Kids and Lambs

Last night, when I would normally be in my jammies and watching a little TV before bed, I was helping a new mom deliver a baby. This is Elfine, a Nigerian Dwarf goat, and her new little buckling, who appears to have more of an Angora fleece like his papa. She is a wonderful mom and both were doing fine this morning.


And another of the Nigerians, Sequoia, who has two little bucks, one brown and the other, pictured here, who is brown and white. Their fleece is more "Nigerian-like". This is Billy, with his mom.


Shetland lambs, so far, have been mostly ewes. This is Fontina with her moorit (or maybe musket) ewe lamb.

And the newest member of the flock, Arcateen's moorit gulmoget ram lamb, who was born sometime last night or early this morning while we slept. He looks a lot like his papa, Tarpan. Gotta love those Shetlands - he was all dry, fed and sleeping in the barnyard with his mom when Larry did the first check this morning. (For those of you who know that I never put our Shetlands in jugs - a few of the Shetlands ended up with the "BWS" and they have gone into jugs and then into the nursery as I "funnel" them out into the Shetland pasture to rejoin their flock. The majority of the Shetlands are lambing on pasture without the "benefit" of jugging, since they don't really need it - they bond so well with their lambs and are very protective by nature.)

I'll have to check the lambing sheets, but we must be at about 50 lambs and kids at this point. The majority of the "big, white sheep" are done - we still have six or eight Shetlands and Icelandics to lamb and most of the goats - although I'm not sure all of them were bred, some are still slender with no udders. Lamb percentages are down a bit this year - feed quality wasn't as good. But the lambs and kids that are on the ground look good. And such a variety - Shetlands, Icelandics, Coopworths, Polypays, goats. Colors and patterns. It's like Christmas!

Enough Already!

Rain, that is. We have had two inches in the last two days and, while I understand that it is needed to keep the pastures green, enough is enough! There is a lake in front of the barn, everything is muck and I slip and slide on any surface that is not entirely flat. I haven't been down to the low spot in the Shetland grove yet today, so don't know how bad that is. But all of the babies are wet and, although they are still cute, they are kind of gross when they try to snuggle up to you. And it is very hard to take lamb pictures in the dark, dreary, rainy weather. I did manage to get a couple before the floods - this is one of the two ewes I have to shear yet - yep, she is IN the feeder:

As for lambing, we have two Coopworth ewes that haven't lambed yet - one looks like she will go any minute - hopefully she comes into the barn and does not lamb in the lake - the other is not terribly big and may wait until the last minute. The Shetlands are done - although I did put Gallifrey in with the ewes again this spring, as I didn't have him shorn by the shearer and needed a place to put him while the rest of the rams were being shorn. So there is a slim chance that we will have a few August lambs - although I'm not going to hold my breath, as Shetlands don't lamb well out of season.

And for the obligatory lamb picture, this is one of Sparx's ram lambs - he is a gorgeous grey, not black and white - those light spots on his body are grey - I hope he grows up with good conformation and nice horns (he is standing kind of strangely in this shot - he looks better when his legs aren't all bunched together - his head isn't really as big as it looks!)

We've got three jugs full in the barn again, so chores today will include tagging, docking, castrating and lamb shots - also worming of the moms. I hate to do all that in miserable weather, but it has to be done. Morning bottles have been fed - soon they will be reduced to two bottles a day. Baby chicks in the brooder. And I have to be down at school at lunchtime, as it is an early release day, so I guess I better get moving. Or maybe just one more cup of coffee?!?!

Finally, Another Shetland

This is the little girl that greeted me just before I went to bed last night:

The best shot I could get this morning, as Abra (her mom) was being the typical Shetland and not letting me get near her. Of course, that's what I like about the Shetlands - their primitive responses to things like lambing. Don't let anyone with a camera get close to your lambs! The lamb looks to be grey yuglet katmoget - sired by Psalm 23 Edinburagh, now gone from the farm, as he tried to kill one of his ewes last fall.

