Shadowland Farm
1976 at the School of Homesteading
1998 Lambing Updates
By Wendy Price
January 27
4:43 PM
The lambing season has
started.This morning when I got up, I looked out the kitchen window
and could see most of the ewes were bunched up at the gate behind the henhouse.
Sheep, like many other animals, like to go off by themselves to give birth.
Since the barnyard is so small, I know from past years that the ewes will
often group together to give a laboring ewe room to birth. So I felt a
lamb (or two) were on the ground or a ewe was in labor. When I got to the
barnyard there was one lamb and two ewes claiming it. I could tell right
away, without even seeing the backend of the ewes, which was the mother
and which ewe was trying to steal the lamb. The sire of all the lambs this
year is Randy, our black face Suffolk. The lamb was white with brown on
her nose, so I knew she came from a white faced mother and the ewe with
the black face had to be the thief. I got lamb and true mother into the
barn. The first lamb born in 1998 was a single female weighing 12 pounds.
The mother is Triad, a white face Polypay.
At 10:30 a set of female
twins was born in the front field. The thief wanted these lambs, too. She
is not due for 10 days, but for some reason the mothering instinct has
kicked in. It is not that unusual for this to happen. Often ewes that have
never given birth are very curious about new lambs on the ground and will
check out the lambs. Last year I had two ewes that gave birth at the same
time and when I went out I had two ewes claiming 4 lambs. I felt pretty
sure that one ewe had given birth to triplets and the other to a single
although there was no way for me to be sure of that or which lambs belonged
to which ewe, so I just made two sets of twins and the ewes did not seem
to know the difference. Today's twins weighed 13 and 10½ pounds.
Years ago Dennis made me
a lamb mover by taking an old sled and tying a plastic milk crate onto
it. I can put the lambs into the crate and, with a long rope tied to the
front, drag the sled back to the barn. The sled and crate are low enough
that the ewe can see and smell the lambs and usually she will just follow
right along with me back to the barn. Once at the barn I put ewe and lamb(s)
into a jug- 4’ X 4’ pen,where they stay for 3 days or so. This helps the
ewe and lamb(s) to bond, lambs don't get lost and I can keep an eye on
everyone. Once the pen is closed I give water to the ewe (lambing causes
a great thirst in the ewes) and a little hay. Then I weigh the lamb(s),
put an ear tag into the appropriate ear (right if female, left if male),
and trim the navel cord and dip it in iodine (to prevent infection). Then
back in the pen with mom and me to be sure that each lamb gets a good drink
of the first milk, the colostrum, which gives the lambs antibodies from
the ewes system. Most of the time just holding the lamb under the ewe and
guiding the head to the teat, will get all the instincts working. Sometimes
though a lamb will be chilled or stupid and all the holding and pushing
of the teat into the lambs mouth will not succeed in getting the lamb to
drink. For the past few years I have been using what looks like a turkey
baster to feed uncooperative lambs. I can milk the ewe into the syringe-like
bottom, put the baster bulb on it, stick it into the lamb’s mouth and give
a little squeeze of milk. Sometimes that's all it takes and the lamb sucks
the baster dry. Sometimes I have to slowly squeeze the whole thing into
its mouth. After it gets a full baster-2 ounces- I feel it has a really
good chance of living. The worst case scenario is when the lamb has no
sucking instinct. Then I have to put a tube into its stomach and force
feed it with a syringe attached to the tube. I hate that procedure; it's
a last gasp effort to keep a lamb alive. Okay. End of lamb lecture
for today.
January 28
5:14 PM
No new lambs today-so
far. The smaller of the twins born yesterday
was crying a lot yesterday afternoon which usually means there is something
wrong (just like a human baby). I made up some lamb milk replacer and gave
her two feedings. That seemed to do the trick. She must not have been getting
enough from her mother. I think she just wasn't able to completely understand
how to find the teat herself. When I stuck her under and held her head
she seemed to do fine, but for some reason she couldn't manage it on her
own. I'm keeping an eye on her although she seems to be fine today And
it would be hard not to be fine today. The temps were in the high 50’s
and the sun was shinning brightly. Dennis and I went for a ride on the
tandem. It felt like spring. We are supposed to have 3 or 4 more days of
mild, sunny weather. I just hope the ewes don't wait til it turns cold
or wet.
January 29
7:57 PM
At 6:30 this morning I let
the ewes out of the barn yard and took them to the front field. Then came
back to the house for breakfast. Around 8 I went to the barn and fed the
twins born on Tuesday. Yesterday evening the lambs seemed hungry and when
I felt the ewes udder, it seemed hard right in the middle between the two
sides (does every one know that a ewe's udder has two halves and two teats?).
I thought it might be mastitis and started her on penicillin. Dennis started
supplementing the lambs with milk replacer at the midnight check. So we
are feeding them every 4 hours. The first born, and the larger of the two
lambs, has a rattling in her chest, so I am giving her penicillin, too.
I am hoping that it is not pneumonia. It is not easy giving an injection
into the muscle of a 12 pound lamb that seems to be all bone. By the way,
the name of this ewe is Puppet (Maggie, I think you named this one).
After feeding lambs and
giving hay and water to the two ewes in the barn, I took corn and hay to
the rest of the flock. The ewes practically knock me down to get at the
corn unless Oreo is with me, which she usually is. One ewe was not interested
in the corn and when I checked her vulva, there was a string of fluid.
She had already broken her water bag. I fed the rams, the calves, and the
ewes who are still two weeks or more away from lambing (they are in a different
field than the ones due now.) Still Polynesia (a Polypay ewe-did you guess?)
had not birthed her lamb. So I came in the house for a bit and kept an
eye on her with the binoculars through the window. This is her first birthing
even though she is two years old. We expose our ewe lambs to the ram, but
they sometimes do not settle in the 6 week period that we allow for the
season. We keep ewe lambs one more year, but an older ewe that does not
settle goes to market right after breeding season or if she loses the lamb
before birthing, off she goes. I expect that sounds hard hearted to some
of you, but this is supposed to be a business and make money.
Back to Polynesia.
Around 10:30, I could see her really pushing, so I got the lambmobile (AKA
the sled) and went out to find a lamb on the ground and two hooves showing
from her vulva. I waited what seemed like quite awhile as she licked and
“talked” to the lamb. I decided to try to get the lamb under her as he
was up on his feet and obviously hungry. It was a bad move to make with
a first timer. She panicked and ran away with half a lamb sticking out
of her. The lamb slipped out even more as she ran. And eventually the lamb
plopped out on the ground as the ewe ran off. It took a lot of coaxing
and patience, which I didn't have earlier, to get her to lick the lambs,
get them into the lambmobile, and back to the barn. Around 4 Dennis
and I let out Triad and her lamb after first cutting off the lamb's tail.
We put the two of them in the barn yard and when the ewes came back to
the barn tonight they all had to check out the new little sheep. What a
trauma to be nuzzled and snuffed by 20 or so BIG ewes. We also decided
then that we needed to do more for Puppet as the lambs are not getting
enough milk and also for Polynesia because she also does not seem to have
enough milk. So both of them got Oxytocin, a drug to stimulate milk let
down. They will get 3 more doses. I hope this will do the trick. So now
I am feeding 4 lambs every four hours. Dennis works tonight so I will not
be able to sleep straight through the night as I have the last three nights.
There is still one ewe overdue from Tuesday, 3 due tomorrow, three Sat.,
three Sun., 4 Tues., 2 Wed., etc. By this time next week there will be
lambs everywhere and I'll be going crazy-especially if I have as much trouble
as these last two ewes have given me.
Thanks to those of you who
have written back to me. I will try to answer your notes as I have the
time. Please send questions or comments if you would like. Thanks for the
positive feedback on my “stories”.
January 31
2:44 PM
I didn't write yesterday
because I was too tired and too discouraged. Friday started out at
12:30 AM with a feeding for the lambs. I then slept on the couch til 2:30,
then went out to check the ewes. I found Marigold laying down right behind
the barn with a just born lamb still with its back hooves in her. There
was a second lamb about three feet away and a third lamb 3 feet from that.
I could tell that she had a hard delivery. First, she was not able to get
up and second, the first and third lamb were yellow. From my experience,
a difficult birth often is accompanied by a yellow or orange tinge to the
wool. I don't know if this happens as the lamb is birthed or if the lamb
has been like this in the womb for days. Often the lambs are very
big or they are mispresented. A correctly presented lamb comes out with
the two front legs first with the head right on top of them. Any other
presentation and the ewe usually will have a hard time.
So I took the lambs into
the barn and finally got Marigold up and in with the lambs. She had no
interest in them and had no milk to give them. What is going on with the
lack of milk?? I brought the lambs to the basement and with my hair dryer
started drying them off. We have a little electric space heater so I put
them in front of that while I got some colostrum ready. I always try to
freeze three or four doses(2 ounces = a dose) of colostrum each year for
emergencies. In order not to kill the antibodies, you have to heat up the
colostrum slowly-no microwaving allowed. So I heated it up slowly on the
stove-one batch at a time and fed each lamb 2 ounces. By that time they
were dry and on their feet and banging around the basement. I took
them back to the ewe. Still no milk. I gave her a shot of Oxytocin to try
to stimulate the milk as well as help her pass her afterbirth and tighten
her uterus. I also started her on penicillin as a precaution. By this time
it was time for the other lambs to be fed. After that I washed up bottles,
cleaned up the basement(you wouldn't believe how much stuff came off those
three lambs who were born in the dirt and became covered with mud!) and
cleaned up the kitchen. You know you are a shepherdess when you have lamb
bottles in the strainer, syringes and needles on the counter and milk replacer
and bottles of drugs in the fridge. So I finally got back on the couch
at 6 AM. The phone woke me at 7:15, so I got up. When Dennis got home we
talked about what we were going to do. I used all the colostrum that I
had frozen last year. I still have some from two years ago, but only enough
for 3 or 4 lambs. I have 15 ewes due in the next 6 days. What if no one
has milk? Dennis went on the internet and found a source of a ewe colostrum
replacer. To next day deliver enough for 5 lambs, it would cost $45.00(next
day air and special delivery on a Saturday). Well, I don't want the lambs
to die, but that seemed ridiculous. I ordered enough for 15 lambs. It will
be delivered on Monday for less than 40.00. Then I called our vet and told
him what was going on. When he heard the story , he had a few suggestions.
