Ursula...

I was out all day today giving a Fibre Preparation Workshop downtown at the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild. It was a fun workshop and I made some new converts to wool combing. By the end of the day, I felt I was needed at home rather than go out again to watch Brianna play her first soccer games. I had had a funny feeling that morning, that Ursula was close...I've been way wrong most of the time this year. Sure enough, as soon as I drove up, I looked for my 2 last girls still waiting to lamb. Thelma was out in the field eating what little grass she could find, but Ursula was nowhere to be seen. As I was about to walk into the door, I heard the telltale noise...someone in labour, and it didn't sound good. Its the same sound that I got from the ewes with badly presenting lambs. I started to panic and got in my farm clothes and rushed to the sheep barn. Ursula was already in the lambing pen (clever girl) and her water had broken, so definitely in labour. I put up the gate quickly and gave her some water. She wasn't pleased by anything. I kept looking to see if her lamb was coming out well, nothing yet. I couldn't stand waiting and watching, so I went into the house to refill the other water buckets. When I got back to the barn, I could see 2 feet...good!!! But Ursula was still in distress. I remember her mother Thelma was a real moaner too when she had her first few lambs. I tried not to panic again...I started trying to visual my sheep book's pictures of mispresenting lambs, and wondered if it could be 2 back feet...not good! Eventually I looked in again and thank you, I could see the nose. OK, she's not happy, but it will be over soon...looks like a big lamb. The head cleared, but she was lying down, so I helped guide that lamb all the way out. She changed her tone quickly after that and started cooing at her lamb. Her lamb is a white ram lamb with interesting facial markings. She is already proving to be a great mom, because he was up and I saw her nursing her lamb within an hour. She's also quite calm. I'll weigh him tomorrow and find a name for him (Whitlock). I can't wait to see him when he dries up some more. His fleece looks very nice and even.



Ursula and her ram lamb Whitlock, which is English for "white lock of hair"...this just fits. He came in at a nice big size of 2.84kg for a 1st time lambing.

One more girl yet...and I saw her pawing the ground and behaving bizarrely tonight...maybe I'll wake up to 2 more lambs and an end to this big lambing season.

Ebony

Late last night, as Hugh and I were putting the sheep and lambs in for the night, I noticed that Ebony was in labour. I quickly hustled her into a free lambing pen and went to work capturing errant lambs. About 15 minutes later, I was all done and mentioned to Hugh that I would look in on Ebony to see how she is progressing... Hugh says, "Well, there's a lamb!" Sure enough, a dark little Katmoget ram lamb that I've named Graydon which is English for Gray, as that is the colour of his fleece. That just shows you how quick and easy these sheep are. This little guy was born late in the evening and coupled with the fact that the temperature was dropping drastically to zero, with winds, we closed up all the doors. I put a little sweater on him to keep him warm as he was shivering and I didn't really want to hover over him all night, as Ebony seemed to have everything under control.

That leaves only Thelma (due to have twins) and her daughter from last year Ursula (with only 1 lamb expected). The lamb count is now 17 (7 rams; 10 ewes).

Dot's Two Little Lambs

After supper the night before, as I had hoped and predicted, 2 little lambs were in the pen with Dot. A white ewe lamb named Fiona (which means fair, white) and a black Katmoget ram lamb named Faolan (which means little wolf). They looked very wobbly, especially the ewe lamb and even later on, the little ewe lamb is still a bit wobbly, but Dot is a great mom and the lambs are being well taken care of. I weighed them this morning and the ram lamb weighs 3.0 kg and the ewe lamb weighs 2.7 kg. I decided to keep her in the lambing pen all day to make sure her wobbly lamb doesn't have to chase her all over the field. Its a good deal too, being in the lambing pen. You can eat without competition and you know your lambs are close by and safe. But, Dot had other ideas and I found her out in the field after supper with her 2 lambs close by her. The ewe lamb is quite cute...she doesn't seem white, but a definite cream colour, although it may change later on.

Earlier in the day I sprung Meg and her 2 lambs and allowed them to explore the field and make friends. By mid afternoon I spied Meg going head to head with Thelma, who is still waiting for her lambs. Thelma seemed the aggressor and Megs lambs were being "taught" manners by the other moms...its a tough world in the sheep herd.

