Sproing sproing runrunrun sproing!

April 22, 2010 9:56 AM

It's lambing season. Did you know that lambs can jump really high? Ever seen a lambpede?

The black lamb in this video is named Mistral, and yes, that's a sweater she's wearing. Mistral had a tough first few days and needed the extra warmth until she got her strength up. In the lambpede video above, you can see her at the back of the pack, just learning to flock.

More pictures and plenty of posts about lambing season on the SheepGal blog. For more leaping sheep, see Foxfire Fiber's YouTube channel. The sheep at Foxfire are Cormo, specially crossbred to produce a super fine, soft wool for handspinning. The Flickr set above is of another "spinner's flock" in the UK; they're mostly Ryeland sheep, a rare breed whose wool is known for being extra springy and resilient.

posted by clavicle (51 comments total)

I am relieved to find that a lambpede is not, in fact, a hybrid lamb/centipede.
posted by Iridic at 10:01 AM on April 22, 2010 [24 favorites]

Warning: Cute Bomb.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:01 AM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

They're so cute I could just eat them up. Really. I want to eat them.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 10:02 AM on April 22, 2010 [8 favorites]

I loves me some gamboling.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:02 AM on April 22, 2010 [4 favorites]

Oh man, now I want to sell my house and go be a sheep farmer. They are so cute loping around!
posted by frecklefaerie at 10:02 AM on April 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

And yet again I am reminded of Human Centipede. Thanks, Internet.
posted by mccarty.tim at 10:05 AM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

I house sat for my Aunt once during lamb season and one of my responsibilities was to bottle feed the two lambs that were house bound as their mother died during birth. There is nothing cuter than lambs scrabbling on kitchen floors, cuddling up in doggie beds and sucking on bottles. It remains one of the happiest memories of my life.
posted by kanata at 10:06 AM on April 22, 2010 [4 favorites]

"Where's Bee?"
posted by ErikaB at 10:07 AM on April 22, 2010 [10 favorites]

They can jump really high, including onto hay rolls, which they'll trample into the ground and then not eat, because lambs are ultimately stupid.

My sheep farming uncle used to say that lambs made him feel more like a warden than a farmer.
posted by klangklangston at 10:08 AM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

I raised lambs in 4H... This brings back some hilarious and sweet memories. Very cool.

I tried Benny Hillifying the lamb races, but it's much better in it's original serene state. The hay whispering as little hooves trample through it is such a great sound.
posted by Xoebe at 10:16 AM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

I am relieved to find that a lambpede is not, in fact, a hybrid lamb/centipede.

And yet again I am reminded of Human Centipede. Thanks, Internet.

Yeah, I saw the link text and my first thought was that it was going to be trailer for a sequel to Black Sheep that was going to be a spoof of the Human Centipede.
posted by Caduceus at 10:18 AM on April 22, 2010

Needless to say, the actual video was much, much better. Thanks!
posted by Caduceus at 10:18 AM on April 22, 2010

I did know that it's lambing season, since I picked up my baby spring lamb from my butcher on Easter weekend. The key is to cook them so the skin gets nice and crispy.
posted by snottydick at 10:19 AM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

I can’t click on the links because I’m at work, but I’ll just stare at this point and imagine the cuteness contained inside.
posted by dinty_moore at 10:19 AM on April 22, 2010

I did know that it's lambing season, since I picked up my baby spring lamb from my butcher on Easter weekend.

I read that and thought awww - how nice of them to save a baby lamb from the OH MY GOD
posted by cashman at 10:21 AM on April 22, 2010 [13 favorites]

This post vastly improved my mood. Can't help smiling at goofy little lambs!
posted by sarcasticah at 10:22 AM on April 22, 2010

OK, now I want a pet lamb.

