“Having animals around my three children is really important. It teaches them unconditional love, even though they should unconditionally love their parents! It teaches them to love and care for something other than themselves.
“Last September we had eight piglets; my daughter Maisie’s kindy teacher took one of them. She messaged me two weeks ago to say they’d had a lamb born that evening and the mother had abandoned it.
The mum had twins and the first baby she took on fine and then Reggie came along and she didn’t want a bar of him. So we got him when he was less than 24 hours old, which is huge. It’s like having a newborn, they have to be fed every four to six hours, and kept in the house attached to you for at least the first week.
“Most people keep lambs inside for about six to nine weeks, so we will see how we go. We may end up looking for a friend who is about the same age as Reggie and pop them both outside together. It will be quite hard for me to put him outside. We have an area outside that is all fenced off.
We put him out there last week and he was trying to get back through the fence to us and he couldn’t work it out. Queenie the dog realised what he was doing and took him the long way around the fence over to the little bridge and showed him how to get out, so now we can’t put him in there. It’s so crazy. I wonder if they do communicate.
“I’m not vegan or vegetarian but it has made me think more about what I’m eating and where I’m getting my food. Reggie has settled in with our family like a puppy would. I can’t imagine my life without him anymore.”
