I was talking with my daughter and she said something about her memory of a wheelbarrow that had been at my mom’s house. I thought it was probably around here somewhere (do farmers ever throw anything away?) and that prompted me to look for it.
This is the current barn wheelbarrow. I think I’ve had this one since before we moved here in 1999.That tape has been on a crack in the handle for years and it has had new wheels. Is it possible that this is the wheelbarrow that came with us from the dairy? Maybe Rubbermaid should be making cars.
This is just a newer version of the other one, It is supposed to be Dan’s wheelbarrow but it has made it to the barn too.
I started looking for others. There are new wooden handles for this one under that bench. I think the handles were a Christmas present for me, but there is obviously some work to be done to make this functional.
This started life as a wheelbarrow and when the “barrow” part broke Dan adapted it to a one-wheeled platform to move things around. It has been in one place for awhile and junk and pine needles have accumulated.
How about this one? Needs work.
As does this one.
Don’t know this one’s story. Maybe it’s upside down to keep it from filling with rain. Or is it in need of serious repair?
Wheelbarrow converted to planter.
This one deserves more of a story . That will be another post.
The title of this post implies a cool photo. Sorry. There are no photos of sheep and hummingbirds together. However I have some of each. This post was going to be about hummingbirds but then other photos caught my eye.
Sheep on fresh pasture.
This is Sweetgrass Eileen.
Birdsfoot trefoil flower.
Now for the hummingbirds.
I had way too many photos but narrowed it down to these.
Now that the aloe is flowering I notice hummingbirds there frequently. Sometimes there are two or three at the same time.
This was easier to photograph than hummingbirds. I needed only one photo.
I just checked back to see when I wrote last. Wow! I’m so behind. It’s probably impossible to catch up with all the ideas I was going to share. Here’s an update about sheep and lambing season.
This is the lambing board where I record all the info as lambing progresses. This will stay up until the first lambs show up next year. The info shows date, ewe, lamb # (purple for ewes, blue for rams), and birth weight. The blue brackets are triplets.
Here is a summary: Lambs born between January 25 and March 7, 2024 Single births: 3 = 3 live lambs Twin births: 33 = 63 live lambs (3 died at birth) Triplet births: 8 = 22 live lambs (2 died at birth) Total live lambs = 88 ear tagged; 1 died at 1 day and 2 dead fetuses not counted. 44 ewe lambs / 42 ram lambs Sires: Horatio 36 lambs Barrett 27 lambs Typhoon 12 lambs Blizzard 5 lambs Peyton 5 lambs Unknown 3 lambs The Unknown are the first 3 lambs born, earlier than I expected, and due to the ram lambs getting into the pasture prior to breeding season. OOPS!
I also question if Blizzard is the sire of the five lambs born later than expected based on original breeding dates.
I made this chart to help work it out. If the lambs were born based on the original dates they would have ben born in mid-February. They are about 2 to 3 weeks later. A sheep heat cycle is 17 days and gestation is between 142-152 days (average 147 days or 21 weeks). Blizzard was with 3 ewes until Lambtown, October 6-8. If he bred them October 5 the due date would range from February 24 to March 5. I just looked back at last year’s Lambtown blog post and see that Queen Q and Quark were both at Lambtown also. They came back on October 8. IF they were bred October 8, 147 days would be March 3 (range February 27 to March 9). I’m pretty sure that April’s lambs are sired by Blizzard, but I’m still not sure about the others. I think they probably went in with Horatio when they came back here but I don’t remember. It would have been smart to leave them away from rams for another week or so. The lesson here: TAKE BETTER NOTES.
Thanks for “listening” while I try to work this out. Now, on to photos.
Lambs are getting big. This is Hailee, one of the few 2023 ewe lambs that I put with a ram. Her twins were born March 4, so they are only 3 weeks old. Really? It seems like that was so long ago now.
Here is a view of Hailee without lambs under her. I really like her horns!
We had a Farm Day on Sunday and several members showed up to help take notes about lambs. I hadn’t taken time to record number of horns, color, etc and needed to be able to update the website. We caught all the lambs and then inspected each one. It’s easy to tell the number of horns on the rams when they are young, but not always on the ewes. This photo makes mer think of a line at the grocery store. Farm Club members caught lambs and waited while we all checked them out and then I ear tagged with a colored tag.