Lambs in disguise: a lamb that thinks it's a dog and a lamb that thinks it's a kid.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:31 AM on April 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

Kids are baby goats (not sheep), but they are a heaping bowl of cute (SLYT) nonetheless.
posted by thesmophoron at 10:33 AM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sheep pig. Bizarre.
posted by Daddy-O at 10:34 AM on April 22, 2010

(Turns out that's a video of a lamb after all. I should have paid more attention.)
posted by thesmophoron at 10:35 AM on April 22, 2010

...damn good disguise, isn't it thesmophoron?
posted by madamjujujive at 10:39 AM on April 22, 2010

Every so often a friend here in Brunswick will make a joke about eating lamb or veal, har har har. Those moments are bricks for the sacred Wall that separates me and everything else in Georgia.
posted by JHarris at 10:39 AM on April 22, 2010

I can't be the only one who repeatedly fell asleep watching these.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:40 AM on April 22, 2010 [5 favorites]

thesmophoron: Kids are baby goats (not sheep), but they are a heaping bowl of cute (SLYT) nonetheless.

That was cute, but honestly, who names their kid Bambi?
posted by JHarris at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2010

This just in: surfing sheep.
posted by clavicle at 10:42 AM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

klang's Uncle Jeff took his job as "lamb warden" very seriously, remonstrating them by "name," the name being the number spray painted in day-glo orange on their backs.

One day, they staged a break, leaping over the fence as Jeff approached with the buckets of corn for their feed. (Well, he may have incited the break by being a tad late with the feed buckets.) They leapt the fence, knocking Jeff & the buckets to the ground, scarfing the corn as fast as they could while their sistren (only a rare few "brothers" are kept for, um, husbandly duties) screamed just the other side--it was like that Cagney movie where they riot in the mess hall--was that White Heat?

Jeff saw his duties not as farmer & livestock, but as klang said above, he was the warden, and so had to "make an example" out of one of the jailbreakers, as if those damned sheep knew wtf he was on about.

Ah, Jeff, we miss you. And we know that you are looking down at earth from your place in eternity and saying--OMFG! Brett Favre is a Viking?!?!?!?!?!?
posted by beelzbubba at 10:44 AM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

Little lambs eat ivy.
posted by MotherTucker at 10:44 AM on April 22, 2010

Hey, sweet! I just won a lamb cookoff last weekend! They are both adorable and delicious, especially if made into lamb confit!
posted by Greg Nog at 10:50 AM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

LAMB IS WATCHING
posted by Smart Dalek at 11:13 AM on April 22, 2010

I'm eating home-made maplewood-smoked lamb right now. Right now--I put a piece in my mouth just so I could truthfully state that. I haven't yet watched the videos, but I can definitively confirm that lambs are, indeed, delicious.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:27 AM on April 22, 2010

Did you know that lambs can jump really high?

I actually did -- saw one once that had jumped about 100 feet.
Almost straight down, sadly.
posted by inigo2 at 11:29 AM on April 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

MotherTucker: I was just sure that you had linked to this video.
posted by komara at 11:38 AM on April 22, 2010

This is what happens to lambs before they get to your table.
posted by Human Flesh at 12:34 PM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

^ SPOILER ALERT
posted by kuujjuarapik at 12:59 PM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is what happens to lambs before they get to your table.

They get slaughtered? Who knew.
posted by monospace at 1:23 PM on April 22, 2010 [4 favorites]

I'ma gonna hug one.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:28 PM on April 22, 2010

Little gamboling lamb,
Do you know where you am?
In a patch of mint.
I'll give you a hint:
Scram,
Lamb!

-- Ogden Nash
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:35 PM on April 22, 2010

This is what happens to lambs before they get to your table.
posted by Human Flesh at 3:34 PM on April 22 [has favorites +] [!] [Q]

you're one to talk.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:40 PM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yay, lambs! Lambs were one of my favorite things about spring when I lived in Scotland as a kid. The ones I lived near didn't run around all that much, but they did like to spontaneously leap into the air. It was quite a sight to see!
posted by non-kneebiter at 2:04 PM on April 22, 2010

I think they're just instinctively strengthening their leg muscles so they may be able to escape predators.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:08 PM on April 22, 2010

