#103 Olympia

Olympia delivered her first lambs last night.  I went out to check

on everyone before I went to bed (early...9pm).

She had delivered this little guy and I had moved her into a pen

so she could deliver the next lamb that was emerging.

She progress quickly once in the pen and I assisted with the 

second lamb, but the little ewe lamb was life less upon being born.

I worked on her to clear her airway and gave her a brisk rubbing

but there was no life or breath in her little body .

Olympia was persistent in caring for her and talking to her

but she was already gone.

Had I not gone out I would have wondered what had happened,

although I was there I still don't know what happened, but I do 

know that nothing could have been done.  It was just one of those 

things that we have to deal with and move on.

Even after a while when Olympia wasn't getting a response from 

the deceased lamb she put her attention back onto the 

active lamb that was talking to her.

It is amazing how animals just know and move on.

Here is a short clip of the lambs born a few days ago

and how they think they are the big stuff because they

figured out how to get out of their pen.

Right now I call them, Mr. Fancy Pants &

Li'l Miss Big Britches!

Another short video of the oldest lambs.

I've rearranged the gates and set up a creep feed gate

so they can get used to going in and out of it and 

will eventually find their lamb pellets in the pan.

We've had a little down time while lambing,

hopefully we will have more this weekend.

#118 Luna

 I knew Luna was getting close to delivering Friday evening by the way she was acting,

standing off in a corner with head low.

I was concerned that I would be home to be sure everything went ok because

Today we went to the Black Swamp Fiber Fest.  Taking almost 14lbs. of 

very fine white shetland wool to be made into combed top.

They (Zeilinger's) believes they will have it  done in time to bring it to 

the Great Lakes Fiber Show the end of May. ....can't wait!

So anyway, as soon as I arrived home we unloaded the truck of all

the fine wool top that was sent to Zwool in the fall, then immediately 

went out to the barn to check on everybody and Luna was being a 

great Mom to these babies.  Her first time having lambs - twins!

 She was also bred to ram, Gwynevar Du Roy and the above pic.

shows a nicely marked ram lambs that looks like he has potential for a 

fine fleece.  He does have horns buds so we'll see what develops.

He has spots..we'll see if the stay and is a brown base color.

And....this little moorit, krunet ewe lamb.  I can tell that her body 

color will fade away, we will have to wait and see what color she 

will end up being, musket, fawn or mioget.

The rest of the girls are just hanging out, no one looks like they will 

deliver this evening, but things change fast and you just never know.

# T1608 Tessa

 Tessa a first time Mom delivered all by herself this adorable 

little ewe lamb.  I was really hoping for spots since mom

is so wonderfully marked.  But....I'm ok with black!

I paired her with Gwynevar Du Roy 

a black polled katmoget.  He is a really nice and fine fleeced ram.

He has also been scrapie tested and is an RR ram.

He is for sale, the above link will take you to the 

N.A.S.S.A. site where you can see his listing.

 what a sweetie and mother is very attentive.

...This one is a keeper!!

#58 Jasmine

This sweet little ewe delivered twin ram lambs evening last (3/21).

She is a seasoned Mom and takes great care of her lambs.

The lamb's sire is my Border Cheviot.

(this is the ewe i've been waiting to deliver since Sunday)

So far this evening no new babies.  I've taken Friday off

(my job) to run some errands and get our truck ready to haul

a bunch of wool to Black Swamp Fiber Fest

for myself and a couple of friends.

I finished skirting all my white fleeces and have decided to send

all but two to have combed top made at Zeilinger's

Can't wait to get this back and spin some of it.

The two beautiful white fleeces I have held back will be taken 

to The Great Lakes Fiber Show

to be sold in the fleece sale.  I haven't skirted all of my fleeces

yet but I don't think I will enter as many this year.

I will know better once I've had a chance to get them all skirted.

#125 Paula

Paula delivered these twin rams before I came home 

from work Tuesday late afternoon (3/21)  These are the first of 

my crossbred lambs.  I've used a border cheviot ram with my shetland ewes.

The ram is just a bit larger than the shetland ram, but has a very 

small head and narrow chest.  So deliveries shouldn't be any 

different than if they were bred to a shetland ram.

This is Paula's first time having lambs and she is doing quite well

with two.  Her milk is still coming and and you can see that they

have found the water already.  I've offered some milk by bottle

but they aren't too interested in it.

No new deliveries today...we'll see what tonight or tomorrow brings.