He was concerned that the ewes were not eating the hay offered them. We
have had such a mild winter that our pastures have been growing grass and
we have been moving the ewes from field to field so they could eat it.
Most of the grass is fescue. Fescue can contain an endophyte which apparently
can affect a ewes or mares ability to produce milk. We knew it sometimes
kept lambs and calves from growing well, but we had never heard about it
affecting the ewes. The ewes haven't been hungry as we have been feeding
them corn and offering them hay, which they have not been interested in.
Doc suggested that we put them in a very small area to force them to eat
the hay. Yesterday morning after feeding I put up a fence and started feeding
them the best hay we have. Will this work in time? No one knows, but for
now it seems like all we can do.
As for the ones in the barn,
Doc gave me a drug he uses on horses to try to stimulate milk production.
I spent two hours yesterday afternoon driving to the vet, getting a lot
of drugs, then driving home. There was no time for a nap with feedings
of 7 lambs every 4 hours and checking the ewes every two. When Dennis
got up I told him what Doc had said. He, of course, was very rational and
started talking about how we might set up a lamb nursery for 50 or 60 lambs.
It sounds doable, but I am devastated. The ewes are supposed to feed the
lambs. Should I have been more concerned that the ewes weren't eating hay?
Should I have been more concerned that some ewes don't seem to have an
udder(that means that the udder is not filling up with milk)? I felt sick
and when I went out at 10:30 and 12:30, I was dreading finding newborn
lambs. At 12:30, I did find two newborns with Daisy. She is one of the
few ewes to have a large udder and amazingly she had milk. The lambs were
vigorous and “attacked” her very quickly. I milked out one dose of colostrum
and have it in the fridge. I feel as if I've had a reprieve. It probably
wont last, but I don't think I would have been able to make it last night,
if I had a ewe without milk.
So I fed the others after
getting Daisy and her lambs settled in. And again at 4:30. Puppet's twins
seemed to play with the nipples and by today's 12:30 PM feeding I have
decided to stop supplementing. I think the drug is working on her. Or maybe
just time. Polynesia's lambs are still very hungry, but they have stopped
crying all the time. And all lambs seem to be drinking longer from their
moms and getting more. This past feeding the triplets were not very interested
in formula. I'm going to keep offering it to them for awhile as they are
still quite young and with three, one often gets knocked out of the way
and becomes weaker while the other two become stronger. If I can, I will
graft one of the triplets to a ewe with a single. Of course, She'll have
to have milk!
The lamb with the rattling
seems to be getting better. I had her on penicillin, but her fever was
not going down. Doc gave me a sulfa for her and an injection of something
else and that seems to be doing the trick. I weighed Puppet's twins now
that I am not going to be feeding them, so I will be able to tell if they
are getting enough from their mom to grow on. The ewes are eating
the hay-they don't have much choice now. And I'm waiting for the next birth.
Dennis, ever the optimist,
says at least we haven't lost one yet, and I haven't had to be on the floor
of the barn trying to deliver mispresented lambs, and the weather has been
mild and dry. Yes, he is right and today I do feel much better. Not every
ewe out there is udderless and maybe the hay will kick in before all the
lambs are born.
February 2
10:42 PM
When I brought the ewes
back to the barn on Sat. around 5 PM, Chile had already broken her water
bag. She was making a lot of baaing noises and seemed very unsettled. I
was going to check her in a half hour but by the time Dennis left for work
and I got back out to the barn it was 6. She was still walking around and
baaing, but now she had a companion. Brooklyn was walking around behind
her and licking her vulva. I know that must sound a bit gross to some of
you, but the ewes lap up their birthing fluids, lick off their lambs, and
eat their afterbirth. That's nature's way of helping a weak species to
survive in the wild. Very quickly there is no evidence that a birth has
taken place. Anyway, I decided to check back on
them every half hour. When I went out to feed the lambs at 8 and the two
ewes were still walking around, I decided to bring Chile into the barn.
Oh , and while watching those two, I had Tripoli in labor too. I had the
dogs help me get all the ewes into the barn, then got Tripoli and Chile
into pens. The hard part was getting Brooklyn back outside. I gave Chile
a shot of Oxytocin to get the birth going and by the time I had finished
feeding the lambs, she was pushing. I put on a long plastic glove and felt
up inside of her. I could feel a butt and two front legs. I had a good
idea that they were not from the same lamb. I tried to push everything
back inside where I could try to work out what I had. There was no room
and even though I finally found one back leg and got it straightened to
the back, I couldn't find the other back leg. And those two front legs
were definitely from another lamb-they were about twice the size of the
one back leg I had found. I wanted to pull the lamb out with the two back
legs extended, but I worked and the ewe groaned, and I could not find the
other back leg. I took my friend, Elaine's, advice(she’s a shepherdess,
too) and got up twice and walked away for a minute or two. I don’ know
who was working harder or was more frustrated-me or the ewe. I finally
decided that the lamb had to come out -even with just the one leg back.
So I pulled very hard and got out a dead lamb. I feel fairly sure it was
alive when I started, but all that manipulation did it no good. I then
went back in to get the big lamb. That one was alive. I went back in to
see if there were any more and found a small-only 4 pounds(I weighed it
later)lamb. Well, I thought, that must be it, but I went back in one more
time and sure enough there was one more! A set of quadruplets!! The little
one was so weak and so much smaller than the other two that I left her
alone while I tried to get the other two on their mother. Eureka! The ewe
had milk and was letting the lambs nurse. By the time I got them squared
away, the little lamb had died. She was so small I doubt if she could have
reached the teats for a month. and she certainly would never have amounted
to much. It's hard playing God but I'm afraid it goes with the territory.
I got back to the house about 10:30 and changed my jeans which were completely
soaked. It's amazing how much liquid four lambs make. I put on my ski pants
and was then warm and dry. And I needed it because Tripoli was very much
in labor when I went right back out and she was having trouble too. So
I donned glove and went in to find a head-no legs. I had to push the head
back in and find two front legs. Not easy but much easier than the last
one. I pulled out the lamb, then went back in. One more came out. And I
went back in. One more came out and I went back in. One more!! Another
set of quadruplets!!!and this one all alive. The smallest in this group
was 6 pounds but the biggest was 9.5 . They averaged 8 pounds. Pretty
amazing. But(there is always a but), Tripoli was not letting down her milk.
She had a big, full udder, but I could get nothing from it and only one
lamb was strong and smart enough to even want to try to nurse her. So,
I stole colostrum from Chile. She should have had enough for four lambs
and was only nursing two now, so I felt that it would be alright. I now
had four more mouths to feed on bottles, but fortunately, I was down to
only two others and they were finding milk from mom. By the time I had
cleaned up, weighed lambs and got ready to go back to the house, Brooklyn
was in labor(she of the licking fame). So I went back and laid on the couch
for a half hour, then checked her. One more half hour on the couch and
she was ready. I decided to put her in the barn to birth and she walked
right in. I felt that she too was having trouble so I donned glove, but
found two front legs and a head-looking good. The lamb did seem stuck though
so I gave a tug and out she came. I knew there was at least one more from
the ewes size, but since she had not been struggling I let her birth the
next one on her own. Right after we birthed the first one, as I was waiting
for the second, I looked down and saw at my knees, a small dead lamb. This
one must have died months ago. It had a large head and eye sockets, but
was incredibly small. I believe it was coming out at the same time as the
first lamb and that is why it was stuck. Brooklyn had milk and both lambs(there
was another) are doing fine. Tripoli came into milk sometime yesterday
morning and the strong one found out right away and stopped wanting the
bottle. The other mid sized lamb found mama yesterday evening, so we are
just feeding two. The smallest one, a female, just can't seem to attach
to her mom. I think she doesn't like the taste of the milk. She's
just not interested when I pry her mouth open and stuff the teat into it.
She would much rather drink from a bottle. The biggest one, a male, has
gotten pneumonia and he is not drinking as much today. I don't know if
that is because he is so sick or if he is getting milk from mom.
Dennis took over for me last night-he is off til Thursday. I had to tell
him about all the contingencies, so there are about five notes on the counter
telling him what to do when this or that happens. Then I went to bed at
8:30 and slept straight through til the alarm went off at 6:30. I can't
remember when I have slept 10 straight hours, but I bet it was when I was
a teenager. No lambs born last night. Dennis says they just want me to
be there. And true to form, Honor had a set of twins at noon today. Big
lambs-13.5 and 13 pounds. The first one was on it's feet and under her
before I could get the lambmobile from the barn. Lots of milk. Granola
was next. She came back to the barn from the front field while I was working
with Honor. She had been “nesting"-looking for a place to give birth since
last night before I went to bed. I figured I had enough time to eat some
lunch, so at 1:30, I went back to the house and ate. Dennis was up by then
and we went back out at 2 to cut lamb tails and a big lamb was on the ground.
I thought this might be a single and we would be able to graft on one of
the quads, but when I checked her rear end there were two hooves sticking
out. Another set of twins. We are now up to 22 lambs out of 10 ewes. I
still have 30 ewes to go. I hope I live that long. Dennis and I had
cut the tails of the older lambs yesterday and did five more lambs today.
