In the early hours of Sunday morning I filled the remaining empty lamb pens with ewes and their newborns. By 5:35 a. m. we were officially "lambed out" with our last ewe, Pansy, delivering a perfect pair of Cormo ewe lambs – a perfect ending to the season. Pansy’s twins arrived just an hour after Star had delivered a large, single ram lamb. I had been an "lamb alert" since 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, when Star began rearranging straw and talking softly to invisible babies. I monitored her restless pacing throughout the night and was relieved when her bellowing
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Yearly Archives 2007
Good news, more ewes!
Just after dinner we welcomed Cormo ewe lambs Tupelo and Pheonix, courtesy of Buttercup, a veteran ewe. The new arrivals bring our lamb tally to 36 with the count of 21 ewes, 15 rams. Last year we were way up on the ram-lamb numbers. I am naturally pleased with this reversal. Our guardian llama Crackerjack inspects the newcomers. He was resting in the center pen just feet away from Buttercup while she delivered. He followed as I led Buttercup and her lambs to a jug (a small bonding pen for ewes and their newborns) and then remained just outside
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Along with the snow came . . .
Less than an hour after my last post, Maia delivered two lovely ewe lambs, Topanga & Topeka. They are Border/Blue Face Leicesters. Maia, a first-timer, is doing fine. She politely stomped her hoof when I offered to help towel off the lambs, so I’m gladly letting her take care of business. Much better that way. I knew it would take a snow storm to coax a handful of deliveries. At least one other ewe has "the look", so I suspect I will be busy in the barn this afternoon. In another corner of the barn: Soccer practice Note: Thank
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The Sweaters
Many of you have commented on "the sweaters" worn by Nike’s lambs who were birthed early one cold, raw morning nearly two weeks ago. A first-time mother, Nike was slow in cleaning up her newborn lambs. In the cold of the barn, they quickly began losing body heat. Seeing that they were too cold to nurse,I finished towelling them off and slipped them into two "lamb sweaters" I had created last year from the sleeves of the sweater I was wearing at the time when two lambs born under similar conditions. Maybe patterns for handknit lamb sweaters will be future
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Bottle Baby
About an hour from now, I will heat a bottle of lamb milk replacer and head out to the barn to feed a hungry lamb. I do this four or five times each day. Nike, rookie Border Leicester mother of twins, is lactation challenged. While her ewe lamb Augusta appears well-fed, Jackson, her smaller ram lamb simply isn’t getting enough to eat. He complains about this quite loudly. I can hear his pitiful wail over the baby monitor and can distinguish his cry from among the 32 lamb voices now in the barn. Nike is motherly in every other
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Lamb Creep
This afternoon "the creep" was a happening spot for the lambs who arrived about ten days ago. A creep is a special pen which allows lambs access via a "creep panel" or gate with slots through which they must walk or creep. The slots are too small for the mothers to follow, but they try anyway. Inside the creep – a self-service grain buffet for lambies. We supplement the lambs’ diet with grain until the pastures green up. It doesn’t take them long to take a nibble. Once they’ve caught on, they really like the idea that they
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Lamb Art
Cocoa, flock matriarch and one of our original sheep, surprised us with triplets on Sunday (thanks to an unauthorized visit from cormo ram Trumpet last November). Here are her little ones: Helena, Orlando and Paonia. The wild-looking harlequin fleeces are Cocoa’s signature. I think of them as lamb art. They are pretty intense. She delivered all three without a bit of assistance and, true to Cocoa-form, is handling everything like a pro. Not bad for a ten-year-old ewe!
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Lambing 2007: Round One
For the past seven nights, I’ve fallen asleep to the sound of the ewe flock’s rumination and quiet evening sheep banter. My ear is carefully tuned to the baby monitor and, no matter how tired I am, the slightest blip in the barn hum awakens me. I spend the next several moments listening. Sounds of hoof scraping the barn floor, heavy breathing, straining, pushing are all give-aways that lambs are soon to follow. On nights when I’ve somehow managed to sleep through a ewe’s quiet labor, the shrill cry on a newborn lamb, followed by its mother’s snickering pulls
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