#128 Guiselle

 Guiselle, a first time mom delivered this flashy little ram today.

I expected something nice from her since she has super fine wool.

But the spots are a BONUS!!

I just hope they stay.

This lamb's sire is my black shetland ram, Bian1107.

 Had to get pics. showing all sides of him.

We have two more ewes in labor tonight, we'll keep you posted...

#53 Oreo & #134 Sunniva

 Above, Oreo delivered twins, one ram, one ewe this morning.

She was bred to the border cheviot ram and is being a great mom.

Now she can be happy with what she has and not try and steal 

anybody else's babies.

Sunniva (ha! I caught my error, in a previous post I mistakenly 

posted Indi for Sunniva, but I've fixed it.)

delivered this single ram lamb this morning also.  She

was bred to the border cheviot.

All is well!! We have eight to go!

#113 Olivia, #15 Eve, #107 Regina & #50 Bianca

 Above, Olivia a very sweet Mioget ewe delivered this little 

katmoget ram lamb last evening (4/3).  She was bred to ram #26, 

Gwynevar Du Roy.  When I went out in the late in the

evening she had already delivered him, so I set them up in a pen

and all was good.

When I went out this morning there was nothing new ...

 When I came home from work I quickly changed clothes and went 

straight out to the barn to find three ewes had delivered their lambs.

Above, Eve delivered this single ewe lamb.  

She was bred to the border cheviot ram.

(Eve was not shorn, we are planning to roo her)

 #107 Regina, a first time mom delivered this single ewe lamb

she was also bred to the border cheviot ram.

She has taken quite well to being a good mom.

#50 Bianca delivered twin ram lambs, she was also bred to the 

border cheviot ram.  (we are planning to roo Bianca also).

I believe we have 10 to go....

#131 crossbred ewe & #130 Indi

Monday evening (4/2) I strolled out to the barn, one last look  to 

see what was going on before I went to bed and my other crossbred

ewe (shetland / cormo) had delivered one lamb.  I moved her into 

a waiting pen then waited a short while as the second lamb was about

to be born.  She gave us some nice twins, a ewe and ram.

She was bred to the Border Cheviot ram.  

(so we did get at least one ram lamb out of  my crossbred 

girls....hopefully he will have a future as a breeding ram 

from an inquiry last year)

 #130 Indi a first time mom gave birth to twins, a ram and ewe.

I bred her to the Border Cheviot ram and she did quite well

delivering these two all by herself.

I went out this morning and she had already had them.  I just had to 

move her into a jug so they could get some bonding time.

I had to add this photo...for a couple of reasons.

1. The ewe, who's nose you can see in the gate behind the lamb has 

been trying to steal this lamb all day.  Causing confusion for this little lamb.

Mom wants her, but the "other mom" keeps talking to her and convincing her

to try and escape away with her. (which caused me to move the intruder

into a pen across the barn away from this momma and baby so they

can have some bonding time)

2)   My English Shepherd, Red.  Way back in the center of the photo 

at the other side of the barn.  He just loves the babies and doesn't miss a

trip out to the barn to see what is going on.  He is at full attention

when it comes to babies.

We will see what comes tonight, both with lambs and weather,

six inches of snow yesterday morning, 60 degrees today with rain

 and serious storms rolling in tonight. 

#137 Marni, #132 Xbred ewe & lambs

 Marni delivered these twin ewes this morning.  She was bred to Gordon,

he is one of our new rams who has a cape flecket pattern.

I bred him to one of my white ewes.  This morning when I put them 

in a jug they were still wet and could tell that the white lamb had 

some interesting coloring but I really didn't have time to admire her...

as I only have so much time in the morning to feed everyone and 

get off to work (day job).  So this evening I was able to inspect her a little more.

 I think she is very interesting.  Earlier this morning I just thought "white".

But now that she is all dried off she has a red cast to her birth coat 

which I believe is the tan gene that is common with some white sheep,

as her mother has on her legs.  But this little girls legs are darker.

Kind of like a katmoget but not really and her face hair is light 

in color, but appears darker further down the hair shaft.

Very interest....as least I think so!

The other lamb is solid black with some white spotting on her face.

(i can always use another good black!)

 This Dam is one of two of the crossbred ewes that I have.  She is 

3/4 shetland and 1/4 cormo, although she looks more cormo than shetland.

I bred her to my border cheviot ram.  This is her first delivery and

I was really hoping for a ram out of her BUT we got a ewe lamb.

Very nice ewe lamb and she really favors the cormo more than the

border cheviot or shetland.  This lamb will be available to a new home

once she has been weaned....sometime in June.

 Sunday evening I released all of the ewes and lambs that I had penned.

It was time, most of the lambs are old enough to start eating their own feed.

So I set up the creep feed gate where they had been penned, put in

some medicated lambs pellet and a little cracked corn and they are 

all over it.

They are happy, bouncing around and familiar with the whole 

barn. 

#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.