We usually keep the lambs in the pens for three days, then weigh them,
cut their tails off and put them outside. So I have five ewes out behind
the barn, four with twins, one with triplets. I guess I panicked
too soon as I have not had a complete lack of milk since those three. But
there are still some small udders out there. Maybe the good hay will help.
It sure has given them the runs.
Well, it's late, Dennis
thinks he is sick, I have a ewe in labor, and life moves on. I'll try to
write when I can. Don't be too concerned if it's not for a day or two.
February 4
1:30 PM
I've got a ewe in labor.
This is Sprinkles, who is five days late. That often means trouble, so
I had Mack help me get the ewes back to the barn and Sprinkles walked right
in. I wonder if the barn seems like a safe place to them.
The rain stopped yesterday
around 2:30. It had been a misty rain and shortly the sidewalk was dry.
Dennis and I cut tails off of the quads who are now twins and the quads
who are still quads. We put them in a holding pen in the barn-an area of
about 10 X 15, where they can get used to being with other sheep before
I put them outside. I want to still keep a close eye on them-especially
the quads. The first five ewes to give birth are outside now, the single
in with the pregnant ewes, the twins and triplet in the field below the
barn.
It has been snowing since.
I think we have 3 or 4 inches. It's hard to tell since the wind is blowing
so hard. No lambs born since yesterday morning. But(there is that but again),
the triplets Dennis made are not doing well. They are not interested in
the bottle, but they also do a lot of crying, especially the grafted lamb.
Then early this morning Dennis found the grafted lamb out of the pen and
some of the wooden slats on the side panel broken. He put the lamb back
in, but Quattor started bashing him. Dennis took him back out again and
came back to the house to discuss our options. (It was now 6:30 AM and
I was up). We could stanchion Quattor, stanchion Freckles, his own mother,
or bottle feed him. Bottle feeding sounded awful to me and it's obvious
that Quattor doesn't have enough milk for three. So that left grafting
him back to his own mom. Does everyone know what a stanchion is?
Ours Dennis made. It's a panel that has a place for the ewe to stick her
head through, then a board is brought against her neck and tied so that
she can not pull back out. In this way the lambs can get to her udder but
she can not see them or smell them. A ewe identifies her own lamb by sight
but just as much or more by smell. So a successful graft masks the smell
and changes it so the ewe thinks the lamb is her own. Now all three lambs
have their socks on. The sock is a long tube of stretchy material. I cut
slots for front legs, back legs, tail and pizzle(if a male). I then slip
this on, or rather struggle to put this on, all squirming lambs. Each day
I take the socks off and switch them. I believe that after three or four
days the smells become so commingled that the ewe can't tell any difference.
Oh, the stanchioned ewe can be fed in front of the panel, although we have
to offer her water every few hours. If we left water in front of her she
would spill it right away. She can lay down and get up fairly easily. It's
amazing how quickly they adapt.
8:30 PM
At 2 I went out to the barn
and Sprinkles had a head and one leg out. I'm always hesitant to push a
head back in once it is completely out. If it has taken a breath of air,
could I suffocate it if I push it back in? Anyway I gave a strong pull
and out he came. Sprinkles laid on the floor of the pen a very long time,
licking this lamb with no sign of any more labor. I came back to the house
and got a sock for grafting a quad, but by the time I got back to the barn
another lamb was on the ground. They were both very big, but I was still
going to try to graft anyway. I felt inside her a little ways first.
Darn, there was another lamb. It was breech and I had to help a little.
It was very small. A female, it did not have much of a suck, so I brought
them all back to the basement and Dennis tubed her. Have I told you about
tubing? If a lamb has even a small bit of suck, you can slip a 14 inch
tube down it's throat and put milk into the tube. It goes right into the
stomach. If the lamb is going to revive it will usually show signs within
a half hour or so. This lamb did not. I took the other two out to their
mom and they are doing fine.
Freckles, the stanchioned
ewe, is not happy. She spent most of the time I was in the stall next to
her, with Sprinkles, kicking at the lambs trying to nurse. But I did see
her one time let all the lambs nurse. I believe that they will wear her
down soon. They are already learning to nurse from behind her-no kicks
to the head that way.
I thought I would answer
some of the questions I've been asked in the notes you all have been sending
back to me. Let me take this opportunity to say thanks for all the fun
mail I get each day-my reward for writing to you all.
A number of you have said
I should write a book. I believe I am. It's a book for the special people
in my life to let you feel more a part of what I do. I am glad that it
makes you feel that you are here with me. It's probably so vivid to you
because it is so vivid to me. Renee asked about the names. I have
been naming ewes since the beginning 18 years ago. I have named close to
175 ewes, but I have learned now to name only the ewes who give birth.
I am also recycling names. Oh, each ewe has a tag in her ear that can be
read from a distance of 30 feet or so. Even if I can't remember a name,
I can remember a number. I like to name in families. My favorites
are still the twins Albacore and Tuna Fish. Albacore had Chicken of the
Sea(who is still with us)and Starkist. Tuna fish had Macaroni. I had a
ewe named China. Some of her daughters were Crystal, Gobi, and Canton.
Maggie, my niece, has helped me name many of the ewes we have bought in
recent years. We sat down with the atlas, bird book, tree book, flower
book and wrote down interesting names or just ones that appealed to us.
The Polypay ewes I named by using the dictionary. The ones that were born
quadruplets became Quartz and Quattor. The ones born triplets—Triad, Trickle,
and Trigger. You're getting the picture now. The twin born ones are Pollyanna,
Polynesia, and Polaris. Daisy is a Dorset as is Madrone. Madrone comes
from the Madrone trees we saw when we were out in Washington State. Freckles
and Sprinkles have dots on their noses. Freckles daughter from two years
ago has a brown nose on a white face. Her name is Polka Dot. I have three
ewe lambs this year that have no names. Two of these ewe lambs are out
of Freckles and one is out of Hyacinth. If you all would like to submit
names for consideration, that would be great. I can't promise to use any
of them though. Once one of my nephews submitted the names of his two best
male friends at the time. They were not appropriate for my female sheep.
Sylvia asked how I keep
track of what I am doing for which animals. I have 6 or 7 notes on the
kitchen counter which I consult every morning and throughout the day. I
also try to keep a mental list and just looking at the ewes and lambs will
often tell me what I need to do. I use a calendar, too, that I keep just
for sheep records. Dennis and I have been trying to figure out how we want
to set up all our records on the computer. We're not there yet.
Trish and Sylvia both had
questions about tails. Trish wanted to know if the story she remembered
from her childhood, about the lamb whose tail was so big and fat it had
to carry it around in a wagon behind it, could be true. Maybe. Lambs tails
can get really big and fat and covered with wool. Then comes the
spring, lots of green grass and lots of wet soggy manure on those tails.
Then the flies. Well, you really don't want to know what happens then.
Which leads to Sylvia’s question “Do the tails have to be docked(cut off)?”
Yes. It is for health reasons, it makes it easier for the rams to get to
the ewe if the tail is not there, and we would get less money at the stockyard
if the tails were long. No one wants to pay for the weight of a tail that
can't be eaten. Some breeds of sheep have very tiny tails that don't need
to be docked. And in some places-notably the Middle East-the weather is
so dry that the tails are left long. It's getting late and almost
time to check the ewes again. Dennis will be home again tonight to check
on them for me. I don't think the snow will keep him from going to work
tomorrow, although they are calling for 4-6 more inches tonight on top
of the 4 or so inches we have already received. I hope the ewes are
good to me over the weekend, because Dennis wont be off again til Monday
night.
February 6
4:39 PM
Where did I leave off on
Wednesday? Ah, yes. Going out to the barn to check on the ewes. I found
Trigger(a Polypay first timer) with two lambs in the snow about as far
from the light as possible. (Dennis put a spotlight on the back corner
of the barn years ago. It lights up almost the whole yard.) I got the sled
and picked up first one and, ugh, then the other. The second lamb didn't
look that big, but he sure was heavy. I got them into the barn and in a
pen. The little lamb was chilled, so I brought them both back to the basement.
As Dennis dried them off with the hair dryer, I went back for some colostrum.
I had no problem getting all I wanted and was able to feed the big male
with the baster. The little female was too weak and chilled, so Dennis
tubed her. As I dried, I felt the inside of her legs. They were so cold.
We decided to use the water treatment. Take lukewarm water, immerse lamb,
slowly add hot water raising the temperature. This slowly raises the lambs
temperature, too. The biggest drawback to this method is that you wash
off all the scent by which the mother will recognize her lamb. In the past
we've had a ewe to accept the head of a lamb, but not the rest of it. So
I used a shallow pan, keeping not only her head, but her back out of the
water. After about 10 minutes she started moving around, then making little
crying noises. Her mouth was warmer and when I put my hand on the inside
of her legs, they were warmer. Dennis defrosted some birth fluid that I
keep in the freezer and we coated her legs, tail and belly. By this time
it was after 11 so I sent Dennis out to the barn with the two of them and
went to bed. He basted her twice more in the night, but by morning she
was attached. The big male weighed 13 ¾ pounds and the female 6
¾. No wonder I could tell a big difference. I got up about
7 as Dennis was coming to bed. No new births in the night. I decided to
go out and check the ewes then come back and eat breakfast. It didn't work
that way. When I got out there Singer and Agatha were in a corner, looking
like they both were in labor. There was no water broken yet. On my way
back to the barn, I saw Snickers laying down with a head sticking out.