They all get white ear tags for ID shortly after they are born. The colored tags are useful as back up if the original ones are pulled out and to help find a particular lamb. When I’m looking for a specific number I have to look at all 80+ lambs and it’s much easier to narrow it down by color. It also helps when I’m taking photos that usually I’ll be able to identify the lamb later by at least one ear tag. We color code them by sire.
Barrett’s lambs got green tags.
Ewe lambs are tagged with the white ID tag in the left ear and the colored tag in the right ear. Ram lambs are the opposite, so that’s another way to help find a lamb.
Horatio’s lambs have a purple sire tag.
We tagged Typhoon’s lambs with yellow. I did not assign colors to lambs that are potentially Blizzard’s or the ones with an unknown sire. Now you can find most of these lambs on the website. Ewe lambs.Ram lambs. I’m not finished taking photos. Most are for sale.
I wrote last time about Seeing Triple and all the triplets that have been born. Eilwen was the last one in that post, but early the next morning Honey had her lambs–more triplets.
When I went to the barn I saw the moon setting in the west…
…and the sun rising in the east.
Here is what I saw in the barn. I had put Honey in the night before because she was desperately trying to claim the lambs of the ewe that had just lambed when I was at the barn around midnight. Now she had her own brood. This is the sixth set of triplets. That’s too many, especially for this ewe who had mastitis last year. I thought it had been resolved enough for her to have lambs again. I was wrong.
The lambs had figured out that they were getting milk from only one side. A ewe can nurse a single lamb one one side, and maybe twins, but it’s asking way too much to raise triplets that way. Its important for the lambs to get colostrum during the first day, so I made sure that they all took turns nursing through the day, but I started to supplement that night.
Jannie lambed later that day with twins.
This is Coco with 10-day old twins. Yesterday I found Coco less responsive than normal. She is not one of the tame sheep and she wouldn’t get up when I wanted her to move. The lambs were trying to nurse while she was lying down. I discussed symptoms with one of the vets at the VMTH (UCDavis Vet Hospital).
No fever and, in fact, lower than normal body temperature, her behavior, and the yellow cast to the sclera led her to think copper toxicity. I have dealt with copper toxicity in the past but not for several years.
I took Coco to the VMTH as soon as I could. This story does not have a happy ending, but this is real life. Coco was euthanized. I know she looks like a normal sheep in this photo, but believe me, her body was shutting down. There is a lot more I could tell you about this — details about copper toxicity in sheep, decisions one has to make about animals whether they are considered livestock or pets, and more. That is what Farm Club is all about. Farm Club members get the behind-the-scenes stories in much more detail than works (or is appropriate for) a blog post. They have had daily updates from the beginning of lambing and have been invited out here to participate as well.
This was the bucket I took to the barn this morning. Two bottles for Coco’s lambs and two bottles for Honey’s lambs. As of the noon feeding I added a fifth bottle. I’ll be feeding four times/day for a couple of weeks I think.
Those are Coco’s lambs on the right. I took two of Honey’s lambs out of her pen this morning. The fact that she didn’t care means she doesn’t feel well. I left one with her but will supplement him.
I know it will make me crazy to go back and do other photos out of order, but I’m ready now for today. So I’ll do it this way and include a couple from yesterday as well. Maybe I’ll get to others later because there are stories.
Yesterday Dan decided to take out part of the tree that we think used to stand straight. Ever since that super strong wind last week this tree has looked like it’s tipping more and we’ve known that part of it looks dead. If it went down it could not only take a person with it but it would lift up the corner of the fence. It’s easier to cut down a tree than to replace the fence.
This is one of Trista’s twins born five days ago. The first time he nursed he did it while lying down. Maybe he has decided that is just the way you do things. It works when the sheep has a low hanging udder.
I was in the barn a good part of the day yesterday. I skirted fleeces in between watching ewes lamb. I’ll try to get time to post these.
This morning I knew it was time to rearrange the furniture. As the ewes lamb and I move more ewe/lamb groups out of pens they go on one side. The pregnant ewes stay on the other. It’s the only way I can keep track of who’s next and who may be in labor. There were way too many sheep on one side. It’s mud on the outside of the barn and the pasture has standing water. Until we get some dry days and some more growth they won’t go out there.
Now the ewes and lambs have a much larger space in the barn and outside to the west.
The pregnant ewes (not in this photo) have the space to the left.
In the barn. I ran out of feeders that hang on the panels so Tamara has to share her meal as bedding.
The hens looked like they were dying, but I knew that they were just happy to spread out in the sun.
I moved Amara in last night thinking that she might lamb during the night. Today was the day.
