Mabel came from a commercial flock a little further up the valley. Her mother sadly died when she was only 2 days old. Being born in July (a late lamb), there were no other ewes to put her on, and the farmer couldn’t manage his daily duties alongside a little lamb that needed hand feeding. We agreed Mabel would come into my care for 3 days. Within half an hour, she was in the house. And she never left.
Brought up inside the house, I would be sculpting with one hand and feeding Mabel with the other. She was included in all aspects of our family life – we even took her on dog walks (although she couldn’t always manage the whole thing, so she went in the baby carrier some of the way). One of our dogs, Cossy, was only a puppy at the time, and quickly became best friends with Mabel. The two got up to a fair amount of mischief – one would steal something and the other would help chew it up!
Mabel now lives in the yard and is a farm favourite. She eventually realised she isn’t a dog, but that doesn’t stop her behaving like one. Far From would not be the same without her little face greeting you on your return to the farm.
Fun fact: Mabel loves her ears being played with. Why? Well, Cossington loves sucking others’ ears! “Put your sister’s ear down” was a common phrase in our house when they were babies. They’re a funny pair!
Despite Mabel’s good health and comfortable life, we still need a helping hand looking after her. If you can spare some money for hay, straw or feed, Mabel and the rest of her Far From family would be extremely grateful.
We opened the Far From Holiday Retreat in order to provide us with funds to enable us to continue our work with these beautiful animals. All new arrivals must be microchipped and passported (and normally they aren’t), vaccinated three times, rasped, wormed and given a general health check by the vet – with the majority requiring many more visits to ensure that they are happy and healthy.
If you are unable to come and visit us, you can still help us to continue our work by supporting us financially. We have included a couple of options below.
Mabel beds on a deep bed of barley straw as it offers comfort and warmth through the colder nights.
Hay is Mabels main source of feed, being a breed that have been designed to live on the welsh mountains – Mabel needs very little nourishment and can easily become over weight.
Mabel has a little ewe feed each day as a bedtime treat. She is always very excited over her few little pellets. Mabel struggles with her weight so is only allowed a few.