There was one leg with it, so I gave a slight pull and out it came. A big
single male. I ran to the barn, got one of the quad females, tied her feet
together so she would seem like a newborn unable to stand, and rushed back
to soak her in the birthing fluids. Then I brought both lambs and ewe into
the barn. Sometimes you can fool a ewe that way, but not this time. She
batted the quad right from the start. I took her way and let the ewe dry
off her lamb a bit and let him get on his feet and get a good drink. Did
I mention that this is the biggest udder that we have had this season and
it was full of milk. I then stanchioned her and put the quad in with her
after putting socks on both lambs. The quad was not interested in sucking
on the ewe til 5 that afternoon. I guess she had her stomach full when
I brought her over and she had to be very hungry before she would nurse
a mother that wasn't hers. By today she thinks that Snickers is mom.
I only had to keep the ewe from kicking the lambs for about four feedings.
They have now all settled in. I got back to the house at 9:30
for breakfast and then went back out at 10 to finish chores. I let Honor
and Granola outside as well as Brooklyn. It was still snowing, a wet almost
rain. I cleaned stalls, put down fresh straw in the pens, fed the quads
now triplets, fed the ewes with multiple births, fed the pregnant ewes,
fed the calves, chickens and rams. Got everyone in the barn fresh water
and checked all lambs to see that they were nursing okay. Got back to the
house about 1:30 for some lunch. Five years ago, Dennis and I visited
his sister in Colorado. We went skiing while we were there, one of the
reasons for the visit. At the time, I wondered if the ski pants and gloves
would ever be used again. The answer is yes, but not on the slopes. Those
pants keep me dryer and warmer than any thing else I've tried. The gloves
are great, too as my hands never get wet or cold til I have to take them
off. One thing they don't allow is dexterity. And yesterday I used Dennis’
ski goggles, too. The snow blinded me so much on the way out to feed the
calves that I couldn't open my eyes and they were tearing so much that
even if I could have I wouldn't have been able to see through the tears.
I made my way back to the house and found the goggles. Instant relief.
Before I let the ewes out
to the front field, I had put Singer and Agatha in the barn. They had both
looked so immanent. Agatha laid down and would push a little every so often,
but Singer did not seem as if she was ready(This is the ewe who has been
trying to steal lambs since day one.) I let her out front before I came
in at 1:30. Agatha meanwhile was not really going into labor. Just pushing
a little bit now and then. No water broken. When Dennis got up we
talked about it and he thought that we should give her Oxytocin to start
the birth. I gave her a shot about 4. The vet says if the ewe has not lambed
in 1 ½ hours, give her another shot. We watched her as we cut off
tails, then came in the house at 5. I made an omelet for us so Dennis could
eat before leaving for work at 6:15. Went back out at 5:30 to find Singer
had birthed a lamb and Flower was claiming it too. Serves Singer
right for all the stealing she tried to do. I got both ewes in the barn
as well as the lamb and penned them. Still Agatha was doing nothing. Before
I gave her the second shot I gloved up and tried to go in. She was
as tight as a drum. I could just feel the cervix and it was not dilated
at all. I gave her the second shot and with one eye on her tried to deal
with two ewes in labor. Singer’s second lamb was breech with tail first
and it was halfway out when I looked back at her. I pulled it out quickly
so the cord would not be crushed and the lamb be unable to breathe.
By this time Flower was pushing out her lamb. She was not very large so
I thought that she might only have one. I gloved up and felt a little inside
her and could feel the afterbirth. So I quickly broke the bag of liquid
she had hanging from her into a bowl, ran back to the house for two socks,
grabbed the second quad female and soaked the sock and put it on her.
Before I gave her to Flower, I put my gloved hand just inside her and made
a fist. She pushed against it. This is to fool her into thinking she has
birthed another lamb. I gave her the quad and took her lamb away. She immediately
started licking the quad. I cleaned up her lamb and got a sock on him before
I put them back together. So far so good. Today they are both nursing her
just fine, which is a good thing because I don't have another stanchion
to put them in if she should reject the lamb. I tried to let Freckles out,
but she immediately started bashing all the lambs. Not ready yet. Back
into the stanchion.
While I was working with
these two, well three if you count Agatha who still was not pushing hard,
Pollyanna went into labor. I got her into the barn and out of the snow-did
I mention it was still snowing? She birthed a ewe lamb and since she looked
like she had another one in her, I didn't check inside. I don't know if
I would have been up for another grafting anyway. She had just the one.
Finally at 9:45 I got back
to the house and my now not very appetizing omelet. I ate dinner and went
right to sleep on the couch. Checked the ewes and lambs in the barn every
2 hours. Agatha still not dilated at midnight. I just left her on
her own, feeding her some hay and giving her water. I let her out this
morning with the other ewes. She is off by herself, still pushing occasionally.
I don't know what to think or do, but just wait to see what happens. It's
possible that she tried to give birth and the cervix closed down. It's
also possible she was not ready yet. I just hope she'll be able to get
the lamb or lambs out with a minimum amount of harm to them or her.
I think we got about 4 inches
of snow. It's hard to tell because the wind was so strong there are drifts
everywhere. The temperature got to 40 earlier and the snow is starting
to melt. There is not a bit of snow left in the barnyard,. It is all mud
and slush. It is a mess. The path we made to the barn is free of snow and
it has melted off the sidewalk. We were lucky. Dennis says that Louisville
got their biggest snowfall ever-16 inches. And he said just 40 miles to
the east of us they got 18”!! Glad I am not having to deal with that.
` Guess that's all for today.
All I'm going to write, perhaps not all the births.
February 7
7:04 AM
Halfway through! Hyacinth
had lambs on the ground when I went out at 5:15 AM. I almost missed them
as they were covered in mud. The first male was on his feet, the second
had just been born. I used five towels trying to get all the mud off them.
The first male turned out to have white wool, not brown, as I first thought.
Even though Hyacinth’s udder is somewhat flaccid, she seems to have milk.
I'll have to keep an eye on all of them. I don't know if the fescue(endophyte)
toxicosis is causing the ewes to be late giving birth(it is a symptom),
but the late births are causing birth weights to be quite high. These two
twins this morning were 14-the biggest so far-and 13 pounds. Even the quads
averaged 8 pounds each. Imagine carrying 32 pounds of baby. My ewes average
160 to 180 pounds-not much different than humans. But they do have four
legs on the ground to more evenly distribute all that lamb weight.
Twenty ewes have given birth
out of the 40. And I have 40 lambs-a 200% lamb crop. That probably wont
last as the ewe lambs often have singles and their first time we like them
to have the less stress of a single. Time for breakfast.
February 8
4:25PM
17 to go. Chicken
of the Sea had a set of twins around 2 yesterday afternoon. I looked out
from the window and watched her go into labor. When I decided to go get
the lambmobile, I realized that she had a head sticking out. I went to
check her first. It was a head and one leg. When she finally let me get
close to her I gave a good pull and got it out. One leg was back. The lambs
ears were already very cold. I got her back to the barn and pulled the
second one a little because his leg was back, too. She was rather flaccid,
so I gave her Oxytocin. So far they all seem to be doing okay. I
talked to a friend on the phone last night for about an hour (a local call).
After I got off I realized that I had not set the timer after I had come
in from the last check. So even though I thought it was early, I went out.
It was good that I did. Rainbow had just birthed a lamb. It's back legs
were still inside her. The problem came from the fact that she had chosen
to give birth right behind the barn , next to the door, where there is
a small rise into the barn. She was positioned so that the lamb slid down
into a puddle of mud and birthing fluids. His head had slipped under her
leg, so even if he could have held up his head (which newborns can rarely
do for the first minutes), he would not have been able to. I pulled him
around to her head, but he immediately started slipping down the slick
muddy “hill”. I was going to go into the barn and get the lambmobile right
away, but before I could get around the corner, she pushed out the second
lamb-right into the same puddle! I think if I had come out 5 or 10 minutes
later, I would have had two drowned lambs. I had to use 5 or 6 towels to
get them cleaned off.
While I was in the barn
with Rainbow, I realized that Snickers’ lamb was out of the stall. Snickers
is one of the ewes stanchioned. He was squeezing out under her neck. I
put him back in and out he came again. Well, maybe I should let them all
out. I had planned on letting them out this morning anyway. So I did, but
Snickers rejected the quad. Any time she would get close to Snickers, she
got batted away. So back into the stanchion with the ewe. I'll leave them
that way for another three days and try again. I had to think of something
to block off the exit of her lamb. I took a feed sack, tied the corners
with twine, tied the bottom ends to the stanchion and looped a string around
her neck and tied them to the top ends. Now when she lays down the sack
mushes under her and when she stands up, it fills the space under her.
No more escapes.
This morning I put all but
the stanchioned ewes and the ones born yesterday, outside. The sun came
out this morning and this afternoon the temp has climbed to 50. While I
was feeding the ewes behind the barn, Coral started labor on the pregnant
ewes side. She wasn't pushing, but she was getting very close. She did
not want to go out to the front field when I took the others, but I wanted
her out there. It had to be cleaner in the grass out front than in the
mucky barnyard. Oreo and Mack helped convince her that she really did want
to go . Around 10:30, she birthed a 15 ½ pound lamb. At the time
I didn't know it was quite that big, but I suspected that it was a single.
I got her and the lamb back to the barn as quickly as possible. Once I
had her in the pen, I got a glove and felt a little way inside her. Did
not feel a lamb. I got a dish and caught the water that was coming out.
Then quickly to the house and defrosted a sock that had been soaked with
birthing fluids and frozen last year. Amazingly, a ewe will accept most
any birthing fluid-it doesn't have to be from her. Back out to the
barn and I caught the triplet female from Marigold. I wanted to graft her
first because she is getting so big. I put the defrosted sock on her, and
used the fluid I caught from Coral to coat her head, legs, and backend,
then tied her legs together. I then put the glove back on and made a fist
in Coral to stimulate some contractions. I put the triplet in the pen and
took her lamb out. I weighed and tagged him, then put a sock on him and
covered him with the fluids left from the defrosting. I put him in
with Coral and watched as she licked both lambs. I feel pretty good that
she has accepted them both.
