Little Lamb Who Made Thee?

I am joyfully anticipating lambing and the upcoming spring.  Green grass sprouting in the pastures, happy fat lambs racing to and fro.  Life beginning anew, bright sunshine and spring flowers.  The gentle warm kiss of sunshine as it lights upon on your face, the smell of leaves unfurling in the trees, the smell of grass being mowed, the snot, sneezing and headaches of hayfever.  Okay, forget that last part.  I digress...

Where was I?  Oh yes...the joy of springtime and new lambs.  One can forget just about any measure of discomfort with an lamb gazing in your eyes.  The trust bestowed as they lean into your caress.  

That sweet innocence, vulnerable, yet surprisingly resilient and strong. 

Reminds me of a favorite poem that I often repeat to myself while watching them scamper about the pasture.  This poem is what inspired the name of our farm

Bless Ewe Sheep Company  

The Lamb, by William Blake.  

Little Lamb who made thee 

Dost thou know who made thee 

Gave thee life & bid thee feed. 

By the stream & o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice! 

Little Lamb who made thee 

Dost thou know who made thee 

Little Lamb I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb I'll tell thee!

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb: 

He is meek & he is mild, 

He became a little child: 

I a child & thou a lamb, 

We are called by his name. 

Little Lamb God bless thee. 

Little Lamb God bless thee.

~William Blake 

~Bless Ewe~

We are DONE!

We are finished with lambing. 

The final Border Leicester had her lambs, a week early.

This is her first lambing.  Two ram lambs.

The coats made a reappearance because these guys had very little body weight and needed all the help they could get maintaining temperature.

Daisy finally had her lambs.  The first one was huge, and I had to pull it due to locked elbows and sheer size.  She was happy to have them both out.  She is an excellent mother.

Tulip, was one of the ewe lambs we hoped was not bred, but she was...and thankfully she lambed with absolutely no difficulty.  A wonderfully healthy ewe lamb.  Tulip is a splendid mom, very protective and watchful over her lamb.

I pray that these were the last lambs to be born.  There are two very young ewes that were included in the total ewes due to lamb that we are hoping are not pregnant.  They would have been exposed to the ram for a short time after the dog attack.  If they are not pregnant (due at the end of the month) then we are DONE! 

Final Lambing Stats

20 ewes delivered
2  remain - doubtful pregnancy - are not supposed to be pregnant

40 lambs total
-1 still born (disrupted attachment - dog attack)
-1 death at birth (premature ram lamb)
-1 death from birth complication (ewe lamb died due to birth complication)
-1 death from being smashed in jug by ewe (ram lamb)

36 surviving lambs
~14 ram lambs
~22 ewe lambs

2 sets of triplets
15 sets of twins
3 singles

Break down by Breed 

Sire Coopworth (Johnson)
Clun Forest/Romney - 3 sets of twins, 1 triplet (4 ewe lambs, 5 ram lambs)
Romney Ewes - 1 single (ram lamb), three sets of twins (4 ewe lambs, 2 rams)
Columbia Ramboillet - 1 set of twins (ewes), 1 set of triplets (2 rams, 1 ewe)

Sire - Coopworth (Roy)
Border Leicester - 5 sets of twins (5 ewe lambs, 5 ram lambs)
Katahdin Ewe (first lambing) - single (1 ewe lamb)
Daisy - Katahdin Ewe - twins (1 ram, 1 ewe)

Katahdin Sire (Monique's Katahdins)
Three twins (5 ewe lambs, 1 unknown)


Now my life can return to regular scheduled programming. 

Whoops, maybe not.

Blogging has been seriously impacted by my new job.  To put this bluntly I am flipping exhausted at the end of the day.  AND I have lost 34 pounds thus far. 

Lambs are growing like weeds

My dogs are happy going to work with me.  Brynn and Beth are the happiest.  Brynn's day today was spent between chasing a basket ball up and down the yard, an occasional stop to check that the sheep were behaving, back to playing basketball, following around the tractor, etc.  She is out like a light. 

Another way our life has changed dramatically....My daughter, psuedo son in law and grand daughter have moved into our house until they can get on their feet again financially.  The economy hit them both hard and we are happy we have the space to share, but wow....it is interesting to go from a relatively quiet home back to utter chaos again. 

That said, I have a bunch of pictures to process that I have managed to shoot over the past few weeks that I can't wait to share when I have the time.

Till then, please be patient with my lack of blogging and iPhone pictures.  One day I will recover full mobility in my hands, arms, shoulders, legs, back, neck....muscle cramps make typing very difficult. 

Now to get ready for shearing, next week.  I cannot wait to get my hands on Piglet's fleece. 

Time to go to bed and count the sheep of my dreams. 


