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.