I always hate taking pictures in the barn because the lighting is so terrible in there. Even in the middle of the brightest day requires a flash and most pictures I take in there just come out looking bad to me.
Top is one of Milly's new girls.
Here's Milly with her other lamb. She was the one that snuck in and had her twins while we were busy with Marris and her triplets. Marris has an extremely large utter that hangs much lower than the lambs want to naturally reach for so we had to milk her three times to get a few ounces of colostrum into the new babies. She wasn't happy with the whole milking process but it was taking the little guys forever to figure out how to get the nursing thing down.
Anyway we are now bottle feeding her three lambs some to make sure they get enough to eat but I didn't take any pictures of her as she get's jumpy when I am around her new babies.
Here's Seven looking all washed out in the flash with her two new girls. One has a little lighter patch spot on her back. Makes em easy to tell apart. Marris tried stealing the all black lamb from her this morning but all is well now even though me taking the lamb away upset Marris quite a bit.
Seven had a still born lamb early last year but I decided she seemed like such a good ewe I was going to try again and it paid off with two beautiful little girls. We have also got a line on a new Ram as well which means these two will be available for keeping as breeding stock as well.
So seven new babies today. Only about 14 or 15 more ewes to give birth this season now.
Excuse me why I go pass out until morning.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
Cuteness! I miss kidding season. We had goats for several years. But now just two pet goats.
ReplyDeleteTexan - I could really do without the birthing part at least on a few of them. I think there are a couple of ewes that are getting retired from breeding after this year as they always have issues. So do your pet goats get to roam free some? We had a pair years ago that we let let roam since back then we could. They were constantly getting into the things they shouldn't..... and eating those things :)
DeleteCute! She looks a little sheepish in that 3rd photo.
ReplyDeleteMV - I think she is still not 100% sure she wants this mommy job.
DeleteI miss baby lambs around here. All our ewes are old and retired.....ha ha just like us.
ReplyDeleteGood job!
Tewshooz - They certainly are fun once they start bouncing around. As I said above I think Marris and maybe one other one will go into retirement after this year. Mom likes their wool color and they have been excellent producers of babies but they are starting to develop issues that make their birthing always a pain. Still I guess three new lambs is worth a bit of milking.
DeleteThe herd will be extremely valuable some day especially since it is sustainable providing you can get the grain crop going. Luckily they don't eat like a horse. Sheep have been grown for thousands of years and the biggest part of the time without a feed store down the road.
ReplyDeleteSf - I imagine I could keep them now without grain it would just require more open grazing. In a collapse traffic wouldn't be as much a problem so I could graze em more places. The mineral additives would be an issue as I am not sure they are all available here locally. Baling hay for them without fuel would be a huge labor though.
DeleteI think you should name the tiwns "Easter and Lilly" of course my boys saw the pics and said since they are black, they need a black girl names like " Ja.kayla, and Shaniqua" lol
ReplyDeletebut, they are so adorable when they are babies...
JuGM - Yes they are adorable as babies. Mom loves her colored sheep everything is about colored wool with her. I don't usually name the sheep but just go with the number they get only a very few like Sandwich actually get a name. That being said though Easter and Lilly are good choices :)
DeleteLambs always make me happy. Thanks for posting the pictures.
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I can't imagine have that many ewes lambing in one season. Are you getting enough sleep?
ReplyDeletePP,
ReplyDeleteGorgeous little lambs!!! I know someone whose not going to get much sleep in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, your weather will remain warm while your lambs deliver their babies. I see plenty of naps in your schedule, lol