Post by Taxigirl on Apr 11, 2004 9:59:58 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3616467.stm
AWWWWWW WANT ONE ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
An Irish cottage industry making plastic overcoats for new-born lambs is a surprise hit with British farmers.
The smart, blue, plastic jackets are put on lambs just hours after their birth to keep them dry and warm and to confuse predatory foxes.
Volunteers in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, sold 25,000 of the jackets in the UK and Ireland during the winter.
Sales of the overcoats - designed by a village priest - will fund a school for children with learning difficulties.
Life jackets
Local farmer Seamus Leigh uses the new coats to ensure his lambs survive the most vulnerable period of their lives.
"The most critical stage in a lamb's life is its first four to five days," he said.
"If we get the jackets on them within two hours of them being born then they stand a better chance."
Farmers say foxes are bemused by the sight of the bright blue-coated lambs and stay away from them.
Customers are now ordering the coats in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Margaret Byrne, a voluntary worker who makes the coats said she was surprised the idea had been such a success.
"We started off with it being a small adventure and it has since really taken off," she said.
AWWWWWW WANT ONE ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
An Irish cottage industry making plastic overcoats for new-born lambs is a surprise hit with British farmers.
The smart, blue, plastic jackets are put on lambs just hours after their birth to keep them dry and warm and to confuse predatory foxes.
Volunteers in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, sold 25,000 of the jackets in the UK and Ireland during the winter.
Sales of the overcoats - designed by a village priest - will fund a school for children with learning difficulties.
Life jackets
Local farmer Seamus Leigh uses the new coats to ensure his lambs survive the most vulnerable period of their lives.
"The most critical stage in a lamb's life is its first four to five days," he said.
"If we get the jackets on them within two hours of them being born then they stand a better chance."
Farmers say foxes are bemused by the sight of the bright blue-coated lambs and stay away from them.
Customers are now ordering the coats in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Margaret Byrne, a voluntary worker who makes the coats said she was surprised the idea had been such a success.
"We started off with it being a small adventure and it has since really taken off," she said.