While this lambing season has been less than spectacular in terms of our success, there is one aspect of our management system that seems to be living up to expectation. For the first time this year, we used a "teaser" ram - a ram that Sami vasectomized. In other words, he has all the parts, but he can't finish the job. This allows us to use the ram effect - exposure to the teaser ram is supposed to synchronize the estrus cycles of all of the ewes, which in turn compresses the lambing season. We had 9 ewes give birth yesterday, and 8 more (so far - it's 9:30 p.m.) give birth today. Synchronizing the ewes allows us to focus all of our labor into a shorter time frame.
Speaking of labor, I think I'm starting to hit the wall. This lambing season, because of the weather, has been similar to the first few months of parenthood - up every 2-3 hours. With more stormy weather due in tomorrow night, I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight - we'll see.
We have two lambs in the living room tonight. The smallest triplet is doing great! She gets to go to show and tell with Emma on Wednesday. During my 9:00 visit to the sheep tonight, I found a twin ewe lamb by her self and cold. She's warming by the woodstove. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
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