Ewe Tube | Foxfire Fiber & Designs

The t.v. in the bedroom is tuned to barn cam 1 most of the time now, which gives me this view of the flock. I looked up from my reading last night to spy on the girls, occasionally toggling over to camera 2. Would you believe, Crackerjack now sleeps across the barn threshold as if to say, "no one gets by me!" At one point I saw his head go straight up with his ears alert, pointing down toward the dell. Then I heard the coyotes yipping in the distance. He caught it first. Good llama.

There were no picky eaters in the birthing barn this morning. As you can see, Helena has already slipped the leg strap on her new coat, fitted on Wednesday. Sizing jackets on the expectant ewes after shearing is always problematic. Sans fleece, they're all angles and odd bulges. When I have more free time than I know what to do with, I'm going to design maternity wear for sheep.

Post shearing, I have a clearer picture of who may lamb sooner rather than later. Morning is a great time for a little posterior inspection while the mothers are completely absorbed with mowing down their hay. I couldn't see udders clearly a week ago, but unquestionably, these girls are getting closer.

My lambing supplies should arrive any day now: iodine, Superlube, a new bulb syringe, tubes (for stomach tubing weak lambs), Nutri-drench, syringes of all sizes, a new prolapse retainer (because you just can't find one of those at Walgreens and if you need it, you need it!).

Holly and I sent everyone outdoors yesterday afternoon so we could do a little spring cleaning. Using the bucket loader on the John Deere, we scraped all the dirty bedding out of the barn, right down to concrete. Holly spread a layer of powdered lime to freshen things up and topped it all off with clean golden straw. The lambing pens are all set. We're good to go!

Thanks for all the great suggestions for lamb names! There are many that never would have occurred to me and choosing one will be difficult (I may call on my Sheep Shares members for help with that!). You can keep them coming through Tuesday (but please look over the list to be sure someone hasn't already suggested your idea, we're starting to get some duplicates). I'll let you know what we've decided next Friday.

Today's view from the barn doorway: a southward bound flock of geese. All signs point to spring.