I let Freckles and her triplets
out of the stanchion this morning. No go. She rejected all three
of them! Back into the stanchion with her. We'll see what happens in three
more days. Hopefully she'll just have twins by then. I'm hoping that
we'll be able to graft one of them off to a single mother in the next few
days. We wont use a first time mother. I think it would put too much stress
on the ewe, plus I don't think that a first timer has the milk capacity
as an older ewe. I weighed the triplets to see how they are doing. In five
days the 13 pounder gained 5 pounds! The 10 pounder weighed 13 and the
8 pounder that was given to Quattor and then back to Freckles weighed 11
½. Maybe I should just leave them all on her. Of course, if she
continues to reject them all, I'm not sure what I'll do. Flower,
the other ewe I grafted a quad to, I put into the holding pen in the barn.
Her own lamb seems to always be laying down, stretched out and almost out
of it. I wondered if he had some mental problem. After watching them all
in the pen I realize that he has a physical problem. Flower must have stepped
on his front leg, because he is not using it. Did she step on him because
he was always laying down or is he always laying down because she stepped
on him? I'll keep an eye on them too.
Dennis does not have to
work tonight. I don't feel as wiped out as I did last Sunday. I have been
sleeping between checks and the ewes have been kind to me to wait til daytime
hours. We're supposed to have one more nice day tomorrow, then rain. It
was nice to have a little frost this morning. The ground was crunchy
and there were the most interesting “icicles” of frost hanging from the
strands of sheep's wool that are hanging from anything that can catch and
hold a few strands.
February 9
2:36 PM
It's been a pretty quiet
24 hours. The only news to report is that Chicken of the Sea had a very
high fever last night-107.2-a normal temp is 102-103. She seemed very lethargic
and when I tried to get her to stand up, she had a lot of trouble. I don't
know what is causing the fever. I didn't have to go inside her to deliver
lambs. I can't remember if she passed her afterbirth. Sometimes they can
retain the afterbirth and that will cause a fever. I hope that the penicillin
will help.
It felt and smelled like spring this morning. The sun was shining,
there were cotton ball puffs of clouds in the sky, the crocuses are open,
the daffodils are up about 4 inches, and some dandelions are blooming (I
could do without the last).
I have received a couple
of responses to my request for names for the three unnamed ewes. My mother-in-law
asked if she would win a prize if I chose a name she suggested. I know
she asked as a joke, but I thought, why not? Get those brain cells working
out there and send me your suggestions for names by Saturday the 14th.
I'll then post all the suggestions and you all can vote for your favorites
(I'll break any ties). The person who suggested the winning name will get
as a prize-ta-da-a lamb dinner the next time he or she visits us. I figure
that might keep people from 1) entering at all or 2) ever visiting us again.
But, please, whether you visit or not, or eat meat or not, please enter
in the spirit of the game and send me your ideas. I'll keep unused
suggestions for future reference.
February 10
3:35 PM
When I brought the ewes
back from the front field last night, Susie Sunshine was in labor. She
lambed around 5 with no trouble, having two lambs. They were on their feet
quite quickly and started drinking right away. Why can't they all be that
easy? I guess if they were, this would be a boring group of updates.
Susie Sunshine is the first
of the ewes from the second heat cycle to give birth. A ewe cycles every
16 days or so. Before we put the rams in with the ewes for breeding, we
put a marking harness on them. The harness is a set of straps that hold
a piece of leather and metal which itself holds a crayon. This fits so
that the crayon is on the brisket (chest between the front legs). When
a ewe is in heat, the ram mounts her and leaves a crayon mark on her back.
Every 14 days we change the color of the crayon. If the ewe has settled
in the first heat cycle, then she will have only a blue crayon mark on
her. The second cycle is red, the third green. The fourth heat cycle is
black and any marked black are sold. We want all the ewes to come as early
as possible. It makes a very hectic lambing season, but in the long run
it is much easier to manage both the ewes and the lambs. If the last lamb
is born 6 weeks after the first, there might be as much as 40 pounds weight
difference between them. It is almost impossible to put them in the same
field together and expect the newborn to compete with the older lambs for
grain or hay. So we have to have two groups of ewes and lambs, making a
lot more work for me. We select our replacement ewes from those born in
the first cycle. There is a good chance that those early settling genes
will be inherited by the daughter. This year was very good in that all
the ewes but one ewe lamb settled in the first two heat cycles. I would
love to have only two heat cycles—just 4 weeks of lambing. Perhaps if we
can get to 50 ewes and stay there (our goal), we can try that. Last year
we had 50 ewes, but we had to sell a few and we lost 6 in the river bottom.
I want to save the Polypay and Dorset cross ewe lambs. The hybrid vigor
of the crosses has done well for us. The majority of our ewes are Polypay/Hampshire
crosses the we bought from the University of Kentucky. They have
the multiple birth and good milking genes from the Polypay and good rate
of gain and growthiness from the Hampshire (or in our case, the Suffolk).
There may only be 5 ewe lambs born in the first cycle that qualify. That
wont get us to 50 very quickly.
Dennis woke me this morning
at 5 AM. Hyacinth’s yearling ewe (one you all are going to name) had been
in labor since 3 and he had been working to get the lamb out with the head
and one leg presented. He was hoping my smaller hand could get in and find
the other leg. I could feel a hoof, but since she was so small (due to
her size as well as this being her first time), I couldn't get more than
a feel. I certainly couldn't get inside her with the head and leg in the
birth canal. The lamb was really stuck. We pulled and struggled for almost
45 minutes before Dennis finally was able to get the lamb out. It weighed
14 pounds and was dead. Poor ewe was exhausted. I got the smallest of Freckles
triplets and put as much of the fluids on him as I could. The ewe was not
then, and is still not, interested in him although she is letting him nurse.
She doesn't lick him or talk to him or even seem to acknowledge his presence.
Poor little guy. He is going to have some personality disorder-this is
his third mother in 5 days! And now he doesn't have brothers to keep him
company. I hope we didn't do too much damage to the ewe. She is very swollen
now. I ache just to look at her. It started raining just as I finished
chores. The lambs outside are not at all happy. Most are standing hunched
up against the cold rain. Pogo would not go out to the front field
this morning. She has staked out her birthing spot in the barnyard and
will not leave it. I don't know when she'll actually go into labor, but
as long as she is where she wants to be, that is fine with me. Of course,
she has chosen a spot right behind the henhouse from the kitchen window
so that I have to get on all my rain gear and go out to the barnyard just
to see that she's not yet ready. Maybe she'll wait til after I go to bed
and Dennis can deal with her.
February 1
5:40 PM
I don't think I told you
what is going on with Chicken of the Sea. Mon. night I realized that
her lambs were crying which is usually a sign that they are hungry. I weighed
them both and they were still at their birth weights of 11 pounds-not losing,
but not gaining either. So I started them on milk replacer. They were obviously
getting some milk from her, but just not enough. I decided to not give
them full rations, so they would still nurse on her. Chicken of the Sea
is the oldest ewe on the farm. She is 12 years old which is pretty old
for a sheep. It just might be that her body can no longer manufacture the
milk needed for twins. Pogo had still not lambed when I went out
to bring the ewes back to the barn at 5. I took some mail out to the mailbox
first and I could see that Spangles had pushed out her water. She would
not come back to the barn with the others. I got the lambmobile and went
back out front. I waited for awhile, but not much action. It was getting
darker, so I came back to the house, got the flashlight and put on my ski
pants, then went to the barn where Pogo was now making signs of labor.
I watched her for awhile, then went back out front. It was dark by now,
but even though the sky was cloudy, the full moon behind the clouds made
it possible to see rather well. There was a lamb on the ground, so I brought
Spangles and the lamb back to the barn and put them in a stall. When I
went out to check on Pogo, she had a lamb on the ground. Brought her to
the barn too. Pogo was very agitated so I felt fairly sure there was another
lamb-there was. The first was so strong, it was on it's feet in no time
and sucking. Spangles, on the other hand, seemed to be done. She has a
huge udder and was very easy to milk. I thought if she is only going to
have a single, I'll put one of Chicken of the Sea's lambs on her. Before
I did that though I had to make sure that she was really through. I put
on a glove and found what at first I thought was a butt. A little more
examination and I found that it was a head-a very small one-and pulled
head and hooves out. Yes, It was small. The first lamb weighed 13
½ pounds-a male, of course. The second, a female, weighed only 5
½. Her right ear was mashed back on her head and she listed to the
right. She seemed feisty, but started chilling fast and could not even
begin to stand. After the male got a good drink I brought the two of them
back to the basement. I had milked some colostrum from Spangles and fed
the little one. By this time it was 7:30, Dennis had made dinner and I
just had to eat. After dinner I went back out and milked the ewe and fed
the lamb. She had a pretty good suck on the baster, but seemed quite cool.
I put her in warm water til she warmed up. She still could only stand with
help. We decided to keep her in the house and graft Chicken of the Sea's
male to Spangles. Dennis had to make another stanchion as the two we had
are in use. I went to bed before some of this happened. This morning
I expected to find the little lamb dead, but no, she was still alive. I
milked her mother and fed her and by 11 AM she was standing on her own.
If she lives and if she gets strong enough we will try to graft her to
a ewe with a single. I don't suppose any of you would like to raise a bottle
baby?
Today is day three since
I tried to let the stanchioned ewes out. Snickers seems to be accepting
both lambs, but I had to put Freckles back in the stanchion. She still
does not want her own lambs, but she seemed to be less mean to them than
last time. We'll try again in three days. Hyacinth’s lamb from last year-her
ear tag is green and the number is 10, so I'll call her G10 til the contest
is over-seems to be barely accepting the triplet. He's a persistent dude
though and I bet he wears her down over time. She will let him nurse if
he keeps at it.