My mother decided that she wanted to raise a lamb when I was an early teenager. It was named "Raymond" after the Basque sheepherder who gave it to her. He lived in the kitchen, originally, which it covered in liquid shit because she had to feed him cows milk. He also proved ithimelf stupider than pretty much any animal I'd known till then. He did survive (I'm not sure how, with its feeding problem) to be big enough to put out in the back yard to eat grass. I'm sure he kept the lawn in check, but really wanted to get back in the house. Trying to get in the back door eventually became like Ramdome - he would try to butt you of the steps into the back door since it didn't occur to him that he couldn't open it by himself. She eventually got rid of him, but didn't listen to my pleas to have him butchered so I could enjoy the lamb chops.

So, just remember, kids, that lambs are not meant to be house pets, no matter how cute they may appear,
posted by path at 3:02 PM on April 22, 2010

Sheep are actually pretty smart if you keep in mind THEIR perspective on things as a flock animal!

(For another example, if you've ever had a pet rabbit, they're not so hot on being picked up from the ground because, duh, that has some pretty bad associations out in the wild, you hawk, you).

It's been proven that they can recognize individual faces -- both human and ovine -- years after first encounter. My friend's sheep prove this every time I see them, which is only about 2x a year -- the ones who particularly like me because I'll hang out and scritch them for hours come running to the fence the second they spot me.

Another shepherd's flock of wethers moaned for DAYS after I left their ranch -- he said that for a week afterward, they congregated in the spot where I'd stood with them every morning, waiting for me to show up with ear scratching.

Sheep are far more clever than they get credit for -- AND adorable.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 3:07 PM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

Cue "Cool story, bro" moment:

Date: May 1997. Place: Tutbury Castle grounds (thanks, Google Maps!)

I was waiting for a meeting with the caretaker, with whom I'd become friends. He was late coming home.

A tiny lamb was lying akimbo in the road, having walked out underneath the fence, clearly sick. I picked the lamb up, and cuddled it for a minute or two. Warmed up, I set it down inside the fence, and it stayed there.

The caretaker's car approached.

The lamb dashed out onto the road again, and took up it's "clearly sick" posture.

The caretaker stopped, picked it up, and put it back beyond the fence. He wasn't buying the schtick.
posted by IAmBroom at 3:32 PM on April 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

Those lambs look like they want their mommies.
posted by mr. strange at 3:53 PM on April 22, 2010

Sous-chef! I need garlic, olive oil, ginger and pepper, stat!
posted by Decimask at 4:43 PM on April 22, 2010

I've watched this video of 18-mo old Annabelle playing hide and seek with the family dog like fifty times. She looks like she was animated by Warner Bros.

The lambpede in springtime is one of my favourite memories of rural Greek island living. You'd think it'd be terrifying to have 50 lambs coming straight for you, but it's exactly as fluffy and adorable as being buffeted by 50 tiny smiling pillows with hoofs.
posted by annathea at 5:47 PM on April 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

They get slaughtered? Who knew.

Actually, it looks like they get jammed into a room, then have a chain hooked around a back leg and are hoisted up into the air, then are stunned with an electrical pulse to the head, then have a hole punched in their jugular to drain the blood while they kick and knock against one another, while the other lambs in the room watch in fear and jam themselves into a corner as far away from the guy with the chain as they can get.

It's an interesting video, tough to watch all the way through. Certainly worth more than a snarky one-liner.
posted by mediareport at 5:58 PM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

That jump is not "really high". I can easily jump higher than that.
posted by colinshark at 6:15 PM on April 22, 2010

I support any animal that has a built in smile.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 6:29 PM on April 22, 2010

It's an interesting video, tough to watch all the way through.

You think that's bad, you should see what they do to make hideous Christmas sweaters.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:15 PM on April 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Rosemary and garlic + rack of lamb = #1. In South Africa, lamb was cheap!

Lambs are cute, yes indeed. Sheep are nice people, it's true. Braver and more clever than folks realize. And lambs are very tasty.
posted by Goofyy at 6:08 AM on April 23, 2010