Now to finish my cup of coffee and back outside. We had a set of Coopworth twins early this morning and I want to check on them. One of our Polypays is soon to lamb. And Nutmeg, another of our Shetlands, had a difficult lambing this morning - I ended up having to corral her and pull the lamb. Lamb is a ewe (I think) and appears to be nursing, but Nutmeg is very skittish and I wanted to back off and let them do their thing without me hovering. I thought that was a good excuse to come in for a few minutes and have my first cup of the morning.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We are just over a week into lambing and we have 35 lambs on the ground. 21 ewes have lambed, with 44 (I think - I have a tendency to lose track at this point and the farm records are on another part of the computer, so I'm winging it here) yet to go. The majority of these lambs are Polypay, Coopworth and crosses. Here's one little guy - or gal - I can't tell from this angle:



This little one was either just getting up from a nap on Mom's back or is using her as a springboard in a game of lamb tag. It's very hard to get action shots, in the barn, at dusk. This was the best I could do.

Nap time in the nursery - our only colored Coopworth lamb so far this year - I can tell you that this one is a little ewe:

And another nap group, this time being watched over by Mom.

So far, only one Shetland lamb. This is Maia's little moorit ewe:

So far, it has all gone fairly smoothly. I do have one set of twins with a good mom, but she doesn't seem to have enough milk, so I have been supplementing them. And on Saturday, when I thought I was going to sleep in a bit, Larry woke me at about 5:30 to let me know that one of the ewes had triplets - two were with her in the barn, one was out in the barnyard. She lost count, apparently, and one was in need of tubing. So I threw my coveralls on over my pajamas and tube fed a lamb on the kitchen floor. She revived, but Mom would not take her back, so she is a full-time bottle lamb. Cute little thing, with a black eye patch. She lived in the "playpen" in the kitchen for about 24 hours - now she is in the nursery with the other moms and babies. I'll try to get a picture of her on here the next time.

Back out to check on sheep again now and do mid-morning chores. Or maybe one more cup of coffee!?!?

It's Always Something!

Today our first cutting hay was being baled and wrapped and it will be stacked in various places around the farm tomorrow. We try to plan ahead and put the hay in the most convenient spots relative to where the sheep will be this coming winter. Lazy farmers (which I most certainly am one of!) are also usually quite efficient! Let's try to do things in the easiest way possible - that's my motto!

Yesterday I worked a little harder. If you're squeamish, skip down past this part.

OK, let's back up one day before yesterday. We had a Shetland ewe who delivered a stillborn lamb - just as well, as a portion of the lamb's intestines were outside of the body. The birth was assisted, but when I went to bed, the ewe seemed tired but fine. Not true, though, as when I got up yesterday morning, I discovered she had prolapsed (uterine prolapse - meaning she kept on pushing and having contractions, until her uterus was turned inside out and was now outside of her insides - no pictures for this part of the blog!). So I went back inside and had my breakfast and coffee and contemplated my next move.

I got together some supplies - antiseptic lube, prolapse retainer, gambrel restrainer, deer sled (boy, that sled comes in handy for hauling sheep around!). The gambrel restrainer is a nifty little device that sort of traps their front feet up near their head so they can't get away from you - which came in handy, so I could contain her (she was still up and fairly mobile) in the pasture while I went to the barn to get the sled. I then dragged her (in the sled) up through her pasture into our backyard - I thought it might be cleaner working there than in the barn or barnyard. That and I had been dragging her uphill and I was tired at that point and found it a convenient place to rest.

Then came the fun part - washing off the uterus and stuffing it back inside of her. Fortunately a Shetland uterus is only about the size of two of my fists and Shetland ewes don't weigh much. Keep in mind that while you are trying to replace her uterus, she thinks she is still in labor and continues to push against you. So you hoist up her back end a bit, with the idea that gravity will aid you in your efforts - then you have to get this organ (is a uterus an organ?) back inside of her and turned right side in (a prolapsed uterus is inside out in more ways than one, so you really are up to your elbows in it, so to speak, when you replace it and turn it back the right way) Then, the grateful ewe urinates all over your arm, because you have just freed up her urethra, which had been blocked by the offending organ. So while you hold everything back in place, you grab for the retainer (which is almost out of reach, but not quite), get that inserted and, in this instance, tied to the wool to hold it in place.