When I went to feed the
rams, I could see out to the front field and it looked like I had a dead
ewe. There was one with it's legs in the air. I got out there as quickly
as I could. It was a very pregnant ewe who had somehow rolled over on her
back and could not right herself. I pushed her over and she jumped up and
ran off, apparently okay. If she had stayed that way very long, she might
have died. For some reason sheep, when rolled on their backs have a hard,
almost impossible, time getting righted again. While I was out there
I realized that something was wrong with Polaris. She has been walking
around her body-imagine how you would walk if you had a two foot diameter
ball where your stomach is-but today I could see that she was incredibly
swollen. She was also not that interested in feed. Sheep can get a disease
called pregnancy toxemia or ketosis. They go off feed, stand around and
if not treated can be dead in a few days. It is sometimes caused by stress,
sometimes there is just not enough room in the stomach for food as the
lambs are pushing on it. If caught early we can treat it with large doses
of corn syrup and penicillin if there is a fever. When Dennis got up, we
brought the ewes to the barn and penned her up. We gave her the syrup-8
ounces in a coke bottle, heated up so it flows and stuffed into her mouth
so she can glug it down. We laid her down and rolled her over and realized
that she was swollen from her udder to her front legs-really swollen. Edema
is something that first time ewes can get (she is a first time ewe). We
have started her on penicillin and Doc said we should check to see if she
has mastitis because sometimes the swelling is caused by that. I milked
her and she seems clean. We made a pen in the barn for her and hope for
the best. The swelling should go down after lambing-if she makes it that
long.
It seems that there is always
something to be worried about. It is now raining cats and dogs (we don't
need any more cats and dogs) and the lambs look very uncomfortable. We
have put the pregnant ewes in the small field next to the garden. It is
cleaner-very little mud-although that wont last. But with just 12 of them,
they should not be walking in muck for a few more days. Flower's lamb with
the hurt (broken?) leg has been having a very hard time getting up. Each
time one of us goes to the barn, we get him up and he goes right under
her for milk. This afternoon he was on his feet when I went out. I wonder
if he did that himself. Hopefully he will heal quickly and be soon able
to get around on his own.
Time to make dinner.
February 12
9:03 PM
When I went out at 7:30
last night, Petticoat had a lamb up and nursing. She had come back
to the barnyard yesterday morning while I was doing chores and camped out
in the barn for the day. At least she was dry. I had put her in a pen around
6 as she seemed pretty close. While I watched she had two more. Three females.
They were up and at her very quickly. This morning when I went out
to do chores at 8, Trickle had a lamb on the ground. I got her into the
barn and checked to see if there was another lamb. I could feel a hoof
just inside her. I started chores and it wasn't very long before she had
him out. Twin males. She has been bashing them a little even as she licks
their heads. I don't know why because I didn't wipe or clean them off at
all. All of the lamb from head to foot should smell the same to her. I'll
keep an eye on them.
Here's what is happening
with the other ones I'm keeping an eye on. The lamb with the bad leg was
definitely up on his own this morning but before I came back into the house,
he needed help again. I guess he, his “sister” and mother will be in the
barn for a few more days. Chicken of the Sea's female is drinking all the
milk I offer, but only after she plays with the nipple and sometimes makes
me force it into her mouth. This afternoon I weighed her and quit the feedings.
I'll weigh her tomorrow and she how she is doing. I think Chicken of the
Sea has enough milk, but I have to force her to be hungry enough to drink
from mom. G10 is still swollen and still just barely letting the triplet
drink. But his name is persistence. He doesn't take a kick or a running
away as a no. A few more days in the pen for them too. When I came
out to the barn this morning, a triplet was in her mother's water bucket,
Spangles lamb had escaped under her chin and was being licked by her, G10
had tried to escape her tormentor and gotten halfway over the pen gate
and was stuck, and one of Susie Sunshine's lambs had found an escape hatch
and was out. It must have been the full moon. Since Spangles lamb
was out and since he had been crying much of yesterday, I took a chance
and let her out of the stanchion. I traded socks on her lamb and the one
we are grafting to her and she seems to have accepted both. Snickers also
seems to have adopted her grafted lamb, so we are just waiting for Freckles
to wear down. That might be a long time. Polaris (the one with the swollen
belly) seems a bit better this evening. She didn't get up this morning
when I gave her her shot and forced the corn syrup down her throat. But
she was up immediately this evening and she has been drinking water. I
don't know how good that is if she is retaining water, but somehow I don't
think the two are directly related. I'm a bit worried that if she lambs,
she might not be able to get up and take care of the lambs, so her quick
jump up tonight has eased my fears a bit. The lamb in the basement is also
doing better. She has been crying a lot today, so we have increased the
amount of milk she gets at a feeding. She almost, but not quite, took the
nipple herself without me having to force it in her mouth at the 8 PM feeding.
I've decided to make up bottles for the midnight and 4 AM feedings and
put them in the fridge. Then I can just zap them in the microwave, feed
her, check the ewes and go right back to “couch”. I have asked the ewes
to wait til tomorrow to give birth. I hope they comply. This morning
was misting and very windy and cold. I was miserable, but the lambs, who
seemed so miserable in the rain yesterday, were frolicking around and not
hunched over a bit. Good for them. I should have worn my ski pants this
morning instead of my rain pants. Perhaps, then I would have been warmer.
Don't forget that the naming
contest ends on Saturday. Get those entries in!!
Thanks to all of you for
showing interest in this “book”.
February 13
9:14PM
Well the ewes did not comply
with my wish for them to wait til morning to birth-unless by morning they
thought I meant any time after 12 AM, when I meant any time after 7 AM.
I fed the lamb in the basement at midnight, then checked the ewes-all calm.
When I went out at 2:15, there were four lambs on the ground and two ewes
claiming them. Polka Dot has an almost black face, so I gave her the two
with the black faces. Thumper, who has a light brown nose on a white face,
claimed the two lightest faced lambs. I had no trouble getting Thumper
in the barn, but Polka Dot was much more trouble and I had to use Mack
to get her and the other ewes in the barn so I could separate her. She
did not seem to be at all interested in her lambs, but let them nurse.
I got back to the house at 4, just in time to feed the lamb. At 5:30 AM
I went back out. Polaris had just broken her water. I watched for awhile
and realized that she was in trouble. With gloved hand, I found two heads
and what seemed like 50 legs. It took me quite awhile to find two legs
that belonged to one head. I pulled that one out. He tried to breathe but
was unable to. He died quickly. The second one came out quickly and was
alive. The last one was dead when it came out. The lambs weighed 10, 11
½, and 13 pounds-34 ½ pounds of lamb-no wonder she was so
swollen. I think the swelling affected the lambs. I wonder that the deaths
weren't directly related to the swelling. The one live lamb is still not
nursing from her. Of course, she is still very swollen so the udder is
very low and her small teats stick straight out to the side of her bag-not
where lambs usually look. I gave Polaris one of Petticoats triplets. At
first she seemed to take the lamb, but very soon started butting her. I
put Polaris in a stanchion. She is doing better now without all that weight
in her. Petticoat’s triplet is having no trouble finding that strange teat.
Polka Dot finally started paying attention to her lambs in the form of
trying to kill the female. The male she accepted, of course. I realized
then that the female might not be hers. She might have only had one lamb
and the female might have been Thumper’s. Too late. Into a stanchion with
her. She has been very calm in the stanchion and lets both lambs drink
without kicking.
When Dennis came home, he
came to the barn and did much of the feeding, while I worked with Polaris
and Polka Dot. Even with his help, I didn't get back to the house til 9:15.
The lamb in the basement was “starving"-over an hour past her feeding time-it
was over two hours past my feeding time. Chicken of the Sea's female
gained 1 ¼ pounds since yesterday. Dennis says that is too much
and we must have miss-weighed her. Even if we did, I still think she is
nursing and gaining off of her mother. Tomorrow and Sunday it is supposed
to be sunny. I'm going to put out as many ewes and lambs as I can. Tomorrow
I'm also supposed to let Freckles out again. Let's hope she is tired of
being stanchioned and accepts those lambs. There are 7 ewes left
to lamb. If you've been counting, you know my count is off. That's because
Agatha-remember her?--has not and will not lamb. I feel that she already
went into labor and for some reason she was unable to give birth. Her udder
is getting smaller. I wonder if she will absorb the lambs or if they will
eventually be pushed out somehow. She seems okay, is still eating well.
So one due today, one each on Mon., Tues., Wed., and Thur.. Then one on
Wed. the 25th and one on Mar. 4th. I think I am going to live through this
season. I do hope that we can find a mother for the lamb in the basement.
If we can't, I think that Mack, our male Border Collie, will apply for
the job. When the lamb drinks her bottle, Mack licks her butt, her legs,
every place he can get to. I think she is doing well because of it.
February 14
9:06PM
No lambs born since Polaris
yesterday morning. She is not doing well at all. She has not eaten since
we penned her Wed. evening. We thought that once she had her lambs, she
would recover her appetite as well as her girlish figure. It has not happened.
I went to the vet today and got some B vitamins and an oral mineral supplement
that the vet thinks will stimulate her to eat. She seems to be suffering.
I just don't know if she will make it. I am feeding the lambs, because
even though I think she has some milk, she can not stand long enough for
them to feed well. She is also not drinking water, which I find disturbing.
I am still giving her the corn syrup but I don't see how that can keep
her alive on its own. We put almost all the ewes outside today. It
was a bright, sunny, warm day and they were glad to be out. I have two
in the holding pen-G10 and Trickle. I think I will put them both out tomorrow.
