Good morning sports fans!  Here's the score so far:

Eve (Cheviot) - black ewe and white ewe born 3/20

Hannah (Babydoll)  - black ewe and  white ram born 3/22

Gracie (Babydoll) - two black rams born 3/23

Dinah (barbado) - black ewe with one spot on head born 3/26

Suzannah (mini cheviot) - white ram born 3/26

Leah (barbado) - white ewe w/dark smudges and white ewe w/black legs & mask born 3/30

Elizabeth (babydoll) - Grey ram with dark legs born 3/31

Shana (babydoll) - black ram born 4/3

Gideon (black babydoll) is father of all.  So we have 50/50 ewes and rams.  We all pray for ewes but we get what we get!

        There are 4 more ewes still to lamb.  Simone (barbado) who gave me tripletts last year, Miriam (cheviot) and Rachel and Esther (barbados).  Rachel and Esther are first time moms so I expect problems.  

        Until this year I never fully appreciated the process of lambing.  Here is a typical scenario: A mucous string will appear from the vulva indicated birth is imminent.  The ewe will start calling out and looking for "her lamb" which of course is not yet born.  Don't ask me why they do this - certainly if she knew what was to come - she'd be yelling "go back - stay away!...She then start to paw the ground (nesting) and will get up and lay down a dozen times or more.  The only way you know that real labor has started is that they will stretch out their top hind leg for contractions.  They make no noise so as not to attract predators. For anyone who has ever watched or assisted with goat births - it is quite different - sounds like a regular maternity ward - lots of yelling and screaming!  In a normal birth you will see the front legs appear first- the lamb will be in a "dive" position.  The lamb is encased in a sack.  Usually it only takes a couple of contractions for the lamb to be pushed out at which time the ewe is "supposed to" break the sack and clean off the lamb.  I say supposed to because two of my ewes (babydolls) didn't attempt to break the sack and the baby sat in the sack only half way out of the birth canal.  Thankfully, this year, they are lambing during the day so I've been around to help.  If I had not - well, there would have been several dead lambs.    The ewe begins licking the lamb clean and does this for a good 30 minutes.  She also "talks" to the lamb.  This does two things - establishes a bond - and allows her to embed her lamb's smell in her memory and the same for the lamb memorizing his mom's smell.  If they don't do this they won't be able to find each other when out in the crowd.

          Once I am sure that the lamb(s) is/are okay I move the family to a lambing crib which is 4 ft square pen with water and food.  The idea of such small quarters is that is forces the mom to bond with the lamb(s) and allows the lamb(s) to establish a nursing pattern.  It takes them a while to figure out and remember how to find the milk. If the lamb(s) is/are healthy and nursing well - and the weather is good - I move the family to the "play yard" which is an area I fenced off with temporary net fencing in order to keep the new family close for observation but allow them to get fresh air and sunshine.  Mom can also graze.  It further allows the guard dogs to investigate the new critters and assimilate the smells of their new charges.  You can almost hear Golda saying "oh great -- just what we needed - more stupid sheep to guard..."  After a day or so in the playpen I allow them out with the general population.

         It is so much fun to watch all the lambs interact with each other.  At first its a little chaotic as the lambs and ewes figure out who belongs to who.  Lambs who attempt to nurse the wrong ewe will get a firm heat butt from the ewe.  It takes some lambs longer than others to find their moms in a crowd and some just have a habit of wandering away to chase a fly or investigate a blade of grass.  When this happens there is a lot of wailing - from both mom and the lambs.  They really do sound like babies crying.  Sometimes I have to go rescue the lambs and place them back near their mom.  The ewe lambs are much smarter than the ram lambs in this respect - are we surprised? :) What's really funny is when a lamb attempts to nurse someone else's mom and her lambs butt the interloper out of the way just like they saw their mom do.   Mostly though the lambs enjoy playing with each other and will bounce around the pasture - literally.  

           During the lactation period I feed some grain and soymeal to the ewes for extra energy.  This becomes very interesting when lambs are everywhere.  You see most any sheep will abandon its young for grains.  One day, after I put out the grains I happened to look in one of the stalls and Hannah had parked her lambs in there and went off to eat.   The other thing is that the ewes will trample the lambs in order to get to the grain (think teenage boys at dinner time).  So it has to be carefully orchestrated.  While the ewes are trying to eat - the lambs amuse themselves by jumping in and out of the middle of the feed tub.  Fearless little devils...

          It has also been fun watching Annabelle (the calf) interract with the lambs.  Of course she thinks she is a sheep and I saw her running around with the lambs!  Could be a problem next year when she weighs 800 pounds.

          Moms usually wean the lambs at around 8 weeks or so.  I allow the process to take its natural course.  I will not sell a lamb before 8 weeks and sometimes a little longer depending on the lamb.

             So pictures of most of the new lambs are in the Gallery.  You can click on 2010 Lambs in the sidebar on the home page.  I am working on some videos as well - will hopefully post those soon.      

         Everyone have a great Easter.  Will post pictures and news of last 4 births when they happen.

 Many blessings to all of you.    Sharon (aka barn goddess)