Catching Up with the Lamb Reports

Whew, it's been awhile since I've posted! Things have really been hopping around here. Eight of the nine ewes have lambed so far. Here's what's happened since last time:

March 18: Angus was probably really excited when he saw Sydney's ewe lamb:The black fleece toward the front is kind of short and crimpy, and the gray-tan fleece along her back is longer and more wavy.

March 21: I found Rachel (a Rambouillet) with her first lamb, a little white ewe, whose fleece is already kind of long and wavy.
Still March 21: The sheep did something they've never done before in all the years we've been raising sheep. I went to check on them about 1:30 that afternoon, and nobody was doing anything. When we went out to do the evening chores, awhile after 5:00, I looked in the little shed out in the lot and found two ewes with three new lambs! They had both apparently lambed at almost exactly the same time. Now this was a pickle. One ewe had twins, and one had a single lamb, and neither I nor they were sure who belonged to whom. Abby is an older ewe and not in the best of shape, and Violet is a younger ewe. It looked like maybe Abby hadn't been able to get up yet, and that Violet had licked everybody off. I helped Abby to her feet and she promptly went outside to find something to eat. She soon came back, though, to see about her lamb/lambs.

Two of the lambs were black and white spotted (one ram and one ewe), and looked like they were probably the twins, and the other lamb (a ram) was tan and white. The lambs were trying to nurse first one ewe and then the other, and Abby and Violet would go from one lamb to the other. I was afraid one of the lambs wasn't getting any attention, while one was getting attention from both ewes. I got a little colostrum on my fingers from Abby and got in the lamb's mouth several times to at least give her a taste. I thought about separating them, but was afraid I wouldn't get them with the right ewe, so we decided to leave them all together and let them work it out. I really think probably Abby had the twins, and Violet had the single tan and white lamb. That night when I went back to check on them, the lamb I had given the colostrum to was nursing from Violet, and the next morning, she was nursing from Abby. Now several days later, they're still all together, and seem to be doing okay. Maybe they've got it figured out or maybe they're just helping each other.

March 22: Rose had twin ram lambs in the barn, but I don't have pictures of them ready. We're still waiting for Hannah to lamb, so hopefully I can post pictures of all of them next time.

Again, whew, things have sure been busy!