So the lamb flood gate was opened Friday night and Saturday morning for a bit and we now have four new sets of twins. Amazingly I think out of the 13 lambs we have so far only one has been a ewe. Five lambs and mothers have been turned out with the flock now while the other eight are still in their birthing stalls waiting another day or two. We actually ran out of birthing stalls and had to throw together one pen for this latest round of lambs.
Ya not the most pleasant of pics of this pair is it? Funny how yellow they look right after being born. One thing that has gone well this year as opposed to last year is we have not had any long wait times between siblings being born. Last year it happened enough that we ended up with two bottle babies because they were born so far apart the mother ewe's wouldn't accept the second one, especially if the second one was a different color.
One of the culprits last year was this ewe #115. No problems this year however although she kinda looks like she is screaming "Get it out of here" in the above picture.
We tagged, banded and shot three more this morning to let them out with the flock and I decided to just let the flock have the West pasture to romp in. They will destroy the West pasture pretty quick but it's time to let the hay field grow back and I don't want the new babies out there yet anyway.
I really need to get this fencing done so I can start rotating the flock around but by this time if/when I get the other two paddocks finished it will be too late for the West side and I will need to do some work on it to get it growing again. Oh well not much choice in the matter.
These two boys were let out of their dark birthing stall for the first time this morning and immediately went up to this cinder block and attempted to eat it. That wasn't working so they tried to play with it or make friends. "What is it?" they asked each other. "What is that thing on your ear and why does my tail feel so funny?"
I wonder if they realize that board they are standing in front of is loose because of their daddy head butting it? Not that he is in there now but that's the stall I had him in before shearing and he didn't like being locked up very much.
At least we now have three more stalls available for the next batch of births. So far none appear to be ready this morning but that can change pretty quick.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!
Most of lambs have been males as well this year! We don't tag ours though because they are all due for the freezer so stay on home turf.
ReplyDeleteI think we got one White girl in today's batch although I was just informed that another ewe has gone into labor this evening so there maybe another one or two.
DeleteFun time! The wind stopped here, nothing due to be born at our place though the rooster is giving it a good try.
ReplyDeleteSf - The wind was pretty mild today here as well but there are some storms coming in and it just started raining here as I typed this.
DeleteLooks like another pair is incoming now too.
I'm making the mint sauce right after typing this comment
ReplyDeletelet me know what time supper is....we can't get any decent lamb around here!
DeleteYa know we never use mint sauce with the lamb. I personally don't like mint anyway. My favorite is lamb ribs and ground lamb-burger actually with swiss cheese.
DeletePP- it sounds like this year's lambing process has been going pretty good! and those little lambs are sooo cute! especially those 2 trying to make friends with the cinder block - shows how social they already are. they must get that trait from you! OH BAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH! oh man - i kill me sometimes.
ReplyDeletesending love, ya nutter. your friend,
kymber
kymber - Unfortunately the cinder block is about as giving as most people I try and make friends with :)
Deleteya...except for me...because i loves ya like a little bother/nutter. oxoxox
DeleteHeh. I think I am older than you. Not by much but your the lil sis :)
Deletecough it up then buddy! i'm 45. what age be you? jam says that on your last trip you told him you were 39...you weren't lying to jam, were you? he'd be heartbroken!
DeleteAren't they cute? Glad all went well.
ReplyDeleteLisa - Thanks I think we are about half done now!!!!
Deleteinterested about the majority male and would think the ram maybe has mostly 'y' genes to offer, until vera said it was the same in her flock.
ReplyDeletevery interesting.
DH - Well the new ram it is hard to say. The old ram usually puts out more boys than girls but not by this large a number. We kept a almost all the ewes from last year so we weren't counting on keeping many this year anyway so this makes it easier :)
DeleteLove the lambs - even if they are yellow.... and slimy.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that lambing season is going smoothly for you. Are the black lambs going to stay black or will they lighten up as they get older? Just calculating what their wool is going to look like when they get older. Yeah, it's a sickness. I'm a card carrying member of wool hoarders anonymous. ;-)
hobo - The black ones usually keep their color underneath for a couple of years anyway. The outer wool of course gets sun bleached but the fleece ends up mostly black. At about 5 years or so the wool does begin to lighten up and get gray however.
DeleteIf you want to try your hand at raw wool starting from scratch let me know and I will send ya some!!!!