I went to the house for breakfast and to get supplies so that I could work from the barn. I had to prepare for a Zoom meeting for which I didn’t have time last night. This is one of my favorite cups. I bought it at Black Sheep Gathering last year.
My new office set up.
My view from the office.
The result. The second was one of those that may have been just fine if I wasn’t there, but I don’t know. There have been plenty of lambs born with no one around and they are up and nursing when I find them. But so far there have been two that I found dead and had the membranes over the face, one of which was still half in the ewe. This one was born while the ewe was standing and paying attention to the first. It slipped out and landed with the body flopped over the head and fluid all around. I straightened it out and it came to life. I don’t know if it would have before the ewe discovered she had a second.
That’s the day so far. We have 54 lambs and I think I counted 19 ewes to go.
This is the opposite view. It looks as though there is a lot of grass but we have to be strategic about grazing right now. The ground is wet and I don’t want to cause compaction. And much of the pasture is not fresh grass, but still-dormant dallisgrass with only a little annual grass growing through. The bulk of the green grass right now is annual, not perennial. There are clovers in here too and we want to maximize their vigor by not overgrazing them.
We first set the net fence up along the lane so the sheep could graze that down before it became so tall all they would do is trample it. The grazed part is where I had the sheep yesterday using a short bit of net fence. This morning I switched to a longer section of net fence and gave them a bit more of the grass.
Ginny came to the barn eventually with a ball. Whose ball is this? Chicken or dog?
Trista was in last night because I thought she was next to lamb. I was right, but she sure took her time with it. It was a long time before this labor became anything that was visible.
Back at the Weaving House, one of the things on the list was to photograph the latest v-shawls to promote the class that I will teach at CNCH in April. There is still room!
On my many trips back and forth between the barn and the house I always admire my daffodils.
It was about 1 p.m. that Trista finally lambed. It took another hour before she had the seccond lamb. Look at the horns on this ram!
Back at the Weaving House. Jacob shawls are on the loom now. I hope to finish these tomorrow.
We have seen a skunk twice in the last week around the shop. It seems to be living under the shop. Ginny has confronted it. I There is a distinct “eau de skunk” in the air, even in the shop. There are many reasons why it’s not a good idea to have a skunk around. Fortunately it was not under the shop tonight we we could deal with it.
Back to the barn. This is Coco with the first of twins.
Jade came in tonight because…well, because she is Jade. She doesn’t look particularly ready but she sure looks as though she should be. She was due yesterday I think.
I’ll start with pretty lamb pictures and then move on to sheep rears. She last night’s post for an explanation of that.
I just let the ewes and lambs onto green grass.
Janna and triplets born about a week ago.
These are in order of how they exported onto my list. This is Coco, due 2-17. Farm Club members have the list of due dates. These are mostly based on my observations during breeding season and then confirmed (sort of) by ultrasounds in late November.
Oh boy! I just learned how to put two photos side by side here. This is Pecan from front and rear. She is due 2/20.
Sandie doesn’t count for the contest. Notice what’s behind her. But it does show what I mean when I talk about the lambs dropping and leaving a sunken area in front of the hips. Compare her to her sister, Pecan in the photos above. She has lambed between me taking these photos this morning and getting to the house to do this post.
Quartz is due 2/17.
Anise was due 2/14.
Eilwen is due 2/27.
Hallie on the left, due 2/22, and Lavender on the right, due 2/20.
Jade from the side and rear. She is due tomorrow, 2/16.
Trista is due 2/17.
There are plenty of others that I could photograph but these are the sheep that posed properly for photos.
This is probably the kind of photo you expect to see when people are sharing pictures of sheep. But it’s the other end that I’m watching to try and figure out who is next to lamb. The ewe facing me is Sandie due 2/15 (tomorrow). I took lots of photos earlier to bring back the Lambing Game for Farm Club. That’s where I share photos of sheep (mostly rear ends) and Farm Club members can choose the next to lamb. There may be a prize or the prize may just be bragging rights. But I kept taking photos and either not being able to positively identify the sheep from the wrong end, or that sheep lambed before I had a chance to post photos.
Tranquility was one of those I was going to post. She lambed the morning after I took this photo.
Addy was also on the list. She lambed late in the afternoon after I took this photo, the same day as Tranquility.
I think this is Eilwen because the spots match the last photo here.
The ewe on the right is Foxy who lambed this morning. The photo was taken three days before.
