The Coleambally age care facility adopted the six month old lamb last week.
The staff have had plenty of trouble keeping her in the back yard and instead, have embraced her cheeky personality and let her roam free. Barbara shares her bed with Cypress’ pet chooks each evening.
‘‘She is very friendly and answers to her name when called,’’ facility manager Karen Hodgson said.
‘‘She does try and come in the front door and has been known to sneak into residents’ rooms.
‘‘She is also very cheeky and prefers to be outside her yard.
‘‘She constantly finds ways to escape her yard so now we have given up and let her roam freely.
‘‘She does come to the front door of an evening, bleats at the door until staff come and take her back to her yard that she shares with our pet chooks.’’
Barbara was originally adopted to become friends with a much larger animal, with fewer feathers.
Instead, she has found a different home that comes with other responsibilities.
‘‘One of our staff members, Tylia Hill, had adopted her as a poddy lamb and intended taking her to be a companion animal for her horse,’’ Ms Hodgson said.
‘‘She bought her to the lodge as a baby so we could help look after her until she was ready to go out to the paddock.
‘‘We have other ideas now as she has settled in so well with our family.
‘‘Our gardener also loves having her around as she is very good at picking out the weeds.
‘‘Tylia had already given her the name (before she arrived) Baah-Bara.
‘‘The residents love having her around. The old farmers enjoy sharing stories about when they cared for sheep.’’
Barbara will also be joining in on the upcoming festivities at the age care facility.
‘‘One of our residents has suggested we include Barbara in our Melbourne Cup Day festivities,’’ Ms Hodgson said.
‘‘Our activities officer is currently designing a special outfit for her for the day.’’