LAMBS lucky enough to be born at the Weik family farm in Tamworth are getting a second shot at life.
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Kristy Weik and her family are hand-raising 16 lambs, after an "unexpected" weather event and a number of multiple births left some of the youngsters struggling.
What started as eight lambs wrapped in blankets and resting by the fire in her home at Daruka, quickly became 16 lambs sleeping under special heat lights in a pen outside, slurping up more than 15 litres of milk every day.
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They all wait impatiently for their bellies to be filled with the powdered milk mix up to six times-a-day.
But, she believes it's all worth it.
"Once they've had their milk they all jump around and start playing together and watching them just love life and lay in the sun together, and we go for a walk and they follow me like a little trail of lambs, it's just beautiful," she said.
But, behind the cuteness is a tragic tale. About three weeks ago, a weekend of freezing cold and wet weather struck Tamworth.
"Ewes lamb in winter and they have woolly coats ... but we had that horrible weather come through, with freezing, bitterly cold wind and sleety, horrible rain," she said.
"Normally they can handle the cold and normally they can handle the wet, but it was just too much.
"I do my best to try and save all the ones the mothers can't handle."
Mrs Weik said she gathered up a bunch of lambs who were freezing or abandoned - many of which were only a day or so old - and took them on as poddy lambs.
Mrs Weik said Dorper Sheep are also renowned for having twins and sometimes triplets, but if there's any kind of struggle, the mothers might not be able to support their lambs.
Three weeks on from the shocking weather and still in the middle of lambing season, she had 16 lambs in her care, from four weeks old to just a few days.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
