What a day!

What a day this has been. Frea started out the day with a tiny ewe lamb. I think she's a premie, our first in 8 years of lambing. Mom looks bewildered, lambie looks confused. She wanted to nurse, but just couldn't get the hang of it. So, I decided to tube her. This is quite a scary thing to do. Elaine from Flesi Farm in Maine has some great instructions, so that is what I follow. Blogger won't let me cut and past the instructions, dang it.

So, I've been tubing the premie today, and she seems to be doing well. Frea is quite frustrated. She wants to be a momma, and doesn't like this situation! The little ewe weighed in at 3.75 lb.

Ella lambed while all of this was going on. Such a good ewe, no problems with her--ever. A smaller ram lamb weighing 5 lb. and a big ewe lamb weighing 9 lb., both black. Ella is such a nice, easy going, no problem ewe.

As Ella was lambing, so was Claire. Claire was certain that Ella's ewe was hers. I quickly put Ella and her lambs in the barn, much to Claire's dismay. She bellowed and fussed around the barn door, but finally settled into pushing out her lamb. A GIANT moorit ram weighing in at 12 lb. His horn buds are gigantic. Claire has had 2 sets of triplets, and several twins, so it was quite a surprise for her to have a single. This little guy should grow out really well.

Here's a cute pic of Dalla's ewe lamb. Isn't she adorable?

Evra lambs

Evra had twin black badgerface lambs yesterday morning at about 6 am. That seems to be a popular time with the girls. She had an 8 lb. ram and a 4.5 lb. ewe. The ewe was backwards, so I was glad to be there. She came out so quickly, Evra didn't even realize she had a second.
Delilah is so funny with her new baby, spoiling it rotten. She's extremely protective, and wouldn't leave the barn all day. That little ewe is the cleanest, fattest baby here. Her wool glistens like mohair.

We certainly have been blessed with some beautiful lambing weather. Most of our springs are wet and dreary, but we've gone from winter to almost summer like weather in no time at all.

Lamb count: 13 ewes, 12 rams

Lambs, lambs everywhere!

Found Delilah at 6 am frantically licking off a giant 11 lb. ewe lamb, sadly dead. I'm sure it came out backward and drowned. Poor thing. "If only" I had gotten up an hour earlier. A second ewe lamb followed, almost identical in coloring and weighing 9 lb. That darn Delilah. Such a piggy girl. She is very possessive and proud of her remaining lamb. She's a black spotted badger, with Finn being the sire. Hope she has horns. Delilah is the only true polled ewe in our flock. One of Stella's triplets, a ram

I went a little crazy with lamb photos today. I snapped away until the batteries died on my camera. The lamby cuteness only lasts so long, so I try to take advantage of it!Dalla and her twins, a white ram and a gorgeous and most interestingly colored greyish blue spotted ewe lamb.
Sire is Finn. Pippi's black grey spotted ewe lamb.
I'm feeling pretty irritated at Pippi tonight. She's one of those ewes that won't keep her baby bums clean. They get all yellow and pasty, hard as concrete, and as smelly as can be. I spent part of my evening soaking lamb butts in warm sudsy water, then spraying them with PAM cooking spray. Weird, huh?
The oily spray really helps to keep those bums clean.

Esther's black spotted crazy girlDrea, headed out to pasture with her girlsA close up of Drea's black badgerface ewe. The black badgers have a lot of moorit coloring, but Icelandics can only be one of 2 colors, black or moorit. It really makes for a richly colored fall spinning fleece. Belle loves all of the new lambs.Doesn't she look content?More of Stella's cute triplets.Charlotte's black grey ewe lamb is the calmest,
sweetest girl born this year.Charlotte's other ewe, this cute black grey spotted is so frisky, and is always licking her lips!

Lamb count so far, 12 ewes, 11 rams. Boy, am I tired.

Sunday Lambs

A good lambing day! Pippi had 2 adorable black grey spotted lambs, a ram and a ewe, both with white blazes. I love Pippi's lambs, they are always exceptional. I just wish that Pippi was a calmer ewe. She was born in Michigan, and though a nice ewe, has never calmed down. Her lambs are more mellow, and we have two of her lovely daughters from last year. Sire is Finn. That combination has produced such nice lambs, I'll do it again next year. These lambs weighed in at 8 and 8.5 lb.

Drea had 2 ewe lambs today! A nice black ewe and a black badgerface, sire is Grady. Both weighed 8 lb. Dalla also twinned today, a white ram lamb weighing in at 8.5 lb. and the most beautiful blue grey spotted ewe lamb weighing 8 lb. Sire is Finn. This is a repeat breeding, and I'll probably do it again this year. The lambs are just exceptional.

I also spent a good deal of time in the garden today. Planted kale, collards, Swiss chard, turnip greens, leeks, broccoli, radish, sugar snap peas, and mesclun today. We are typically very wet, so I hope they don't get flooded out. Our rhubarb is up, so I made some yummy rhubarb ginger scones for breakfast.

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