I thought of having a beer at this point, but didn't think it would be kind of me to leave her trussed up and lying in the backyard. So I put her back in the deer sled and dragged her the rest of the way to the barn (still slightly uphill). I got her settled into her private quarters in the barn, gave her a big shot of antibiotics, some hay and water and then I went in for my beer. Well, not really - as it was still morning, I had another cup of coffee.

Tonight she is eating hay and seems to be doing OK. My biggest concern now is infection. While I try to be clean and use antibacterial stuff, I don't have a sterile operating theatre. So now we wait. But, as we used to say in college (hi, Lynn!), it was a "learning experience". I learned that I can put a uterus back into a ewe (whether or not successfully, we have yet to see). I learned how to use the gambrel restrainer (never used that before). I also learned that if this had been one of our Polypays, who are quite a bit heavier than Shetlands and have larger internal organs, I probably would have needed help.

Not all has been so gruesome here. I moved the Shetlands into fresh pasture the other day and the lambs, being the children that they are - and you parents out there know how kids sometimes don't pay attention - weren't listening, and they didn't go through the gate that their moms went through. They ended up on the wrong side of the fence. You can see they are all looking to the left wondering why they are all alone:

Well, there their moms are, on the far side of the fence, grazing on lush, new pasture while they are not:

And the newest lamb - Athena and her ram lamb, who looks a lot like her - his markings have just not faded with age yet:

I do have knitting on the needles, for those of you who are more interested in the "fiber" part of "Farm and Fiber", just no pictures at the moment. Maybe next post. I am knitting a lace scarf and am doing some charity knitting - a blanket square. And I only have to bind off "loosely" the stole that I have been working on for a couple of years. It's that "loosely" part that worries me. Oh, and I am spinning some Coopworth roving in the hopes of someday having enough yarn to knit a sweater or a vest (depending on how much yarn I actually get in the end!). I'll try to get some pictures of all of that for the next post!

And now, after reliving my exploits as a sheep vet pretender, I am exhausted. I think I will call it a day!

Latest Lambs

Sparx finally had her lambs! But being the good mom that she is, she was making it very difficult for me to get a good picture, even though by this point they were already a couple of days old! She kept herself between her lambs and me the entire time. But I thought this pic kind of cute - looks like the lambs are kissing, while Sparx keeps her focus on me. The lamb to the left is the ewe and the spotted katmoget on the right, the ram. Total lamb count is now 117 - 15 of them being Shetlands, the others, BWS. I believe the breakdown is 60 ewe lambs and 57 ram lambs, including 6 sets of triplets, which we don't really breed for, as I prefer twins. With triplets, I always worry, often supplementing one or more of them. Too costly. Twins are normally no problem, moms provide all their nutrition - after all, the ewe only has two faucets - why in the world would anyone want triplets?
Not a lot going on here - well, not a lot to blog about anyway - always way too much work to do. We are down to the last two weeks of school for Nicholas. The Science Fair is over, the last band concert has been presented. Lambing is over for all intents and purposes, although I do have a Shetland or two with a bit of an udder, so should have a couple of summer lambs. I must get back to skirting the rest of the fleeces, maybe try my hand at a little dying. I did finish a pair of socks for Mother's Day, but forgot to take a picture of them before giving them to my mom! I am about to finish a stole that I started a couple of years ago and am working on a lace scarf, but no pictures of those to show you - maybe next time. So, in lieu of fiber pictures, I leave you with a picture of Fuzzball, sleeping, for a change, on a couch pillow, instead of on whatever I happen to be knitting at the moment!

