Oscar the Foster

So we have gotten ourselves into more trouble. One of Australia's biggest exports is living livestock. Muslim countries have certain views on how sheep and cattle are to be slaughtered for food. It is called Halal. I won't go into details here, nor will I elaborate on the teachings of a false religion. It is what it is. I won't go into the rights or wrongs of the live sheep trade either. I look at it this way. They are going to import live animals from somewhere. Might as well be from here.

It never occurred to me until yesterday that lambs will be born on the trucks that take sheep from the stations (ranches) to the wharves for loading. It's really quite elementary though. Wherever you have a "B double" road train loaded with ewes, there are bound to be some that are with lamb. These can't be exported as there are rules concerning this on both ends. So what happens to these lambs? Think Canadian Harp Seals. Okay, they are just livestock. They are not endangered species. Still, seems a tad harsh.

Well, yesterday we found out about a guy who takes a truck down to the docks, and 'rescues' the lambs before they are clubbed. He has a network of carers, and yesterday we joined them. So now we have Oscar, a four day old male Merino lamb. He is as cute as a button. He has already commandeered my son's bean bag chair, and a scrap of...wait for it...sheepskin rug, that our cats commandeered from us. He appears to have imprinted on my daughter somewhat. Follows her around the house, bleats if she is out of the room. That sort of thing.

That is the trouble we got ourselves in. Hopefully, it will be all good, and Oscar can be sent to a farm in a couple of months. I am betting that by then we will be so in love with him that we will ask to keep him. It would save me on lawnmowing bills, fertiliser and weed pulling. It would also add a third vet bill to the annual budget. And who is going to shear the thing? So we shall see what happens. At any rate it will teach the children first hand about the responsibility of hand raising a baby animal. Take care. I will keep you posted.