Midnight problems...that I solved ;-)

Yesterday brought no new lambs. As I was about to go to bed, I could hear the ewes in the sheep barn making quite a lot of noise, which is unusual. I kept listening by my bathroom window, trying to make out the noises. Believe it or not, I can pick a few voices out amid the flock. I was debating, because it would stop and then start up again. They are so good at lambing unassisted. It was a panicky/strained sound that decided it for me. I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway, wondering.

I raced out to the barn just around midnight. I could see Nadia, my sweetest cuddly lamb from last year with a newborn lamb up and nursing already. I moved Nadia and her Katmoget ram lamb into a lambing pen easily enough. Elphaba was in the process of lambing and even in the darkness it didn't seem right and she was the one in a panic. She was lying down in a dark area and I couldn't see exactly what was wrong. Eventually, I managed to move her into the lambing area that has better light. Her lamb was presenting head first with no front feet. Her lamb was stuck. I'm not sure if I did right, but I doused my hands in iodine and reached in. I managed to find a little leg bent back at the first joint and pulled that one out. The other one was no where to be found and Elphaba was in distress. Last year Morgan had her first lamb presenting with one front leg back and I jiggled that big lamb out successfully. I had the same scenario now and a bit more experience behind me, so I did the same without hesitation. The lamb finally came out, looking exactly like her mother, a black Blettet ewe lamb, another definite Quinn breeding. She has the strongest sucking desire I've seen all year. She appears all legs. She weighed 2.85 kg and I've named her Giselle, which is English for oath, hostage. I'm certain I uttered many an oath only the sheep can repeat last night, she was definitely a hostage, and she has the legs of a ballerina. I really had to yank on that lamb, but she seems OK so far, perhaps a bit askew? Her mom I'm hoping will recover. She seemed great after that lamb came out, a good and doting mother and heartily ate the hay and treats I gave her for such a good job.

Giselle, Elphaba's lamb

Surprise!!!

To recap my Fall plans, I bred 9 ewes to Twist for this year's lambs and placed 7 lambs from last year in an adjacent pen with the intention of not breeding them. As it happened, I had several Ram troubles in November, the first starting with a little ram lamb Quinn being caught in the crossfire of 2 adult rams fighting for the girls' attentions across the fence. His little leg was broken, so taking pity on him I put him in the pen with the non-breeding group. I thought it wouldn't be a problem, he'd never be able to catch the girls, etc, etc. You can probably tell where this is going. At the same time I let Twist in with the breeding group...Nov. 30th. A week or so later,(darn, I didn't write the date down), Twist busted through the gate 2 nights in a row to be found the next morning in the non breeding girls pen having severely attacked Quinn. Quinn nearly died. After reinforcing the pens inside the sheep barn to be "non-visual", things settled down. I thought that a few girls may have gotten bred by Twist, 3 of which were his daughters. Oh well, not what I had wanted, lesson learned, its done all the time, I'll deal with the consequences if any later.

2 of the girls in the non breeding group have had their lambs already (Felicity & Nessa Rose, both Twist daughters), which I've thought has been early, because they are at the same time as some of the girls in the breeding group. I've read that first time moms can have their lambs a little earlier, so I figured oh well, makes sense. The lambs have been Katmoget patterned, like their mothers, but also like Twist's hidden gene, and Quinn, being a Twist son is also Katmoget and can throw that gene. It still made sense for it to be a Twist breeding, until today...

Una is a Twist daughter from last year and was the 3rd and last daughter in the non-breeding group. Twist will only throw either dominant white lambs or Katmoget patterned lambs. The ewe lamb born today to Una out on the pasture, is mainly solid brown with a Krunet of white on her head and a variety of white socks on her legs and a touch of white on the tip of her tail...she looks like Peaches, Quinn's mother and Tess, Una's mother combined. There is no doubt now, Quinn did some breeding while convalescing with the non-breeding group, likely early on, because when he got hurt again, he really was in bad shape. The other 2 lambs born have unknown sirs (either Twist or Quinn, but likely Quinn right now). The only way I'll know for sure the sir of the lambs born to the non-breeding group is if they are white or like today's lamb, other than Katmoget. The planned breeding group's sir is set, there were no other rams in their pen, they all will be Twist babies, so I'm expecting to see a lot more white lambs.

