Lorraine-Lee Tyerman, The First Ten Minutes of Life (DOCO 2025)

I’m fortunate to see new life frequently living on a sheep and cattle station in the outback of NSW. Watching new life come into the world is an amazing experience, but unlike most human babies the life of a lamb can be fraught with many obstacles. I was able to document the first ten minutes of what appeared to be a not-so-gentle greeting to the world for this new addition to the flock. The lamb was up on its feet quickly, when the ewe started to walk away from it. The first obstacle for the little lamb was to climb over the concrete foundation of a water trough, there was an easier way around the trough, so it was a mystery to me why the ewe chose the more difficult path. The ewe gave appropriate encouragement to start the lamb climbing, but then walked off and let the lamb climb for itself. Once the lamb made it over the foundation it lost its mother and went to various other sheep trying to find her by constantly calling baa, and sniffing the ewes. If a ewe does not own a lamb it will kick it away sending it sprawling on the sand. I watched this little newborn go to several sheep and get kicked away before it reunited with its mother, in what was a very tender moment. The new mother was very attentive of her new lamb after the separation, as they walked out further in to the paddock with the rest of the sheep. Before documenting this newborn I did not see the harsh treatment the lambs can suffer. I raise the orphan lambs I find, and it is now even easier to understand how the lambs get separated from their mothers. These orphan lambs are at the mercy of crows, eagles, and wild pigs without their mother to protect them. This unfortunately, is nature.

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