#128 Willow

Willow delivered this cute, crimpy ..will be horned ram this morning.

She was bred to one of the new rams that we have, "Two Tone".

This little guy has inherited his spotting from his Sire.

Oh, and we are still waiting on the ewe that I thought would deliver 

her lambs first.

Lambing begins...

Once the fleeces are off it is much easier to watch the ewes develop

as they get closer to lambing.  We look at all of them everyday, 

sometimes a couple times a day to try and guess who will go first.

Sunday I penned a ewe thinking this is it.  She was off by herself, 

she had "dropped" was up and down and pawing at the ground.

She didn't even attempt to come and eat when I offered hay to all the girls.

I went out last night before I went to bed to check on her one last time

before morning.  Upon seeing no progress had developed I took a quick

look over all the other girls and just outside the barn was one ewe standing 

out there with this little guy, above in tow.  So I picked up this little guy

while holding him down low so mom could see him and I walked her right

into the barn and into another pen that I had ready.

So above picture is #70 Laurel, a beautiful black ewe who has delivered 

a single moorit ram lamb that will have horns.  He has that super small 

tightly curled fleece which is exciting.

Laurel was bred to my black ram, Bian1107.  I paired them up last 

breeding season because I got a beautiful black ewe lamb and was

hoping for a repeat of that.  Well this time it's a ram, but he is quite 

a looker.

We've had another one born today which I will post later and

Ohh...that ewe that I first spoke of....

We are still waiting.

Shearing

We schedule our shearing date in January....then wait in 

anticipation for that date to come.

This year it was a bit chilly, but we all hung in there,

we had many hands to help with all the duties.

Catching each sheep in the holding pen, handing her off to the 

shearer and removing her coat so she can be shorn.

Another helper was keeping track of each sheep's ear tag number, 

recording it on an index card and slipping it into a large clear plastic bag.

The plastic bag was then handed off to another helper to gather

that precious fleece and place it into the plastic bag for safe keeping 

until it can be skirted and I can record the details about each fleece and 

who it was from (this being done at a later date).

While another helper would sweep the plywood board after each

sheep was shorn, so as not to contaminate wool fibers or have debris

on each separate fleece.  Leaving the shearers only one job to do.

Remove the precious wool from our lovely girls.

As I had mention earlier, I had already trimmed all the hooves and 

CDT shots have been given.

 I did hold out about 13 sheep to be roo-ed.  Some of our helpers wanted to 

experience rooing so we will be working on this several 

weeks from now.  I had many that were ready and I could have roo-ed

but the fleece was coming off right next to the bare skin and 

I didn't want a bunch of bare (bald) skinned sheep running around.

Now that most of them have been shorn it is much easier to monitor

baby bellies and get a better sense of who will be delivering first.

I expect that we will begin lambing approximately March 19th.

Based on when I put my cross breeding group together.

...hopefully we'll have lamb photos in a little over a week...

March duties ...pre shearing

We made it to March....yeah!!

I have been very busy and recently made a list of all the duties

that must be done in this month of March and WoW! 

My list is bigger that I first thought.

So this evening I have finished one thing on my list which was to 

get all the girls (my ewes) hooves trimmed.

But you know it is difficult to do when you see these lovely faces

that want to be right in my face while I'm trying to trim hooves. 

I have several that just want your attention and don't care that they

are in your way.  Although when you do want to cuddle with

them they are always ready.

So back to trimming hooves....I have completed the ewe flock,

40 ewes at this time. I still have the rams to do.  I hope to get 

them done this weekend, along with CDT shots for everyone!

We have had mild weather...finally, although a little wet,

which is actually good when you have hooves to trim.

The wet ground keeps the hooves soft which then makes

trimming much easier.

As you can see if you look closely...we are getting close to lambing.

We will be shearing the flock next week, March 9th.

Once sheared it will be much easier to see and monitor

each ewe as she gets closer to her delivery date.

 

If you are local and looking for fresh fleeces drop me an email.

We have a variety and hope to begin skirting them ASAP

(this is on my list of things to do).  I plan to take approximately

15 fleeces to the Great Lakes Fiber Show 

I will also prepare a large amount to be made into combed top.

We have about 27 to 29 ewes that are bred, so this means alot of lambs.

This year I bred 18 ewes to my border cheviot ram, I do not plan

to keep any of these lambs and the rest have been bred 

to the shetland rams. 

Lambs will not be available for sale until approximately June,

depending on birth date and whether they are weaned and ready to go.