Helen King with a much bigger Teeny Weeny two months on. PHOTO/GIANINA SCHWANECKE
GIANINA SCHWANECKE
Against the odds, a tiny Wairarapa lamb who weighed just 1.45 kilograms when born has made it and is looking for a new home.
Teeny Weeny was born at the Kingsmeade dairy farm, east of Masterton, just under two months ago – the farm specialises in artisan cheeses made from DairyMeade sheep milk.
Helen King, daughter of owners Miles and Janet King, said he was one of three in a set of triplets when she found him in the paddock.
“I just saw a little white dot and it was the tiniest lamb.”
According to the BBC, the world’s smallest lamb is believed to have been born in Spalding, Licolnshire in 2014 – a pedigree Shetland lamb named Titch, he weighed just 800grams when born.
Teeny Weeny’s two siblings were almost four times his size, weighing in at the healthy average of about 4.5 kilograms.
“He was basically the size of a chihuahua. Dad said he was the smallest lamb he’d seen in more than 20 years that lived.”
Getting him up to size was a massive undertaking involving many nights and lots of love.
“We didn’t think he’d make it. Dad said not to get too attached,” King said.
“He was really sick for two to three days and then he started to come right.”
She attributed this to pairing him with another sick lamb.
“I think they kept each other alive,” she said.
They fed him milk from the bottle six times a day for several weeks alongside antibiotics to help him gain strength.
Two months on, King estimates he now weighs about 10kg and he’s down to just one bottle a day.
Unfortunately, being born a ram, Teeny Weeny will soon have to look for a home like several of their other bottle-fed lambs.
King said he’d make a great family pet or lawn mower for a happy family.
Anyone interested in adopting Teeny Weeny or one of the other lambs, get in touch by calling Helen on 06 3775252.