We're supposed to have one more nice day, then four days of rain. I let
Freckles out of the stanchion this morning. She did some bashing, but basically
seemed to be indifferent to them. Tonight when I went out to feed bottles,
they were both getting a drink. I wonder if I should put them out tomorrow
or give them a few more days of bonding.
I'm going to wait til tomorrow
for the naming contest because I'm missing a letter and I want that person
to have an opportunity for their names to be considered.
Til tomorrow then.
February 15
9:47PM
No new lambs since yesterday.
I guess they are going to wait til it starts raining. The weather folks
are saying rain for the next four days. Polaris is still alive although
I don't know how she can be. She is still not eating . She is taking a
little water. I am feeding the two lambs with her completely. They are
not getting any thing from her. I took “Sweetheart”, the lamb from the
basement, and put her in with the other two. She is so small.
I put Freckles in the holding
pen. She pretty much ignores her lambs, but I did see them drink from her
last night. G10 is still pretty freaky and I've seen the lamb with her
drinking from behind her whenever he can. So there is only Polka Dot and
Polaris in the lambing pen side. I will let Polka Dot out in the pen tomorrow
and see if she will accept both lambs. It's amazing to look put in
the field below the barn and see 50+ lambs.
It's what makes all the
bad times worth it.
Okay. Here are the names
I received. Even if you did not send in names, I would like you to vote
for your favorites.
For Hyacinth’s yearling ewe:
Lily
Hydra
Hydrous
Hyssop (it is an European mint used in medicine)
Rosie
Lavender
Snow White
For Freckles' two yearling ewes:
Dallie (from Dalmatian)
Sallie (rhymes with Dallie)
Buttermilk (In the book Gone With The Wind, Mammy got all over
Scarlet because she wasn't wearing a shawl over her exposed shoulders and
Mammy didn't want to bleach out her freckles with buttermilk.)
Wrinkles
Krinkle
Crackle
Peppered
Spotty
Speckled
Checkered
Generic names that could be used for any yearling ewes:
(Since you offered a lamb dinner as the prize, we felt we should
stay with that theme)
Mint Jelly
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Salad
Red Wine
Gravy
Pie a la mode
Raffles (It is from Rafflesia arnoldii, the largest flower in the world.
The whole flower can weigh 15
pounds and get to the height of a five year old child)
Rose
Sarah
Brittany
Daffodil
Alexandria.
The winter Olympics make me think the following might be names you
could use:
Nagano
Nagana
Karamatsu (Kara, for short)
Olympia
Olive
mythological names-some of Zeus's family:
Rhea (mother of Zeus)
Hestia (sister of Zeus)
Hera (wife of Zeus)
Metis (consort to Zeus)
Athena (daughter of Zeus and Metis)
Leto (consort to Zeus)
Artemis (daughter of Zeus and Leto, her twin brother is Apollo)
Dione (consort to Zeus)
Aphrodite (daughter of Zeus and Dione)
Callisto (consort to Zeus)
Demeter (goddess, consort to Zeus)
Persephone (daughter of Demeter)
Maia (consort to Zeus)
There you are. Vote in the next few days. And if there are ties or no
consensus, I'll make the tie breaking vote.
February 17
2:01PM
Yesterday was a bad day.
It started at 2:30 AM when Dennis got me up to help him with a difficult
birth. He had been looking at one of the ewes and when he turned around
to go back in the house, he saw G12 with a head and one front leg sticking
out. She was just lying there not making any noise or movement. He got
her into the barn and tried pulling, but it seemed stuck. After the time
we had with G10, he decided to come and get me right away. Fortunately
we were able to get the lamb out with not nearly as much trouble as the
other one. But the lamb seemed to be having a very hard time breathing
and it had no muscle tone. It was just like a rag doll. It couldn't hold
up it's head much less begin to stand up. We got some colostrum in it with
the baster, then I went back to bed. Dennis worked with it and the ewe,
who amazingly was very calm and let him milk with no problem. The problem
was that she was not at all interested in the lamb. When I got up
at 6:30, Dennis had brought the lamb to the basement to warm it up. Still
no tone, but the head was being held up a little. By the time I got ready
to go out and do chores, the lamb was warm and seemed a bit better. It
was a warm day yesterday and the rain held off til this morning, so I took
the lamb back out to his mother in the pen. At noon I was able to get him
to drink his mother's milk from a bottle instead of the baster, but he
still was a long way from “normal”. I don't know what happened between
noon and 4, maybe the ewe hurt him in some way (other than not getting
him out of her body and probably causing all these problems), but he would
not take the bottle, would hardly take the baster and started bubbling
milk out his nose-a very bad sign. He did not make it.
Polaris was no better yesterday
morning. I called the vet, but it was nearly 2 before he got back with
me. He said I had two options-do nothing or bring her in to the Animal
Hospital and he would give her intravenous feedings. If she lived, he would
charge me for his time and supplies. If she died he would only charge me
for the supplies. That was generous, except the minimum on the supplies
would be $50.00. We already had $20.00 in medication in her and he could
not say if she would live or not and if she lived if she would be able
to raise a lamb this year and if she lived and raised a lamb this year
if she would be able to birth lambs in the future. When Dennis woke up
at 3:30, we discussed the situation although I already knew what our decision
would be. Unfortunately for her and for us, she was not worth the expense
of trying to keep her alive any more. I began to dig a grave. Before Dennis
left for his class, he helped me get her out of the barn and near the hole.
I don't think any of you want the details, but I put her down and then
buried her. By this time it was dark and I went back to the barn. I could
tell that G12's lamb was dying, so I put her into a stanchion and gave
her Polaris’ triplet (now single)lamb. She let him nurse right away and,
of course, he was very hungry. Now we just had Sweetheart to find
a home for. And Dennis accomplished that at 12:30 this morning when Opal
gave birth to a single. Dennis caught some of the water in a bucket and
soaked Sweetheart's head and tail in it and Opal has accepted her. Now
if we can only get Sweetheart to accept Opal. She has no idea where
to look for the teat and even when we stick her under and put her nose
right on the teat, she can't seem to open her mouth and drink. We are having
to pry her mouth open, stick the teat in and clamp her mouth on it. This
is no easy task as she fights the whole thing. It's amazing how much strength
a 6½ pound lamb has when she does not want to do what you want her
to do. I hope I have enough patience to see this through and I hope Opal
continues to stand so nicely while we work under her with her new lamb.
Last night when I went out
at 8, I could hear a ewe in the holding pen crying like she was in distress.
When I went to see, I couldn't quite figure it out. It was G10. When her
lamb came out of the creep and went under her for a drink, all crying stopped.
Wow. She has accepted her grafted lamb. Have I described a creep? If so,
skip this next part. A creep is an area that the lambs can get into, but
the ewes can not. Usually there is a panel with slats that allows a lamb
through but not a big ewe. In the creep area, we put a feeder with grain
and usually put some good hay. This allows the lambs to eat whenever they
are hungry and keeps the ewes from eating it all themselves. Dennis had
set up a gate across the holding pen door and when G10's lamb was in it,
she went crazy, not being able to find him.
I let Polka Dot out of her
stanchion yesterday and she seems to be accepting both lambs just fine.
All the ewes in the holding pen went outside this morning. There are now
30 ewes outside. I don't even know how many lambs, but it's a lot. I am
going to put Polka Dot in the holding pen later today.
Dennis helped me feed this
morning just as the rain came. Stitches, who by the way wanted Opal's lamb
last night and made Dennis’ job of getting Opal settled in the barn very
difficult, went out when Dennis took the feed to the front field, but before
he got back from feeding the calves and got the gate closed, she was back
at the barn. I let her come inside and have given her the open space near
the pens. I have to go out and see how she's doing momentarily. Hopefully
she will lamb soon. Then we just have Sadie due tomorrow, Quazar next Wed.
and G11 the Wed. after that. I don't know about Agatha.
The contest names are being
voted on. Get your picks for the three names in soon. And tell me why you
chose the names, too. Again all, thanks for your positive response to these
updates. It has helped me more than you can know, to have shared the trials,
tribulations, and joys with all of you.
February 18
12:09PM
After I finished writing
you yesterday, I went to the barn to find that Stitches was in labor. I
put my fingers in and felt only a head. I got on a glove and found two
legs, too. But I could tell as soon as I started pulling on the hooves,
that they were too big for the head I had found. Sure enough, when
I put my hand on the top of the head, I found another head. The ewe had
two heads and two legs through the cervix. I had to push one back in, so
pushed the larger one since it was not out as far. They don't go back in
through the cervix as easily as they come out. Once I had the second lamb
back in I found the little hooves that belonged to the head and pulled
the lamb out. It was dead. I went on and pulled the second lamb.
It was alive. Then I checked for a third, but could feel nothing. Stitches
has plenty of milk and I debated giving her one of the ones on Camphor,
who does not seem to have enough for two. When I brought the four ewes
left to birth back to the barn, I checked in on everyone in the barn. I
found a dead lamb in the pen with Stitches. The live lamb was there too.
So she had had another lamb in there after all. It was all dried off, but
I have to think it was born dead, as it should have had enough stamina
to live for an hour and a half. It might have been very chilled, but if
it had been born alive, I think it would have still been alive when I got
out there. I made the decision then to graft a lamb from Camphor on to
her. I chose Camphor's own lamb since he has not been doing as well as
his grafted sister (I think she is much stronger and of course older).
I thought that he would be a better match for Stitches own lamb. I put
her in a stanchion. She does not want another lamb, of course, and is kicking
at both lambs unless I hold her legs as they nurse. I hope she wears down
before I do. Sweetheart still can not figure out how to get the teat
into her mouth although once I pry her mouth open and stuff the teat in
she drinks like there is no tomorrow. She opens her mouth to take the bottle;
why wont she do the same for the teat? I have never been known for my patience
and she is sorely trying what little I have left after wrestling with Stitches.