As for Una (picture above with her lamb), she is a remarkable first-time mother, not skittish and confused like her half sisters before her. I saw this strange lamb from the house out on the pasture and by the time I got out to the field, they were behind the shed with several other moms around her and Una was dutifully taking care of her lamb. Her lamb is little and fiesty and was nursing like a pro. They are now settled into a lambing pen for safety, but I'm not worried about this little one. I've called her Winola, which is German for enchanting friend...it just suits her.

A break for now

With a break in the lambing overnight and this morning, I managed to keep all the other sheep and lambs in the far pasture and leave the 2 girls in the lambing pens (Felicity & Nessa Rose) to have their own pasture. Nessa's lamb, born in the cold snap that hit the city yesterday seemed cold, so I did manage to put a little sweater on her and one on Felicity's little boy too since he's so small. The lamb sweaters are sleeves of an old wool sweater with little Xs cut in the bottom for the lamb's front legs. They both liked their sweaters yesterday, but when I checked on them later, I forgot about little boy lambs and so, the little H-Boy peed in his sweater, so off it came, oops!!! I watched both lambs carefully this morning and saw them feeding well on their moms and happily bouncing around like lambs. I decided to let them venture out into their pasture and since there is only the 2 of them, these new moms will be able to keep track of their lambs.

Above is Felicity's lamb Hamelin (which is German for "one who loves to stay at home", which fits this sleepy boy to a T), sleeping and then just waking up under Felicity's attentiveness, just outside of the lambing pen. He is still so tiny, but he seems fine.


Here is Nessa Rose with Penelope, her lamb who looks a lot like her. She is sporting a very fetching wool sweater to keep her warm as she is just a day old now and started off life a bit chilly. The wind is still cool this morning, but mom seems very attentive and happy to be out. This little girl weighed 2.9 kg at birth, a very good size especially for a first time mom.

The cold comes back

Overnight, the temperature dropped and the winds picked up. Parts of Ottawa were dusted in snow. Luckily, not here, but of course another lamb would have to be born in that kind of weather. I've been shuffling things again in the sheep barn. I had to make room for the older lambs and their moms to come in so I split another compartment in the shed with walls and gates and put all the moms and lambs and the very soon to be moms together in the middle and the not so soon moms in the farthest pen. Nessa Rose gave birth to a little ewe lamb in the early morning hours. She is dark grey Katmoget. She seems cold and mom is skittish also, so I've got them in a lambing pen and I've closed all the doors to prevent a draft and cold. I'm going to put a little sweater on her if I can and watch them closely today. I moved them successfully into the pen, ousting Morgan and her white lamb Orion, to explore the new world. Orion did well, but somehow Peaches doesn't like him and several times has whacked him into the ground, poor thing. He's the first ram out there, so likely she's teaching him manners already, being one of the more dominant moms.

Felicity's lamb still looks small and weak, but I see him feeding quite well, so I guess he'll be OK for now. Felicity was whining so much to go out that I decided to open the gate to "see what would happen". Flighty little thing that she is, she took off without a care. I had to give him a rear-end bath due to the stickies and she still didn't return. I'm holding this little lamb in a towel chasing her around the field trying to get her back, but she keeps getting spooked by the other lambs and moms. Finally I opened the right gate and she ran in with her lamb who immediately fed from his long lost mom. They'll be penned up for quite a while yet.

White

An early check this morning in the sheep barn showed that Felicity's little ram lamb is hanging in there. I'm thinking he is premature, he is so small and sleepy and I was not expecting her to be due so early. She is not cooperative either when I try to make sure he is getting milk. She runs around the pen like a lunatic and head butts me. I managed to see him drinking from her, but I don't think he is sucking well either. She has lots of milk, but he just tastes, licking his lips. I have to keep rubbing him to keep him awake to feed. I'm going to put a little sweater on him to make sure he stays warm. He's adorable though. A Katmoget again...maybe Twist isn't white after all....

