Video by: Brynn Carman 

Cam Jr., Camilla, Aggie, Moby and Lory: these are names of the lambs born to Cam the Ram earlier this month.

Five newborn Rambouillet sheep are being used by a CSU professor to track growth from an embryo to a fully grown ram, according to Kraig Peel, an animal science professor.

“(Doing) something like this (allows) students to see where rams come from,” said Peel. “They don’t just start out as rams that are really impressive and fun to look at — they start out as babies, just like everything else.”

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Photo credit: Abbie Parr

Peel said this is the first time CSU has mated the rams and made an effort to track their growth. He purchased the mothers last fall, and after a gestation period of five months, one set of triplets and one set of twins were born in early April. There are three females and two males.

“I bought the two ewes myself,” Peel said. “They are at my house. There is no lodging or expenses. We are not doing research on them.”

It takes about two years for a lamb to become fully grown, according to Peel. He said it is not too soon to tell if one of them will be the next Cam the Ram.

“When you look at the Cams, they are proud and they stand up tall,” Peel said. “That is not normal for every ram you see. We try to pick up rams that have a little bit of an attitude, and structurally, they are sound and have a good solid base to them.”

Ram Handler Cody Poos, a junior animal science major, said his job involves taking care of everything related to Cam, including scheduling his event appearances, shearing him and making sure he is fed.

“A lot of people think that Cam is just a pet,” said Poos. “It is important they know he is a farm animal and he has to be raised differently than a dog or a cat would. You can’t really go love and cuddle with him.”

Poos said he enjoys having the responsibility to care for Cam, and he is trying to show the community that Cam is more than just an animal to take photos with.

Ram Handler Kimberly Perez, a senior animal sciences major, said Cam plays a large part in bringing not only the CSU community together, but the Fort Collins community as well.

“I think it is important, not just for agricultural students, but for the community just to know where these rams are coming from,” Perez said. “It is important for the community to understand what it takes for us to have a ram as a mascot.”

Hundreds of people engaged with the CSU Facebook page, commenting and giving their suggestions for the names.

Perez said having the baby lambs creates a positive buzz around campus.

“My goal is that this provides an example of our land grant university,” Peel said. “What (could be) a better way to help the whole student body understand what we do?”

Collegian Assistant News Editor Christina Vessa can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChrissyVessa.

CTV News Reporter Brynn Carman can be reached at news@collegian.com or on twitter at @BrynnCarmanTV.