It's worse than just bottle feeding, because I am still feeding her a bottle.
I'm afraid she is not getting enough from what she gets off Opal, so I
am feeding her half of what I was before. So I still have formula to make,
a bottle to wash, and the 10 to 15 minutes trying to get her to drink from
the teat every four hours when I go out to feed. I am also supplementing
G12's grafted lamb (Polaris’ triplet). She does not seem to have enough
milk for him. I hope her production increases soon. Sadie is biding
her time. Dennis will be able to watch them all tonight, but I am considering
checking them at midnight tomorrow and then sleeping through til 6 and
checking them then. I guess that will be determined by how well the lambs
are doing.
There is a misty rain coming
down today, but the lambs outside don't seem to notice. When I put down
the hay, some distance from the grain feeders, a mob of lambs came running
to where I was, then ran past me and on down the hill and out of
sight. I watched and in a few seconds back they came running up the hill
and ending their jaunt with lamb boings. Boings are what you remember cartoon
lambs doing-bouncing on all four stiff legs, up down up down-sort of like
a ping pong ball, slowing down as it goes-boing, boing, boing. Can you
visualize this? If you don't smile when you see them boinging, you must
have your eyes closed. They are so much fun to watch. Must eat lunch,
feed lambs, and go to the mill for feed. Don't forget to vote. It will
make it much easier for me if you all choose the names for me.
February 19
7:49PM
Yesterday when I got home
from the mill, Dennis was up. He helped me unload the feed. The sacks we
use can hold between 100 and 120 pounds, which is usually what the men
at the mill fill them up to. I always ask them to fill the sacks half full
and I know they try, but the sacks still weigh 75 to 90 pounds. So I was
very glad that Dennis was there to help me unload. After we were done,
we went over to the lambing pen side and talked about our problem lambs
and ewes. We decided that since we weren't sure that Sweetheart was getting
anything from Opal, we would feed her what we had been before we grafted
her. Dennis fed her 5 ounces at 4 PM which she took. She only took
4 ounces at 8, 3 ounces at midnight, 1 ounce at 4 and wouldn't take anything
at 8 when I tried to feed her. Could she be getting something from Opal
after all? This evening I tried to force her to take some milk because
she doesn't look that good. She took about 1 ½ ounces and looked
bloated. I wondered if she might be constipated. I gave her two tablespoons
of mineral oil and we'll see if that makes a difference. Poor little thing.
I wish she would just take off, drink lots of milk and grow. Stitches
now is letting both lambs nurse. It will be awhile before she can come
out of the stanchion. She got a whiff of the grafted lamb and tried to
butt him away. I let G12 out this morning and she very definitely tried
to kill her (Polaris’) lamb. Back into the stanchion for three more days.
Sadie has been going off by herself off and on all day. Does that mean
she'll lamb before I go to bed? Probably not. I'm going to feed Polaris'/G12's
lamb at 11, then check on Sadie every 3 hours instead of every 2 hours.
It's not supposed to be very cold tonight and she should be experienced
enough to get her lambs on their feet. We'll see. We have had such
a mild winter that the grass is still green everywhere. The plum
trees are almost in bloom, the pears are showing color on their buds. There
will be no tree fruit this year I'm afraid. The trees and plants are at
least a month early in their growth. I can't believe that winter wont still
show it's freezing side and kill all the green growth. I wonder how bad
the bugs and diseases will be this summer? It is neat to see all the green
though. It seems to me what Ireland must be like-green and misty (as it
has been the past two days).
I'll wait a few more days for you slow pokes to get your votes in.
February 20
7:38PM
When I got up this morning
Sadie had a lamb on the ground. By the time I got dressed and to the barn
for the lambmobile, the second one was on the ground. I got the three of
them into a pen and settled in. Now I can sleep through the night!!! Quazar
is not due til next Wednesday. I'll let Dennis check on her Mon., Tues.,
and Wed. night. If I'm lucky, she'll come before I have to get up and check
on her on Thurs. night.
Sweetheart died this evening.
I don't know if it was bloat, constipation, or if she just wasn't meant
to make it. We tried all we could think to do to keep her going. When she
stopped eating, I knew it was over. Poor little thing.
I am going to let G12 and
Stitches out of their stanchions tomorrow and see how it goes. I think
that they each will accept “their” lambs. There might not be many
updates for awhile unless there is some news that is more interesting than
just my feeding schedule. I will write in a day or two with the final votes
on the names.
February 23
2:24PM
Saturday morning I let Stitches
and G12 out of their stanchions. Stitches is fine-loves both lambs equally.
G12 is a bit weird. Of course, she never really got to be a mother to her
own lamb and she just doesn't seem to know that raising a lamb is what
she's supposed to do. The lamb drinks from behind and is careful to stay
away from her head. She doesn't really butt him like she did the first
time I let her out. She just doesn't stand still for him. He is not as
persistent as the lamb I grafted to G10. I am still feeding the lamb-not
much but I have milk made up and he might as well drink it than pour it
down the drain. And he always wants it so I know that G12 is not feeding
him all he wants.
I put G12, Stitches and
Sadie in the holding pen yesterday. I am going to let Sadie and Stitches
outside tomorrow. I'll have to see about G12. I know she wont be happy
by herself, so I might have to let her out. Dennis and I, with help from
the dogs, moved the sheep into the field behind the house yesterday afternoon.
We had to do it in about 10 stages, getting a few ewes and lambs through
the gate each stage. The dogs did pretty well considering that the lambs
had never been moved before. It took the ewes and lambs quite awhile to
settle down. We could hear lambs crying for Mom and Moms crying for lambs
all evening. I can stand on the deck and look into the field and see lambs
everywhere. It is so neat. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice and sunny and
if it is, we will start castrating the male lambs. I know most of you cringed
when you read that word and I will not describe the process for you. It
is a necessary thing to do. Intact rams are very aggressive, even as lambs,
and can make being in the field with them a hazard for humans as well as
the female lambs. We are also given a lesser price at the stockpens if
we sell intact ram lambs. I believe it has to do with butchering a ram-it
is harder to get the pelt off in one piece and pelts are worth money. If
we castrate when the lambs are 3 to 4 weeks old, they seem to recover very
quickly and are not set back by the procedure.
On to a more pleasant topic-the
naming contest. Here are the names and the votes they received:
5 Raffles
4 Lily
4 Daffodil
3 Hydra
3 Buttermilk
3 Mint Jelly
2 Rosie
1 Hyssop
1 Lavender
1 Wrinkles
1 Speckled
1 Rose
1 Olive
1 Athena
1 Artemis
So G10 will be Lily, G12
will be Raffles and G11 (who is yet to lamb) will be Daffodil.
And the winning people are Lily-Connie Price, Raffles-Jonathan Kleissler,
and Daffodil-Michael Kleissler. But if any of you will visit us and request
it, you can have a lamb dinner. I will keep all the names submitted and
probably use them in the future. Thanks so much for your participation.
It has made the season much more enjoyable to have all of you out there
in cyberspace part of the real world of the lambing barn.
February 25
8:04PM
This morning at 3 AM when
Dennis checked the ewes, he found a set of twins with Quazar. A male and
a female, both doing okay. Now we just have Daffodil next Wed. or thereabouts.
Yesterday the weather was beautiful, although a bit windy. We did the
dirty deed and castrated most of the male lambs. We have decided to keep
a ram lamb from our own breeding. The best looking one out of a Polypay
and our Suffolk ram is Polynesia's ram lamb. I wont have another contest,
but if anyone has a good name for him, we'll consider it. In the 18 years
we've been doing this, we have had 13 rams, so my naming brain cells are
not as used up as they are for the ewes. This young ram lamb has a mostly
white face, just a little brown on the nose, and a big brown circle on
his left “knee”. We will choose the best Polypay/Hampshire cross ewes to
put with him this fall. And then we'll hope for lots of ewe lambs so we
can choose some for replacements. As I said before, I don't want any more
than half of the ewe to be a black face breed (Suffolk or Hampshire). If
a ewe is more than ½ black face, we almost always have trouble with
her ability to lamb and her desire to accept and feed her lambs. They also
seem more high strung. One exception for us has been Honor. She has never
given me any problems and her lambs always grow well. But, she is the only
one. G12,Raffles and her lamb were let out of the holding pen today
and I saw Raffles knock away a lamb that wasn't hers and keep hers close
by. So I guess all the grafts have taken. Thank goodness.
March 6
7:47PM
Daffodil had a set of twins
this afternoon-in broad daylight, sun shinning, and popped them both out
with ease. Thank you, thank you. So now the lambing season is officially
over.
I wish you all could be here to see the lambs. They are so cute. Yesterday
we moved the whole group to the front field. This afternoon around four,
as the sun was going down, and after a day of laying around with their
moms, a group of lambs started playing chase. One or two started running,
a few more joined them, and finally a large group was running across the
field. They run one way, stop a minute, then run back. Back and forth,
back and forth. At one point they ran by the feeders and one lamb jumped
over a feeder! It was the smallest feeder and it was turned over so it
was about two feet off the ground, but still it was amazing.
Again, let me tell you all
how much I have enjoyed your comments and your support through this
season. It has been so much fun getting all the email. Writing about
my lambing life has helped me to see what I do in a renewed light. I don't
suppose any of you (besides Elaine) will become shepherds or shepherdesses,
but I never imagined I would be one until we bought our first ewes. One
never knows which direction life will lead.
If things happen here that
I think you might be interested in, I will post further updates.
Wendy can be reached at: wdmprice@scrtc.blue.net
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