Shepherding in a Flock of Campus Cuteness

Checking off chores, logging onto virtual lectures, plopping a lamb in a bucket—it’s all in a day’s work for students taking the hybrid course “Sheep Management.”

The animal science class features the popular “Lamb Watch” experience, during which pairs of Terp shepherds each help their assigned pregnant ewe give birth on UMD’s Campus Farm. This semester, with COVID safety protocols in place, 26 warm and fuzzy additions to the herd sprang to life.

While the baaing babies are certainly cute, the lambing process requires plenty of work, including feeding the ewes, weighing the newborns and cleaning the barn—often in the wee hours. Since all the lambs were born in February, students have been continuing the course with sheep management labs and physical exams.

“This is just not a quiz or an assignment,” said Lorenzo Duldulao ’21. “These are lives that we’re taking care of.”