Advice has been issued by DEFA for anyone who has acquired a meg lamb recently.

All livestock keepers must register with the department before accepting animals and must ensure their livestock are correctly identified.

As with other livestock, meg lambs can only be moved to other registered holdings and they must be tagged.

Lambs being reared on non-registered premises must be returned as soon as possible. As a general rule it is worth remembering that your cute little meg lamb will grow on significantly and can become, at the very least, a bit of nuisance.

At the worst they can become difficult to handle or even aggressive and this is especially true if they have been hand-reared. Entire male lambs often become aggressive as they grow into rams.

DEFA’s advice also states: ’All stock-keepers must have access to easy-to-use and efficient handling systems of the right size and type to control their animals.

’This is so that you can routinely manage and treat them, and to make sure that they are quietly, safely and firmly handled.

’Failure to treat because of lack of handling control is not acceptable and the welfare of the animal consequently suffers.’

What starts out as a pet can become quite a responsibility. For more advice visit the Keeping Farm animals as Pets page on the DEFA website.