Lamb photos

I know I haven't posted in awhile. We've been busy. The lambing is just about done - still a few that may lamb between today and "lamb freedom" day, which I believe is June 4 (it's on the calendar, but that's a whole room away and walking that far is a lot of unnecessary work!). The Shetlands actually have until August 1 to prove their worth, as we left Eddie in with the girls until shearing - Larry is actually hoping for some very late lambs, so maybe we would have a lamb to take to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival for the Hall of Breeds. If not, this is what a young Shetland lamb looks like - this is one of Cappuccino's ewe lambs (she had two) -

Cappuccino is the perfect ewe in my book. Most of the Shetland flocks that you might know through your browsing of the internet would not want her. She is not pretty to look at, cow hocks, kind of saggy (well, how would you look after having a set of twins every year of your life, including your lamb year? Cappuccino's seven years old) - she would never win in the show ring. But, as already stated, she always twins, is friendly, lets you manhandle her lambs without getting upset (unlike Saffron, who tried to knee cap me when I attempted to place her lamb back in the shed with her this spring), her fleece always sells - to quote this year's buyer, "oh my GOSH is it gorgeous!!!" She will have a home here until she peacefully dies in her sleep.

The lamb count, by the way, is 114 lambs, 12 of which are Shetlands, the others are purebred Polypays, Coopworths and assorted crossbreeds. Here are some of the white ones:

And another Shetland - this is Saffron's lamb, the one I risked my knee cap for. As you can see, he is practicing his lip curl, hoping that he gets to be one of the flock sires of the future!

This lamb might become one of our flock sires. He is our spotted Coopworth - his fleece is a nice silvery color and his face is kind of "yuglety". I'm hoping he grows up nicely.

Some of the lambs resting in the sun. They are actually now out beyond the wooden gates in the pasture with their moms. The weather has been just perfect for them - sunny, but cool. They are so pretty, lying out there. When the weather gets hotter, they won't lie out in the pasture, but will come back up into the tree line, to lie in the shade. Where it is not only shady, but gets wet when it rains, muddy and mucky, if you know what I mean.

And now the parting shot:

The Nanking cherry in bloom. The flowers are gone now - I took this a few weeks ago. But spring has been quite wet and cold here this year, so any promise of warmer weather has been enjoyed. The lilacs are actually blooming now, some of the tulips are done - in fact they have all seen better days, as we have had some gusty winds. But the pastures look good and the hay fields are coming along. I just hope in wishing for some warmer weather, I am not soon regretting it and complaining about the heat, humidity and mosquitoes!

Eddie's Fertile!

Well, I've known that for a little while now, since the Shetlands have been bagging up and have big tummies! But we bought a new ram lamb last fall from Laura Matthews at Psalm 23 Farm, and in the end, decided to take a big chance and breed all our girls to him, an unproven ram. Our rams were all too closely related to many of them and we wanted some new blood. The gamble paid off, as three days ago Maia had twin ewes, the one in the back that you can't see I think is moorit, the one in the front might be one of those fancy katmoget sheep that everyone seems to be fascinated with (I have to look up the definition of katmoget - I might have it confused with some other marking, but I think that is what Eddie is). Anyway, both are in the "brown" color group - moorit, fawn, musket - it remains to be seen!

And this morning, Brie had a set of twins, one ram and one ewe. The ram might be another kat, in the brown family and the ewe appears more solid in the black family, like her mom. But when I left them, they were both still pretty wet and kind of dirty - mom decided to lamb in one of the "less clean" areas of the shelter. And with all the rain we have been having, there is not a dry spot on the farm, inside or outside.

So, that gives us four Shetland lambs and 61 "other" lambs, for a total, so far, of 65 lambs. So, I think I will finish my cup of coffee and then get on with the chores - check on the new lambs, move the three sets of twins and their moms out of the jugs and into the nursery, feed the rams, fill water tanks/buckets, put some new bedding in the Shetland shelters, wash up a fleece sample that I should have done yesterday, do the dishes (we can't eat until I do that - household chores, while never on the top of my list, get shoved WAAAY down that list during lambing!!), maybe some laundry - boy, I'm exhausted just reading that list, maybe I should have another cup of coffee and knit a little! The rainy weather is much more conducive to knitting then to being outside - but, I don't think the sheep would understand - I'll just have to dodge the raindrops and try to avoid the biggest mud puddles!

