A busy lambing day!

What a busy day! My daughter has been such a big help to me, I told her we'd go shopping for shoes to go with her prom dress today. My husband was home from his week long business trip, so I hoped he could handle things while we were gone. A quick barn check before we left, and I found Elodie with a white ram lamb and another on the way. She quickly presented a moorit ewe lamb. We jugged them and were set to go. Sire is Echo . Lambs were 6.5 lb. and 8.5 lb.

We were enjoying a lunch at Pannera when my husband called. The granny ewe (Stella) presented a lamb in a water bag, what should he do? Um, rip it open? Then he "thought" it was a ewe but not sure. My daughter fired off a text message, if it has big horn buds and balls, it's a ram! She followed with another ram, so this her her fourth set of triplets! She is always such a wonderful, prolific mother, and has an udder the size of a basketball. There may be some spotting on the legs, I'll have to look closer tomorrow. Sire is Finn. Lambs weighed in a 5.5 lb., 6.5 lb. and 7 lb. We returned from our shopping trip to find Fauna in the barn with a ruptured water bag. She fiddled around forever. Finally, I had my daughter hold her so I could check her dilation, which was not good. I gave her a shot of oxytocin, and she went into labor. Still, not much progress. I checked her again, dilation was good, but a backwards lamb. Ugh. Got him pulled out, and he looks good, a moorit ram. We were really hoping for a moorit or black mouflon, but no such luck. Sire is our black mouflon ram Fable. This ram weighed in at 8.5 lb.

The lambs are all frisky and healthy, so it's been a good day! The sun is shining, and the sheep are all happy. So is the shepherd.

Charlotte lambs!

My dear Charlotte had 2 gorgeous ewe lambs this afternoon! I always look forward to her lambs, they are always nice. I wish I had 10 more Charlotte's in my flock! She had a big black grey ewe weighing in at 9 lb. and a black grey spotted ewe weighing 7.5 lb. Echo is their sire.

Charlotte is such a hippo of a girl, I thought surely she had another in there. Especially when she produced a big water bag after the 2nd lamb. But no, just the two, and that's a good thing. Triplets are always more of a challenge, though fun, and they certainly do increase your flock size in a hurry.

The little black grey spotted ewe looks a lot like her Grandpa Avery! I can't wait to see how she matures.

(Live) Lamb count, 4 rams, 4 ewes!

Crazy Esther

I swear, my ewes are a bunch of practical jokers. They get bored waiting on their lambs to arrive, so they play late night tricks on me. The last two nights, the baby monitor alerted me to the sounds of a ewe in labor. I groggily pulled on my coveralls to check, and find nothing but some sleepy ewes chewing their cud and snickering at me. Hmmm. On the way back in, I heard a lamb baaing, but not in the barn. I look around and there's Crazy Esther, out in the far mucky corner of the barnyard with a lamb! More baaing, and I see another teeny lamb on the other side of the fence! Thank goodness I was there. I got them all settled inside the barn and went to bed.

Crazy Esther had two ewe lambs, just like last year, both with horn buds. The white one weighed in at a mere 4 lb. and her sister at 7.5 lb. Both very active and vigorous. Hurray for Esther!

Fern's little ram

Fancy and her sweet little mouflon ram

Belle loves hanging out in the field with "her" sheep

Napping on a warm sunny spring day.

Blue Siberian Squill

Seasonal closet changes

Our home is a big old rambling farm home built in the 1800's by a family with 11 kids. The family was quite wealthy, our home is beautiful. I think of them every day, and hope I can live here forever. The closets are larger than most old houses, but still small compared to today's standards. As we change from winter to spring and summer, I exchange the clothes from bins to closets to bins, to be stored once again in the attic. With only two kids, and two adults, why do we have so many clothes? Do we really need them? How did a family of 13 live here with these small closets?
My husband and I have been about the same size for the past 20 years or more. I tend to buy classic style clothes that don't really go out of style, with most of our clothes coming from resale shops. I hate to throw anything away. But, like most women, it's fun to get something new (from the consignment shop!)
The U.S. has such a quest for buying new things. No one seems to be satisfied with what they have. Everyone wants more, more, more. It's scary. No one wants to be responsible for their actions.
And so, we go on with our life. Raising sheep, chickens, ducks, geese... Planting large gardens. Trying to live, season by season.
Or, maybe I'm just cranky from all of this work when I'd rather be outside...

Lamby cuteness!

Ivan, hoping to go out to RUN

After several days of chilly drizzle, the sun began to peak out of the clouds. Everyone had a case of cabin fever.

The ewes loved going out to nibble on grass.

I love watching the new lambs
bouncing alongside their mommas.

They don't eat grass yet, but it sure smells good!Some of the lambs have white "flashing" in their wool. These aren't true spots, and often fade with time. They are good indicators that the lamb carries spotting, though.

Felicite's little moorit grey ram looks like a little old man.
I'll have to get busy working on H names.

Fern's little white ram--sweet!

and.......ANOTHER BIG RAM!

Fancy surprised us with a big 9 lb. black mouflon ram lamb this late afternoon. My daughter and I had gone into the barn to give Bose to the Tuesday-born lambs, and there he was, all dried off and fed. Fancy is a black mouflon badgerface, which is a double pattern. I love the mouflon pattern, too bad he isn't a she! Sire is Echo.

Another big ram!

Doesn't Felicite look pleased with herself?

A quick barn check, and Felicite was in the corner, moaning and groaning. I took a peek, and it looked to be another big lamb, but at least the hooves were coming out the right way. Pulling lambs is hard. I hate to be too brutal. Sometimes it feels like you are going to pull the legs right off the poor lamb! First think I do, is lube mom up good with Ivory dish soap. I manually try to get her vulva stretched out. Using washcloths to pull gives you a better grip than paper towels. Still, not quite good enough. Those lambs are so slippery! So tonight, I tried something new. I put a heavy rubber band around each leg. It worked like a charm! Now, rubber bands will be added to my lambing kit.

Felicite is so happy with her new little boy. Finn is the sire.
Those horn buds are huge!

It's been a busy (happy) day in the barn,
and the day isn't over yet.