 

Surprise!

While the flock was grazing this morning one ewe kept going off by herself in the brush.  I remarked to John that she was an adventurer, a free thinker. He looked at me like I was nuts. 

If I had been using my brain, it would have been obvious what was going on. 

I didn't  think she was pregnant.  Just the other day I checked her bag, nada.  Flat as a pancake.  I figured she was going to be a cull, or she was one of the last ones due from the second set.  

When I moved the sheep back into the pen and started fiddle farting around I spied her on the ground groaning, grunting with a bag of water protruding. 

Ooops.  Guess I totally missed that one. 

It was a good thing we were there, the lamb presented with locked elbows.  The ewe is very skittish, I had to wait till she was on the ground, sneak around Jim who was keeping watch - to swoop in, shove my hands in and root around a bit.  With a pop the lamb came free, as you can see in this shot Jim kept a vigil as the lamb's head emerges. 

"Hello my little lamb, welcome to the world.  I am your momma...I think."

Since the wind was howling I was able to move her over to the field shelter to block the wind while she delivered the second lamb. 

This poor ewe, she was shell shocked. This was her first time lambing and she appeared dazed and confused.   

In this shot her expression screams "WTF just happened?"

The new family has since settled into a jug, they are warm with full bellies.  Mom is eating and drank an entire bucket of water with molasses in a couple hours. 

It is important to note that while the ewe was delivering her her second lamb, Sadie the Lamb thief tried to sneak in and steal her first lamb.  

Sadie has a hoarding problem.  Behold her lamb collection. 

She is now caring for 6 lambs.  The two she delivered, Fred she adopted and 3 more who nurse from her, and their real mothers.  She shoves them all together, lies over them while they sleep.   It is too cute for words. 


Stats

17 ewes delivered
5  remain with due dates beginning next week (from second ram)

35 lambs total
1 still born (disrupted attachment - dog attack)
1 death at birth (premature ram lamb)
1 death from birth complication (ewe lamb died in birth canal during pull - TOO BIG)
1 death from being smashed in jug by ewe (ram lamb).

31 surviving lambs
11 ram lambs (13 total less two ram lamb deaths)
20 ewe lambs (21 total, less one ewe lamb death)

2 sets of triplets
13 sets of twins
2 singles

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Because I am rediscovering muscles I never even knew I had, blogging is going to be short this evening...I am unable to actually pick up my arms, makes typing difficult. 

I have been enjoying my iPhone through lambing, it is fun to play with the pictures and Instagram when I am bored waiting for a lamb to be born or just letting the sheep graze in an area I need to watch them.

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words.  So here is the last couple of weeks in Instagram.   

As you all know I have some favorite ewes.  This is one of them, Rebecca.  She is a Border Leicester.

I just got her in the birthing jug when she delivered the first ewe lamb.  Shortly after she delivered the twin.  She stayed lying down turned and started to clean them both off.  As I helped towel them dry she licked my fingers and started talking to her lambs.  Since she was doing such a nice job I left her alone and shot a few pictures of this endearing scene. 

She has the first born lamb tucked under her fleece, cleaning it off and keeping her warm.  She got a wee bit chilled while mom gave birth to it's twin.  Rebecca seemed to know that.  She kept her tucked in that warm spot the entire time she cleaned her lambs. 

"Hi there, I am your sister, who are ewe?".

Rebecca continues to make me smile every day.  I love this ewe. 

A good mom for sure.

The lambs are growing leaps and bounds.

Fred with his sister

A lamb pile around the tree on top of what is left of the old round bale.  I want to clean this up but the lambs love to lay on the tarp and soft hay.

Jim is tolerating the lambs in his space....finally.

I think he is getting used to his job.  Often I will find him all by himself in the farthest reaches of the pasture - having a snit.  Personally I think it is growing pains and he is sick of the young-ens.

Fred always seems to find the best spots to take a nap.  Warm in the sun...

Lambs in a row

Lambs on a rock

Triplets tucked into a triplet pile

A field full of lambs

The lambs are having fun exploring the pasture

Romney ewe with her twins

John luring the sheep back into the pen on a bitterly cold & snowy day with the all powerful pink grain bucket.

John the Llama whisperer

Just a pretty scene...

Grazing in the new pasture

Brynn helping to funnel the lambs and ewes back into the night pasture.

Brynn inches forward, then sits to hold pressure.  At least that is what I think she is doing.  She often sits instead of lie down, depends on the situation. 

Brynn waits patiently, scooting forward on her tummy, until the lambs get up. 

Onward we go.

A slice of Heaven on Earth. 

And next year...we will be lambing across the street in THIS!  Behold the Barn of my Dreams.