Vanilla, nicknamed “Nilla” was one of Mary’s oldest sheep in the flock.  She lived to be almost 20 and was the matriarch of the flock.  All the sheep would follow her lead.  She was the best mama.  At first, she was very shy to anyone except Mary. 

As Nilla grew older, she was everyone’s friend.  She would greet anyone at the fence who visited the farm.  She loved the attention! As Nilla aged her teeth got very warn down. Mary started feeding her banana’s with crushed up grain in them. When friends and family got wind of this, they would come by to feed Nilla nannas.  All over town people would call and bring nannas for Nilla.  It was really fun to see her so fired up when she saw someone with a banana. She really was something, the sweetest most friendliest sheep Mary has ever had in the flock. Throughout her life Nilla gave birth to over 50 lambs. 

She raised every one of them, one year she even had 4.  Her best friends were CoCo, and Shiloh the sheep dog.  They all palled around a lot and always were together.  Shiloh would lick her ear and the left-over bananas on her mouth. CoCo benefited because he also got to eat the bananas with Nilla.

Nilla passed away with me by her side and she will forever be in my heart.  Love you always Nilla!