We’ve got a Tesla!

This year our diaries will record the extreme weather conditions that were no farmed animal’s friend—cold snaps, bitter frosts, and strong winds. To make matters worse, poor feed quality for pregnant ewes added further strain. Hypothermia, predation, pneumonia, you name it, the outlook of weakened little lambs was grim.

Yet each precious lamb who has found sanctuary with us has been given a name as unique as their personality; and each year, we have a theme. From countries and towns around the world, Elton John songs, prefixes of Miss and Mister, to this year’s one of makes and models of cars, we are proud to announce we have a Tesla!

Representing lamb number 39 is this sweet little black and white Dorper. As agile as she is adorable, and as fluffy as she is incredibly friendly, we shall never know her entire backstory. But what we do know is that, had she not been singled out by kindness when she was, there probably would be no story left to tell. 

Having shaken off the uncertainty of her past life, that space is now filled with her best buddies, Aston Martin, Bentley and Cadillac. Over and over, it never ceases to amaze us how readily accepting lambs are of newcomers. Rather than jealously guarding their good fortune of sanctuary, a brief sniff of introduction, and their lives shift gears from snuggle piles in warm beds to rambunctious gambolling about that leaves no one in doubt about their joie de vivre. 

As we watched Tesla take the lead among her buddies, it occurred to us that, just like her namesake, she is an innovator with the courage and confidence to forge her own path. In fact, one may think of her as the Amelia Earhart of the ovine world. The only difference? Tesla’s navigation system has led her straight to our hearts, and it’s perfectly sound.

If only all lambs could know such a life as hers, what a wonderful world it would be. But for now, countless stories will never be told, as many lambs die alone in paddocks and fields, succumbing to frosts and predators on a scale that so few can ever imagine. The contrast between their lives and Tesla’s bubbly existence is a sliding door moment that no being should ever have to face.

Their lives shall now be ones full of meaning to them, no longer impinged upon by having to be of service to ours. Knowing these animals to be “someone” and not “something”, it is difficult to comprehend why they are so routinely excluded from compassionate care and animal protection legislation. For surely, if history has taught us anything, it is that beneath the skin, we are kin. Perhaps it is time to be like Tesla and have the courage and confidence to recognise this – keeping lambs off our plates, and instead in our hearts where they truly belong.