about Cora.
Aw such good news!
Just wanted to chime in with a Yay! for Cora. And I read the comment about the children's book - you know, that is a fabulous job...your illustrations are fabulous, and distinctive. I KNOW you don't have enough hours in the day, but...food for thought??
I'm so glad she turned back up. I was also thinking what a great childrens book you could write with all the lamb love you've got going on. I'm really enjoying reading and your pictures are great! Thanks for taking the time to tell everyone about it when I'm sure you're very busy!
I love the idea of a children's book! What a happy ending! What great news in a world full of not so happy news.
BTW...keep the lamb pictures coming...how could we tire of them?
Thanks for the update!! Good news. I love the sheep pictures!!
I decided to leave a note to encourage you to write a children's book and, lo and behold, others, also think this story would make a good book. Just where was Cora? What was she doing? Why didn't she make herself known? Did she suffer pangs of loneliness, too? Go for it! I'll be your first customer!
That is so great for Julia and Cora, too. Love the sheep pictures.
Wonderful news!!!! I'm so happy
I was so very sad when I red you lost Cora... then I told myself STOP IT she's a farm animal and bred to produce meat and have babies and some are lost.sniff
TODAY I was sooooo happy that Cora was found! I think she needs a collar .. a PINK Collar! A story of good overcoming evil? or yes Kristen story book!
Rooth
Great news about Cora:-)
I've just been catching up- have had computerproblems lately...I saw that you are having a bit of a "problem" to match mother and child sometimes...the agricultural authorities here has rules that says that you have to mark each newborn lamb with a tag in each ear, with a number on it, telling both the year of birth, the individual number it gets in the flock, and there is also identification of the owner (an id-# that each farm gets, plus the name)) Of course you also have to keep record of day of birth, who the mother is,(her number,date of birth, parents etc), info about the father. The tags are pretty expensive, and now they even have to be electronic. The slaughterhouses will not accept any animals in for slaughter unless they're marked with two tags- one in each ear. Sometimes, when the lambs are really tiny, the tags seem to cover their whole ear!
It's fascinating to read about all the differences between your way of farming and mine, but I think we have the love of the sheep in common. Thank you for sharing - there can never be too many lambpictures! They are great, with or without red and blue paint!!!
Take care.
I have tears in my eyes. So happy for Julia. And for Cora too!
Oh that IS great news! I'm so very happy to find out Cora is alive and well and a mama! Julia looks so very pleased.
The first time I stumbled into your blog :). What a touching story. Hey - what a cute grandmother....
Best weekend wishes from Norway
The photo of Julia hugging Jackson says it all - how lovely.
Thanks for making my day. What wonderful news. My whole family is enjoying this birthing season.
This is the best news of the day. I'm so glad that you turned out to be wrong about Cora!
What a fabulous story! Even I missed Cora. Such happy pictures. You made my day.
What wonderful news. So happy for Julia and Cora! Congratulations on the new arrivals.
OMGosh! I wonder where Cora was?
Glad she's safe and back home.
Your last pic. in this post - the one with Julia, her big happy smile, holding that big lamb - this is a pic. that needs to be framed and saved forever.
Where do you suppose Cora has been all this time?
Lindy in AZ
Hadn't read your blog for a couple days...what a great new year for miss Julia...and Cora, of course!
Edith in Cali
Oh such good news! And what a surprise!
What wonderful news! Cora looks so proud in the photo with Julia and Cora's lamb.
What can I say. Totally amazing. Smile
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