Out In The Pasture

I am always amazed at how quickly lambs grow. They start out almost able to walk under their mothers and at the end of three weeks some of them are as tall as their dams. Here are some photos of the crew out enjoying the sunshine. Only a few more ewes to lamb thank goodness.

Halfway There

To say that this year's lambing has been challenging would be an understatement. We have done pretty well however and have only lost three lambs in birthing incidents. Those bfl cross lambs grow to an enormous size and have very long legs. I lost twin lambs after their mother had a bout of ketosis, She wasn't down for more than an hour but it must have been too much for them. Both were delivered dead with their head and legs back and that has to be the worst experience ever. Top that off they were both 15 pounds each. Mom pulled through just fine and is going outside in the maternity field today. My little blind boys went out in a mini field with their mom and a few others. I put a bell around her neck so that they can find her and she is pretty good at keeping an eye on them. Enjoy the photos

And Still More Lambs

On the 13th Gil and I went out to the barn to find that 6 lambies had been born overnight. All were just a few hours old but dried off and had full tummies. Problem was we put the whole flock in over night because of the cold and rain, so now we had to find out who belonged to who and get the other sheep outside. Gil of course, had a meltdown and stormed out. When he cam back a few minutes later, we isolated all the moms to one pen and then tossed in all the lambs and let them do the sorting for us. Perfect solution. One young ewe totally abandoned her little guy but he was adopted by Josephine. She is now feeding three. We had a disappointment later that afternoon when two beautifully marked brothers were born and turned out to be blind. The one lamb was showing signs of polio, so vitamins were started but so far neither one has regained much vision. The one can see shadows only and the other can't see at all. I am going to bell their mother so that when I let them out, they wil be able to find her. Enjoy the pics of my first group of newbies for that day.

Mini Baby Boom Has Begun

Yesterday my husband did chores by himself, as I had to go out, and hit the lamb jackpot. Three of my ewes were just finishing having their little ones, so there are five new lambs at the farm. Three girls and two boys, all bfl shetland crosses. There will be many more lambs this week and a few of my purebred shetland lambs should be arriving. Enjoy the pics.

More Lambs and Counting

My first wave of BFL cross Shetland lambs have arrived and are outside now with their moms. My ewe's eye has cleared up nicely with treatment and they are growing like weeds. The one fawn katmoget marked ram lamb is extremely friendly and spends a good deal of time getting petted and trying to jump on my lap. I don't know why some animals are so friendly from birth, but he always has been and because of this several other of the lambs are a little less skittish. He has a gorgeous fleece and because he is a ram I don't normally encourage this type of behaviour, but he will be wethered when older and go to a pet home or stay here. Enjoy the pics.

My Little Helper

My granddaughter, Avery, should grow up to be a farm girl. When she gets out of the car when visiting, she is off at full speed saying "goggie, goggie" and right up to the dogs. She waits for me to give the hello command and then each dog comes over to greet her. Once in the house, it becomes "kitty, kitty", much to the disappointment of our cat Yoshi. Yoshi is 18, blind and cannot get away. She is very gentle and gives him a pet before I send him upstairs to hide. She thinks that the sheep are doggies too. A true animal lover has been born.