Lamb Shots

Well, we spent this past weekend moving almost all the sheep. First, Larry moved the three big rams into their new pen area, complete with padlock so no visiting friends or family (young children in particular) can "inadvertently" open up the gate and let the rams out. Then, about 2 dozen ewes and 40 lambs were moved from the nursery pen to a small pasture area beyond the barnyard. Then the ewes from across the road (Group 3) that will start lambing shortly, were loaded into the trailer and brought here to our barn, so we can keep an eye on them as they start lambing. Then the ewes of Group 2 were brought from their pasture closer to the barn and joined with the ewes of Group 3. A few of the ewes and lambs yet in jugs were put in the nursery area and the Shetland rams were moved to a new pen. The only sheep that don't get to enjoy new digs are the Shetland ewes. They are behind the house in their pasture and that is where they will stay. A busy weekend and I got a little sun, as Saturday was warm and sunny. Yesterday it rained all day and tomorrow they are predicting snow, so I am glad we got everyone into their proper positions for the next round of lambs.

And speaking of lambs, here are some photos of the lambs from round one. In the center of this shot, you can see my yuglet Coopworth. His face is mostly white, with brown eyepatches and his body is a variegated brown and silver. I will probably keep him, depending on how he grows. If we do keep him, I can't wait to see his fleece next spring!

Some lambs - no the ewe does not have the mumps, she is merely chewing her cud!

A shot of our other colored Coopworth ram with the "yuglety" face:

A cute lamb on a sunshiny day:

A couple of the lambs reclining next to one of the big bales of hay. A nice, warm, sunny spot:

Coming back into the barn to get out of the sun:

Lambs pick the strangest places to sleep sometimes, like this tire impression in the nursery pen:

And sometimes they scare the crap out of you, doing their impersonation of a dead lamb:

This lamb is fine and is alive and well and out in the pasture with the rest of the older lambs and their moms. And a parting shot:

If you notice that the tail is quite wide at the top and then becomes very skinny, that is due to the fact that we dock our lambs' tails with tiny, thick rubber bands that are made especially for this purpose. The rubber band cuts off the circulation in the tail and after a few weeks, the tail drops off.

Current lamb count - 53 lambs, purebred Coopworth and Coopworth crosses, 25 ewes and 28 rams. We are about a third of the way there. The first group is almost done, only a few who haven't lambed yet and they technically have until the first week of June to lamb, since the ram was left in with them for just over two months, so that he wouldn't have to go back to his ram pen and be all alone while our other guys were with their girls. Groups 2 and 3 might start as early as about Thursday of this week and the way some of them look, I think a bunch of them will go early. I only have seven jugs, though, so I hope and pray they space the lambs out a bit. And the Shetlands should start lambing soon, but they aren't as labor intensive as the BWS. But it can get exciting around here at this time of the year!

The First 9 Days of Lambing

I am taking advantage of a lull in the lambing. We started lambing on March 31 and, over the course of nine days, have had 28 lambs. A few more singles than I would like, but also two sets of triplets. All have been born uneventfully, except for one set of twins - the first of the two had a leg back, but once we corralled the ewe, the lamb was pulled successfully. In fact, the "problem" child is a colored Coopworth ram, with the cutest yuglet face. I don't know if it's called "yuglet" in the Coopworth world, but those of you who raise Shetlands will know what I am talking about. I don't have a picture of him, but I do have a picture of another of our colored Coopworth ram lambs. He was the first colored Coopworth born - not a great picture, but at least it breaks up the script a bit. I guess he has a bit of the "yuglet" face going, too.


We do actually have purebred Coopworth lambs this year. Last year, we had one. That was due to the fact that Val, our Coopworth ram, apparently thought the grass was greener, as it were, on the other side of the fence. He jumped out of his breeding group, which included most of our Coopworth ewes, and jumped over to the mostly Polypay group. So last year, we had a lot of crossbreds. Oh well, hybrid vigor is good. This year we were a bit smarter and put cattle panels between Val and the other breeding group. While he is an escape artist, he cannot jump that high.

Speaking of colored Coopworth lambs, all of the colored lambs are rams. No ewes yet. I want a couple more colored ewes. Does anyone want to buy a colored Coopworth ram? Purebred, but not registered? I am planning to keep one, but the rest will end up going to market. This little guy above will be headed that way, as he is a single and the others are all twins, so the keeper will be chosen from that select group.