....and there on the other side with the girls in waiting is an all-white big ram lamb out of Morgan. So Twist is white after all. Morgan had trouble last year giving birth to her first lamb...a big girl (Nessa Rose). This year seems to have been just fine as she wasn't observed or assisted. She gives me big lambs, probably all that duck feed she got earlier on when she would raid the ducks house and get trapped inside eating her food. I have to name my first ever white lamb. I have named him Orion which is Greek for son of fire or light; sunrise because he was born just around sunrise.

Morgan with lamb Orion

And finally a little ram lamb

As I was putting the sheep in for the night, there in the pasture was a very small lamb. There are 13 girls out there and that lamb belonged to one of them. The ewe that seems attached to the lamb is Felicity, one of the 7 ewe lambs from last year that I had kept out of the breeding group, but got accidentally bred by the ram busting through the gate last November. Sure enough, it was her lamb. She is a first time mom and seemed a bit freaked out by it all. I tried to get her into one of the lambing pens, but she got in with Emma and her lamb of a few days ago and each mom started attacking the other's lamb. Felicity's lamb is a ram. He has one floppy ear. He also seems a bit weak and will cry occasionally. He seems very sleepy, but he is just born. I'm going to have to watch him and Felicity closely. They will likely stay in the pen for the next day to make sure they are bonding well.

Shuffling things around, I had to put Emma and Gypsy in with the girls in waiting. Peaches and her lamb Rawnie are doing well. Rawnie seemed weak/wobbly earlier, but she has picked up nicely and I've caught her doing little lamb bounces. She weighs 2.95 kg which is a good size. They will be going outside tomorrow as well as Tess and Vespera who was born late last night.

Off to check on everybody before bed...

More ewe lambs

Vespera

Vespera & Tess
As I was heading off to bed last night, I heard a ewe in the sheep barn making noise. I headed out there at midnight to find that Tess had given birth to a little white & musket spotted katmoget ewe lamb. She was in a corner cleaning off her lamb and using her body to prevent the other ewes from getting anywhere near her lamb. Smart girl because stealing of lambs when they are so close to being due is a very real issue in this breed. I moved her into the lambing pen, helped a bit with the drying and observed for a while. Everything seemed to be going well, so I was back in bed in half an hour. This morning everything was going well with Tess and her lamb. She weighs 2.7 kg and is adorable. Her base colouring is a

dark brown and she has distinct spotting on her body...she looks ready to go outside already, but unless I need the room, I'll leave them in the lambing pen for a bit. I've named her Vespera which is Latin for Evening Star for her midnight arrival.

I was inside talking about fencing plans with Hugh and about to go take a shower, when I spotted another lamb out in the pasture. Peaches gave birth on pasture to a very dark ewe lamb...not what I'm expecting out of Twist. She looks a little wobbly, so hopefully she'll be OK. I've named her Rawnie which is Gypsy for Lady. She is a grey Katmoget.

Peaches with her lamb, Rawnie

Lambing has started finally!!!

I've been so anxious, so ready for quite a while. Finally tonight Brianna and I went to put the sheep in for the night and there was Emma in full labour. I managed to shoo all the other girls out of the shed and move her into the lambing pen. She seemed stressed out by being alone, so I put Peaches in with her, who was all too happy to be getting a lovely helping of hay while Emma laboured. I was busy with the girls in the other side, while Brianna got to watch and report on the entire event, punctuated with exclamations that "I didn't need to see that" and "I'm now scarred for life". A lovely little Katmoget ewe lamb was born. I can't tell what colour her body fleece will be, but its much darker than white...I'm hoping its fawn or mioget or grey. She definitely has some spots on her body (darker patches). Her belly is black and she has spots on her ears. Brianna named her Gypsy. She weighs 2.5kg which is a little less than average but bigger than Emma's lamb last year (Felicity). The father of all the lambs this year is Twist, a white boy who will hopefully throw some white lambs, but he seems to be only throwing his hidden pattern of Katmoget. We'll see because I'm expecting up to 20 lambs.

