Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Tis The Season!

The lambing kit is by the door


No...not Christmas...lambing! Although it certainly feels like it could be December and I hear more snow is coming this weekend. Oh joy. Let us discuss other things......

How about lambing! That starts this weekend too! April 2, to April 15...just a short window this year because I couldn't keep Baa'rack in his pen with his girls. It's getting close and I'm getting excited/nervous!
I have a possibility of 5 ewes lambing. I only left them in the breeding group for 2 weeks so I could have missed someones cycle...although Baa'rack was pretty insistent around EVERYONE...except for Darlin'...but it could just be that I didn't see him going after her as much. He really liked Ruthie right off the bat though...and she's pretty hefty on one side.
I couldn't get a good picture of Darlin' because every time I go into the sheep pen she does this:

She doesn't look all that big anyway, but last year she didn't either and she popped out HUGE twins...so who knows.
The other ewe who doesn't look like she has anything going on in there but I SAW get bred:
Last year I thought she wasn't pregnant and she was the first one to lamb...twins...they were tiny though, 3 & 4 lbs.

Ada is HUGE. I don't know how much of it is fleece and how much of it is baby, but she's carrying at least one...I'd bet on two. She's been laying down a lot lately too (when she's not escaping out of the fence just to spite me) which means she's getting close. I had to pull last years lamb, I'm hoping this years lambing is easier.

Letisha. She's my oldest ewe and she didn't lamb last year. Believe it or not I can't tell if shes pregnant or not...she always has that weird shaped belly that hangs low. I guess time will tell.
Until then, we're all sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to see what happens....and hoping for warmer weather. There is the possibility of a nor'easter this weekend...We really don't need anymore snow.

3 comments:

Kimberly said...

Your ewes are looking kind of "ewwwwww". When do you sheer them again? Kind of funky smelling and hard to be up close and personal with right now, huh?

I'm hoping for a very productive lambing season. Baa'rack always seems to get the job done. (I'm a Republican and it hurts me to say that. LOL)

Was showing this to Liz and she was asking about what kind of items do you have in your lambing kit and how do you use them? It's cool, we have had the talk and she has seen our dog give birth.

stace41971 said...

Ill do an extra post just for her with the lambing kit :)

They didn't get their fall shearing (icelandics get sheared twice a year) last year..so they are in DIRE need of a hair cut...luckily they don't carry much lanolin in their fleece so they aren't as stinky as some sheep....although sheep burps do stink...and so do their farts...so either end can be dangerous. :P

Gayle said...

Let me tell you, my Daisy stinks enough for all of your sheep. She is definitely ewwwwww. So will you shear them yourself? Will you clean the wool? Will you spin it? I'm thinking of having Daisy's spun just to knit one thing from her to hang on to. (In the past I've always tossed it out).

I cannot even imagine helping a sheep give birth and then administer all that stuff. I would suck at it and would probably freak out. I hope someone is taking photos when you are elbow deep in sheep! HA.