Brianna and her friend Olivia helped me put the sheep and lambs safely to bed tonight and it sure was a scramble. There was 1 lamb on either side of the pasture that caused us much grief. I put Meg and her lambs back in a lambing pen for safety, since there is a vacancy and of course Dot stayed in her pen.

Finally for Meg

I've had quite the break in lambing, but finally this morning, Meg was found with 2 little lambs up and nursing already. It's been over a month and I've thought that Meg would be the first one to lamb and that possibly she'd have triplets because her udder was very big and she was the first to develop it, but I was wrong. And to my utter joy, another white lamb...please, please let it be a ewe lamb....Yes it is!!! I finally get a white ewe lamb. I think I'll name her Orianna, and she weighs 2.5 kg but has a large, light reddish brown patch above her back leg, a smaller one right at the top and the very tip of her tail is tipped with very light brown. She also has some spots on her left front leg, but I don't think anywhere else. The other one is a ram lamb that I am naming Osrick, weighing 3.0 kg displaying the Katmoget pattern with very light or white body fleece and spots. Meg is a mioget ewe out of Veliraf Nicholas Nickleby and Ellie, who was a moorit ewe.












On the left is Orianna and Meg, and in the picture on the right is Osrick, Meg's ram lamb.

Later on in the day, I noticed that Annie's little ram lamb Caspar was limping, so I put him and his sister Cassia with their mom Annie in the lambing pen, so that Caspar could rest his little leg and not chase after mom. He's not too good at following mom around. On the other hand, cutie Cassia follows mom like a shadow. I frequently find him away from mom and have to grab him and push him up to mom. Annie is blind in one eye from an eye injury when she was a lamb, so I wonder if sometimes she loses track that she's got 2 now, this being her first set of twins. She's a good mom though, because I frequently see her two lambs tucked up safely sleeping side by side, while Annie gets a bit to eat. Its almost like she urges them to sit there like good little lambs, and they are very obedient.

Annie wasn't in the lambing pen long, because I checked on everybody when Brianna got home from school and showed her Meg's two lambs. One minute the "girls in waiting" where fine, the next minute, Dot is starting in labour. I sent Annie out with her twins and put Dot in the lambing pen next to Meg. That means there are only 3 girls left to lamb after Dot. So I shuffled the barn again. This time, my young moms with single lambs that I am selling are now occupying a 1/3 of the barn and the girls I'm keeping for now and the girls that haven't lambed yet are in the other 2/3 of the barn which includes the 2 lambing pens. Should be a riot tonight trying to round up the 2 sets of lambs.

Now I'm off to check on Dot to see if she had her lambs...more to come.

Beautiful Sight

I tossed and turned all night. Every 2 hours or so, I'd get up to listen by my bathroom window...not a peep. As soon as morning broke and everyone's alarms went off, I got up and went to check in the barn. I had put Annie in a lambing pen the night before and I was sure she was in labour when I checked on her in the evening, but it seemed slow. All night I listened for her, because I had a bad feeling, which translated into lambing nightmares. Boy I'm being dramatic...

As I had hoped, there they were, 2 healthy looking little lambs in the lambing pen with Annie. This is Annie's 3rd lambing and she finally twinned, a ewe and a ram. I did a bit of a double take on the ram lamb, because he is very white, but with several black/gray spots...what is going on...oh, he's Katmoget...but its different looking from my other Katmoget lambs. Bill, if you are reading this, I'm going to need help on this one. He has the characteristic dark legs, but his belly is white with black-ish spots. We think he will be named Caspar, which is English for wealthy man (pronounced like Casper, the Friendly Ghost). He weighs 2.55kg. The ewe lamb weighs 1.9kg and is definitely Katmoget, but I've noticed that her chin is light coloured, similar to pictures I've seen as Light Badger Face. She has a lot of reddish pigment around her face and eyes, which I'm seeing in some of Twist's lambs. She an absolute cutey and is very calm and cuddly. We have decided to call her Cassia, which is Greek for cinnamon. Her fleece will likely end up being a light grey/musket like her mother. The reason I heard nothing last night is because everything was just fine. The 2 lambs were already dry by morning and obviously contentedly fed...like good Shetlands that they all are.

Some cute pictures

Today was quiet on the homefront with no new lambs, but I managed to snap a few very cute pictures.