Naming the lambs: The first year I had lambs, they had the same letter as the moms. The 2nd year, they had the next letter in the alphabet to their mom and this year, the lambs will be named for the 2nd alphabetical letter of the mother's name. I may have to change my strategy the following because its going to get confusing.

I managed to leave mom and lamb for the night. The lamb seemed to get lots of opportunity for drinking milk. I tried to dry her off some and trimmed her cord and dipped it in iodine. Gypsy was not pleased with my meddling. Emma will be a good mom. All the other girls were at the gate trying to get a look at the lamb, their maternal instincts kicking in, each thinking it was their own baby, since they are all due very shortly. I'm expecting things to be hopping in the next few days.

Shearing has started

Shearing has started slowly here. I am using a combination of handshears, electric shears and scissors. I've done 2 little rams (Ferris & Benjamin) this past weekend and Quinn who rooed earlier this winter are done except their britch wool on their upper legs. Here they are sporting their new haircuts. They have been put in a pen together away from my bigger rams, so I can feed them some extra food. Being smaller they don't get enough food with the bigger rams.




Benjamin (spotted white and grey fleece), very nice and soft.







There was some fighting when I put Quinn (who convalesced his broken front leg in the sheep barn with the girls) in with the other 2 boys. Ferris was fighting him for 2nd position, Benjamin being more dominant in 1st place in the group. Ferris wouldn't give up and neither would Quinn. Bloody heads and horns. First I made them silly little visors out of stiff felt tied around their horns with ribbons. That sort of worked for a day, but they would still butt heads when they went askew. The next day, I tied up Ferris with a dog collar and leash and eventually he calmed down and accepted Quinn into the group. They will occasionally butt heads "just for fun or show", but it doesn't get nasty. Its just to maintain order. Now they are all getting more food and access to grass in the backyard.

Quinn (left) and Ferris (right)
Quinn is a White Katmoget with slight fawn/brown spotting. Ferris is a light Moorit with little or no spotting.

Spring Preparations

Spring is here and it looks like its here to stay. We've been making changes to the farm in preparation for the 13-20 lambs which are expected officially by April 25th. A quick check this morning showed me a few girl's udders are starting to fill up, with Meg looking like she'll be first, Annie and Dot close behind. I'm quite sure I'll have lambs within a week. My 7 ewe lambs from last year have been put in with my 9 breeding ewes in a large area taking up 2/3 of my sheep barn with a small pasture. The other 1/3 of the sheep barn has now been cleaned up. I will be setting up 2 lambing pens inside and another spare one outside. The pasture associated with the lambing pens has been leveled with soil and overseeded. The sheep will be off of that pasture hopefully for a few weeks, so that the grass can come in. We finally had some great rain last night and this morning, but I'm still doing the rain dance!

Monica the Silver Appleyard Duck's house has been moved out of the sheep's pasture and closer to the house in the "Orchard". She was getting harassed by the sheep. A few young girls, mostly Morgan and Peaches, kept busting through her fencing and squeezing through her little duck door to get inside at her food. I would see Monica quacking about in the sheep pasture and go looking only to find a silly ewe stuck inside her house, because as she'd squeeze through the little door, it would get knocked and drop down closed behind her. Earlier in the spring, we have a low area in the front yard that stays wet for a while, making a pond. One day I carried Monica to the pond and let her play and eat the grass in the pond. She was so happy, making gentle duck noises. I watched her for a while to make sure she was OK, then I went to bring the garbage down to the roadside. She saw me walking away from her and she cut across the yard to follow me. I walked her back to the pond and when it was time to go back to her house, she followed me all the way back to her house in the sheep pasture. I had no idea she was so sweet and bonded to me. I did that several times while the pond still had water. With the recent "summer spell" we had over Easter, the pond dried up, but that's what made me decide to move her closer to the pond. The rain has filled it up again and I've left her fencing open today, so she is wandering about the yard, unhassled by sheep, happily eating grass and occasionally taking a walk down to the pond, but mostly she sticks close to her duck house where she feels safe.