Petting Farm to Celebrate Oreo the Lamb's 1st Birthday
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He went from being elbowed aside by his siblings to becoming one of the most recognized animals on the Cal Poly Pomona campus.
On March 26, Oreo the Lamb will celebrate his first birthday with a party live-streamed from Cal Poly Pomona’s Discovery Farm.
The Dorper lamb will receive recorded birthday greeting videos during the event and will enjoy a specially made birthday cake.
“Since people can’t come to our petting farm right now with the COVID-19 restrictions, we decided to hold an online celebration for Oreo that the public can participate in,” Discovery Farm Director Craig Walters said.
Well-wishers can record birthday greetings for Oreo that will be shared during the online celebration. As presents, people can purchase feed for Oreo and the other animals in Cal Poly Pomona’s petting farm.
Viewers of the live stream party will also be able to submit questions in a chat stream. Discovery Farm also will have a special coloring sheet for children that parents can download.
Details for the live stream and public participation are still being worked and will be announced later on the AGRIscapes website, Facebook page, and Instagram account.
Oreo was one in a set of triplets born to an ewe in the Cal Poly Pomona sheep unit last year. When several lambs are born, their mothers can’t always nurse them.
“One or two of the babies may be pushed out of the ways by the bigger siblings, making it so the smaller ones cannot nurse,” said Alicia Seaman, who manages the sheep unit.
Such was the case with Oreo, who was bottle fed by sheep unit workers. As a result, Oreo is very friendly with humans.
Lambs may also need bottle feeding if the mother rejects them or if she cannot produce enough milk, Seaman added.
Oreo’s best friend, another lamb named Bear, was also bottle fed and will join him at the birthday celebration.
The petting farm held a naming contest for the little lamb last May. The public could submit names to the petting farm.
The petting farm then picked the top five and held public online voting for the best name.
More than 900 people across the country – and even a few overseas – picked the name “Oreo,” over Domino, Cosmo, Tuxedo, and Aries.
“Oreo has come a long way. And now he’s just the cutest, friendliest animal around,” Walters said. “We hope the public will join us in celebrating Oreo’s birthday.”