Here is Elphaba with her ewe lamb Giselle. Remember when I said that Giselle had the long legs of a ballet dancer. She doesn't look disproportionate, but her is a picture where I caught her lying down to nurse on mom. She'd start standing up, bumb in the air and then she'd lie right down, still nursing. She did that 2 times. Too funny!

Here I caught Bok Choy checking out the lambs at the fence line. Orion got to meet Grandpa!

These 2 ewe lambs are some of the first lambs born this year and they are regular buddies. On the left is Gypsy (Emma's daughter) and on the right is Rawnie (Peaches daughter). They look like I just caught them about to get into trouble. These are very nice Katmoget ewe lambs out of Twist, my white ram.

I should be asleep, but tonight when I put the sheep in for the night, Annie seemed like something was up. I'm expecting her to have her first set of twins this year. Her udder is big enough. I decided to put her in one of the lambing pens. I've already gone to check on her, but nothing yet, although she is definitely in labour. It may be a long night...I'll likely go to bed but keep an ear out for any abnormal noises...otherwise, I should wake up to newborn lambs in the morning. I'm nervous...this year I haven't noticed any girls about to start labour...they've all just been there with their lambs...Annie is the first one I've noticed.

Another day, another lamb

Natasha & her lamb Piper

What a beautiful sight greeted me this morning. Right by the feeder was Natasha lying down with her newborn lamb tucked safely in the corner, contentedly sleeping. The lamb is another ewe...I'm so lucky to get so many ewe lambs. I'm halfway done lambing with a count of 10 (7 ewes and 3 rams). I have 6 girls to go yet and they will hopefully provide me with 10 more lambs.

Since Nadia was putting up such a fuss in her lambing pen, I let her out with the other moms and lambs. She happily marched out of there with her little ram lamb following (now named Paz, which is Spanish for peace). The shed is a lot more peaceful now that Nadia is not "isolated" in the lambing pen. She's a very social girl...didn't realize she could be so vocal about it. I got her twin Natasha to occupy the lambing pen in her place. Natasha was not easily convinced to follow as I carried her lamb into the pen. She kept going back to where her lamb had been lying down. Eventually she settled down. I realize that Natasha was a fantastic mom and must have had quite the night protecting her lamb from my older girls who are yet to have their twins. Shetlands have very strong mothering instincts and stealing of lambs is a very real issue.

Natasha's lamb is a dark moorit Blettet ewe lamb weighing 2.0 kg, again, definitely a Quinn breeding. We've named her Piper. She also has some small white spots, a couple on either side of her body. She is very sweet. I'll let them out with the others tomorrow, as they seem to have bonded well.

I decided to keep Elphaba in with her lamb Giselle a little longer this morning, because last night I noticed that she hadn't quite passed all her placenta....(stop reading if this word makes you uncomfortable)...likely due to her difficult labour. I looked up in my sheep books that a retained placenta can cause infection, etc, and that if truly it didn't pass within 24 hours, a vet should be consulted. To my absolute relief, she looked good this morning, everything was gone. Just to make sure, I took her temperature which was normal. By mid day, Brianna & I released her and her lamb. She promptly took off leaving Piper wondering where her mama went. It was rather comical to watch as she heard her lamb crying and would rush around sniffing all the other lambs close by that sort of looked like her lamb. Silly girl! We grabbed her lamb and pushed her up to her mother. Instant relief for both mother and lamb and the two stayed happily together for the rest of the day.

I love looking out into the pasture and watching the lambs. They are so much fun to watch as evening starts to settle. I call it the Lamb races. 1 will start, then a few more join in, and the next thing you know, they are all racing about in a herd going around in big circles. Then some get a freak on and they bounce into the air and kick up their heals. They make me laugh!!!

But then its time to round them up to go inside. We bring the girls grain and they rush into the shed to get their treat before bed. But because the lambs aren't eating grain yet, they think its fun to race away from us and panic their mother's with their little cries, and frustrate the 2-3 shepherds it takes to gather them all up. We have to come up with some inventive trickery to keep the mom's inside while still allowing the lambs to get in. Tonight didn't go so well. The noise must be annoying the neighbours because it was total utter chaos. Some moms got out, everyone is screaming, we are grabbing any lamb we can get our hands and dumping them over the gate. Anyway, tonight they all made it in...its getting more difficult everyday and the time will soon come when we won't be able to...until they get a taste for grain.