As mentioned earlier, two sets of triplets, so far. The first set was born to a ewe who did not look like she would have triplets - I was thinking twins. Two of the three were very small when they were born, one of them just under five pounds, the other just over five pounds. I have been supplementing them with a bottle, but mom still loves them all and nurses them all, I just don't think she has quite enough milk. But I was very pleased that she lambed at all. You see, about a week and a half before they were born, I found her lying on her back in a rain storm. Torrential downpour, all the sheep in the barn, I'm out there with them about to skirt fleeces. Since most of them are lying down, chewing their cuds, I decided to count them, to make sure they were all there. Sure enough, I come up one short. So out to the barnyard I go and I see, on the other side of the big hay bale, legs flailing in the air. Well, I get her rolled over, but her back legs have gone numb and she can't stand up. She outweighs me by a bit, but something has to be done - she is shivering and grinding her teeth. And remember, the rain is coming down in buckets. So I go into the barn, grab some rags to dry her off a bit and, to keep us both dry, the big yellow and white golf umbrella that Larry keeps just inside the barn door. So there I stand, out in the barnyard, holding this big, bright umbrella over this down sheep, who I'm thinking is probably going to die out there from exposure. Not much wool on her, as we had already sheared. Back legs numb, she can't stand up. I made several trips back to the barn, leaving the golf umbrella propped over her, so at least she wasn't getting any wetter - and she was lying on a nice pile of straw, wet but not mucky, at least. I tried massaging her hips, but no luck getting her to stand up. (I thought maybe this huge umbrella looming over her might scare her into getting onto her feet, but no such luck!)

What to do? I am all alone, no one to help me. Well, something has to be done, so I get the deer sled (no one hunts, but it is great for hauling hay and the occasional sheep, dead or alive). I line it up next to her and through some maneuvering, get her rolled onto the sled, again on her back. I jockey her around until she's not really on her back any more. (When a sheep gets onto its back, it is often not able to right itself - especially when very pregnant - and they will suffocate eventually.) Then I pull her into the barn - again, remember she outweighs me - and to make matters more interesting, there is a sea of muck between the barnyard and the barn. No, I did not fall over, but I did almost lose my boots in the muck several times. Well, I did get her into the barn, rolled back out of the sled, got some Power Punch into her and she was up and about later in the day and had triplets about a week and a half later. So while I have kicked myself for not being able to save some sheep, this one was a victory. And for all you PETA people out there (I'm sure none of them actually read my blog), don't think that just because we raise our sheep for the purpose of a tasty leg of lamb, we don't take care of them. Just picture me, standing out in the pouring rain, holding a bright yellow golf umbrella over a shivering ewe. I did come in and have a nice hot cup of coffee after that one!

As I said, we have had a lull in the lambing - no lambs here since the 8th. And we still have just over a dozen to go in the first group. I expect they will all go at once! But, all the jugs are empty, so I'm set. The lambs already on the ground are in the nursery area, playing with all the other lambs. The oldest ones are so much bigger than the youngest ones - and there is only about a week's difference in their ages. I'll try to get some better pictures. These pictures were taken as my camera battery was dying and I was trying to just get a couple of shots before that happened. But the sun is shining today and I will try to get some better pictures.

A parting shot - some of the lambs in the creep area, enjoying time away from their moms.

HAPPY EASTER!

First Lamb!

Not a lot of time to blog today, but here are some pictures of our first lamb of the season. When Larry went out to the barn this morning, mom and baby were lying in the barn, all comfy and cozy, lamb all dried off and napping. The ewe is a first timer - Polypay - the lamb is a Polypay/Coopworth cross ewe.

Time for a snack -

Oh, that camera flash is bright - go away -

Lambing was potentially to start this past Sunday, and some of those ewes look like they are about to burst, but maybe they heard me say I didn't want to start lambing until April this year. Well, they certainly are trying to avoid lambing in March - although now that it has started, I wouldn't be surprised if we are soon overrun by lambs!