Here's today's tally - 3 ewes gave birth (2 sets of twins, one single). A maiden ewe was nursing new lambs when I arrived this morning - they're doing great! When I moved the ewes and lambs at mid-day, I found a new lamb whose mother had left him for new feed. I found her (she's a border cheviot), and noticed that she was going to have a second lamb. I also noticed a third ewe who was in early stages of labor.
In the hour or so that it took me to move fence, the cheviot had her second lamb. The third ewe didn't progress much. The other development in that hour was that it grew colder and started to rain and blow. Sami arrived at about 1:30 p.m. to help me pull the lamb from the third ewe. We decided we'd keep an eye on the cheviot twins - their mother wasn't much interested in them.
On my first trip home, I brought one of the cheviot twins home. After running a few errands, I stopped to check on everyone again. By this time, the temperature had dropped further and it was trying to snow (great lambing weather). The second cheviot lamb, and the big single we'd pulled, were in trouble. Their mothers were off grazing, and they were obviously VERY cold and hungry. They came home, too. All three lambs will spend the night in the living room near the woodstove. They've figured out the bottle and seem to be thriving. As of tonight, we have 10 bottle lambs - too many, but what are we going to do?! As we jokingly tell ourselves, if sheep raising were easy, everyone would be doing it!
Mercifully, it's quit raining and sleeting. The weather is still cold, but at least it's not as wet. I'll head back to the ranch after dinner to check on everyone.
Finally, during my last trip to the ranch this afternoon, I wore a Filson wool coat (from my Dad) and a Pendelton wool shirt (from my uncle). These garments are probably at least 40 years old - and still in great shape. What's more - I stayed warm despite being soaked. Wool is wonderful - thank you, sheep!!!
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When I went back out to check on the ewes at 9 p.m., the rain/sleet had stopped. One of the lambs born last night was pretty cold, so I brought him home - I think Sami secretly enjoys having the bottle babies around! We also had 2 more lambs. I think they were twins, but the crazy cheviot ewe who had abandoned her own lambs was taking care of one of them.
ReplyDeleteAs I write this, it's started raining again. I'll get up at 12:30 a.m. and go back to check the sheep. I can tell already - it's going to be tough to wake up for the farmers' market in the morning.
I couldn't drag myself out of bed until almost 1 a.m., but I did go and check on the sheep. It's about 37 degrees out - raining lightly with a brisk breeze. Amazingly, the ewes and lambs seem to be dealing with it just fine. There were two sets of fairly recent twins that I was a bit worried about, but their mothers found them and they seemed to be okay.
ReplyDeleteHeard coyotes singing on either side of us (at some distance). The guard dogs heard them, too - they were definitely "on duty!"