I’ve been trying to get the lamb pages on the website updated, so most of the photos I’ve been taking are of individual lambs…and trying to make sure I can read ear tag numbers. If I go out earlier in the morning I sometimes find lambs bedded down next to their moms. There were five sets of triplets this year.
This is Janna with her three lambs–two rams and a ewe.
Bide a wee Trista also has two rams and a ewe. You can’t see the ewe very well–she is mostly black and behind the two spotted lambs.
Sweetgrass Tranquility with triplet ewe lambs.
Addy with her lambs, the first of the season. Addy is a BFL/Jacob cross.
Patchwork Amara was the other ewe to have triplets, but Sparky required intervention and became a bottle lamb. Her story is here and she features in several of the posts since then. Her brothers are 2527 and 2528 on the ram lamb page.
I’m 9 days into lambing and haven’t had a chance to share any of it. Here is Day 1 on March 6.
There was a field trip from a Waldorf school in the morning. I had told them that I couldn’t promise lambs, but maybe there would be some. There were not. However, they had plenty of time to pet sheep. Notice Jade enjoying the attention.
I had a tax appointment after the kids left and when I got back I found Addy with triplets.
After I brought them into the barn the first order of business was to erase last year’s Lambing Board. This shows 88 lambs from January 25 through March 7 plus other notes squeezed in. So we ended lambing last year at the same time we’re starting this year. That was partly because we wanted to take a trip to Texas to see the grandkids and the eclipse in April. I didn’t want to have lambs coming if we were not here. This year I’m back to a more normal schedule.
Cashew lambed the following day. There were no lambs the day after that. A slow start.
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 taught a rigid heddle weaving class this morning and the one participant chose these brilliant colors for her scarf. I think it turned out great!
Dan and I went to the barn to put up a new barn camera and saw this out back. I had put these ewe in last night because she didn’t follow the others in to eat. But I put her back out this morning because nothing had happened and she wasn’t due for another five days. This is Rose, Kirby’s ewe. She is in the photo below just before shearing.
When they are in full fleece, looks are deceiving.
The ultrasound results showed triplets, but there are only twins here. These are dark lilac lambs. Horatio is the sire.
This is Bessie, the ewe that lambed January 29, too early for the “real” breeding season. These lambs are sired by a random ram lamb. They are sure nice looking ewes. One is black and white and one is lilac.
Two ewes have lambed early this year. The dates finally made sense when I realized (thanks to a Farm Club member who keeps track of these things) that some of the ram lambs got in with the ewes September 2. Those lambs would have been 4-1/2 to 6 months old at that time. As another friend said, “where there’s a ram, there’s a way!”
I saw one of the rams breed a ewe, but it wasn’t one of these two who have now lambed. Bessie lambed on Monday and in looking up some info, I thought I would feature her in a blog post.
Bessie was born 3/10/2019. She was a week old when this photo was taken. You can see that she is a lilac–the facial markings are definitely gray, not black and the fleece color follows. I love to see a lamb fleece like this. It’s all tight little curls and, in my experience, a fleece like this will be very nice. Also notice the level of the britch wool. That is the coarser wool on the back leg. It doesn’t spread very far up the leg.
Here she is 10 days later.
This photo was taken at about 7 months old.
Here she is three years later.
In 2023 Bessie lambed with twin rams. I kept this one, now named Blizzard.
This is Bessie, not quite a month ago. She is in full fleece and full of lambs.
These two ewe lambs were born on Monday, 1/29. The one on the right is lilac like her mom. They have the same curly fleece and low britch wool that Bessie had in her lamb photo.
I was expecting the first lambs in about two weeks so it was a surprise when I saw a ewe who looked as though she was in labor tonight. I put her in a lambing pen and the more I watched the more I knew that she would lamb. I was a bit worried though because lambs can be considered premature and at risk if they are born even ten days before their due date. I put most ewes with rams on September 16 which makes first lambs due February 11. There were two ewes with a ram 6 days earlier which gives us a lambing date of February 5.
All is OK. I went to the house for dinner and pulled up the barn camera feed on my phone.The ewe was definitely in labor. By the time I went back to the barn the lamb was mostly out. The ewe was standing. One more push and the lamb was out.
This is a single ewe lamb out of a 7-year-old ewe, Meridian Dilly.
She was on her feet in about 20 minutes…
…and nursing within a half hour.
So how did we get such a vigorous healthy lamb that much sooner than expected? I sent an email to Farm Club to announce the lamb. One of the members reminded me of an email I had sent in early September in which I said three ram lambs had gone through the fence to where the ewes were. That timing makes sense. One of those is the sire.
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