Jade is in the middle. Everyone who has been here knows Jade. She is due 2/16.
At 12 years, Sonata is the oldest ewe here, due on 2/16.
Trista and Eilwen. Trista is due 2/17. Eilwen is due 2/27.
If I have time I may take a new set of photos tomorrow. They should all be taken at the same time to make this game fair.
I put this ewe, Sweetgrass Tranquility, in the lambing area the last two nights thinking that she was ready to lamb. Notice the sunken sides. She looked like that yesterday too. This was her official due date based on breeding date. There was still no action.
I did chores and moved ewes and lambs around. This is Meridian Janna with triplets. They moved from the stall where they’d been a few days to the big outdoors. I went to the house to do some computer work. When I came back out Tranquility was straining some, but there was still none of the other obvious signs I expect (mucous, drainage). I gloved up and found a lamb close to being born, but stuck. This could be a long story but I’ll just explain that the lamb was dead and was blocking the exit for the other lambs. When a lamb is dead it is floppy and the legs and head don’t stay in the position necessary for easy lambing.
I pushed that lamb back to where I was able to grab its legs and head and pulled it out. Then I was able to find and pull two live lambs. The meconium staining indicates that the lambs were stressed during the process, but all is well. These lambs were normal size (7+ pounds). I think the first one died at least a few days ago. I have a photo but didn’t think this was the place to share it. 
Here are those two lambs up and looking for something to eat.
Lambing isn’t always a pretty sight.
I spent a couple of hours still in the barn working on fleeces. I have a lot of fleeces to skirt and photograph for sale. I will get some on the website tomorrow.
I took this photo earlier in the morning, before Tranquility lambed. This is the BFL X Jacob ewe, Addy. Those BFLs put on much more weight than the Jacobs with the same feeding regimen–she is a tad heavy and has looked round for days. Later in the day I went out and thought that the lamb(s) had dropped. Her sides were more sunken and I figured that I would put her in the lambing area tonight.
When I went back to the barn about 5:00 I found her with a lamb that was 12.4 pounds! Maybe the vet that reviewed the ultrasound and gave a 1+ result was right and there was only one. (1+ means they confirmed one but didn’t rule out a second.)
When I went back to the barn two hours later here is what I found. This is a 9.6 pound lamb and had already nursed. I wonder if I’ll be surprised when I go back out as soon as I finish this post.
Here is the lambing list so far. We’re off to a much slower start than previous years, but it’s been easier that way. There are a lot more due before the end of the month.
I don’t think it’s spring yet, but it felt like it today when the sun was out!
If you want to see lambing videos check out my YouTube channel. This is Bessie lambing with twins and here is Cashew with twins. These are about 6 minute videos.
Shearing Day was scheduled for January 21, but this was the day before. I was up before sunrise again (necessary if you want to get enough done in the day in the winter) and it’s nice when there is color to go with it.
I had a spinning class scheduled for the morning. Five people from five different cities came to learn about spinning. Most had a little bit of experience or at least an introduction to spinning so we started right in after I explained the different wheels and some basic terminology. They all had a chance to ply their yarns by the time we finished a little after noon.
Just as we were finishing Siobhan and Ivar got here. Siobhan is a Farm Club member who has been here often, either teaching a class or to farm sit, besides our regular Farm Days. She and her husband spent a few weeks in England on a belated honeymoon last year. While there they took a lesson on blade shearing and bought hand shears. Siobhan asked if she could shear a sheep for her Farm Club fleece for this year. I said “sure”.
She chose Harry, the offspring of one of our pet sheep, Hazel, who died last year). I had wethered Harry because he had become such a pet to Siobhan and my granddaughter, Kirby. Ivar did the actual shearing while Siobhan helped with sheep control.
I can’t believe that I didn’t get photos between the start and the finish. I was doing some other barn clean up but also helping with a bit of sheep management. In fact I took this photo while Ivar was finishing his last strokes from the front of the sheep where I had one hand (or maybe my knee at this point) on Harry’s head. Siobhan however has a great time-lapse video of the whole process.
I’ll bet it felt like longer to Ivar, but when I looked at the time on my photos I saw that between the first and last photo there was about 55 minutes. I’d say that’s pretty good for your first sheep and doing it with handshears…and the sheep has horns, which only adds to the difficulty.
The fleece looks good too and I can’t wait to see what Siobhan does with it. Great job, Ivar and Siobhan!
The next day we sheared 77 sheep, but John uses electric shears! Stay tuned for another post.
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