The Oddness of the Lambs.

The land to the back and side of my house comprises a large field containing a small flock of sheep. Some of them are lambs born in the spring and now fully grown, and yesterday I watched intrigued as these adult ‘lambs’ started behaving like young ones.

They were galloping around the field, leaping, bucking, and head butting each other in play fights. I’ve never seen grown up lambs do that before and gave some thought to the possible reasons.

Lambs get very short lives, and those not being retained to bolster the flock get moved on in the autumn while their flesh is still succulent enough to please the palates of non-vegetarians. And so I wondered whether these guys were somehow aware of danger and were showing off their physical prowess as prey animals do in the wild when there are predators about. Then again they might all be females and have somehow come to realise that they are being retained, in which case maybe they were celebrating.

Both possibilities seem equally fanciful, but I think I’ll stick with the latter since I’m not non-vegetarian.