Reads from the bottom up

March 29, 2007  I have been remiss at announcing the last births.  Ricotta had triplets on Monday, she had three boys.  Sigh with a bag like hers we would have loved to see some ewe lambs.  Luna followed Tuesday with two boys and a beautiful black girl.  They are all healthy what more could we ask for?  We are grateful that we will have a few uninterupted nights sleep now! In between these two deliverys we almost had a sad event.  I woke up with a start at 4:30 Tuesday morning.  I felt a call to go to the barn and check on the animals but the call of that pillow and warm comforter was stronger.  I dilly dallied for 20 minutes but went out to find one of the yearlings licking off a new lamb, a very small new lamb she seemed to have done a fine job of delivering by herself so I went to get a panel to use to separate her from the rest of the crowd for some privacy.  As I left the shed I heard a tiny little sound from over by the water trough.  Lo and behold her first baby had wandered/crawled off down out of the building onto the wet pavement and was wedged between the water trough and the fence!  She was tiny, shaking, sopping wet from both the birthing process and the water.  I placed her in front of her mother who immediately took to licking her off.  What a blessing.  Mom was not allowing her to nurse till she got her all cleaned off.  Little one kept trying and was getting weaker as I watched.  Brad came out and we got mom and babies into the barn under the heat lamp and finally little one latched on and was able to get that good colostrum into stomach.  She is doing well now, our smallest baby to date 4 and a half pounds! 

March 25, 2007  Luna made it into the milking parlour yesterday.  She has been unable to make it into the parlour for days.  perhaps a week or more.  She is quite large with child(ren).  The babies must have dropped for her to get through as she did so we will continue our nightly checks.  Ricotta has been making me promises of lambs since last  Wednesday.  She also is HUGE and seems so uncomfortable.  I keep telling her it would be much easier if she would must have those lambs.  Then she looks around at the other mothers with triplets and rolls her eyes at me.  Well I guess she has a point.  We have continued to wean our lambs and it has been a noisy weekend.  They are settling down to eat grass and grain and the mommas are giving good milk.  Brad has made Muenster and some Mopsy's Best and will make cheese again tomorrow.  Life has gotten busy. 

March 14, 2007  I was having a bit of a chuckle in church last Sunday.   The communion plate went this way, then that way, then it came back again, or was that a different one.  We had the servers so confused, as were we, we all just had to chuckle.  How often do we do that?  How often do we do something silly, harmless, funny, just because we are who we are.  God must look down at us and chuckle.  I watch the lambs play, they jump, they run, they will be standing there and for no apparent reason will jump up into the air.  I watched one of the quads one night spring up and up again and again...I think she found a new skill and was just jumping for joy.  That made me chuckle too.  I have alluded to the Popcorn Parade.  The lambs will often sleep in a puddle a whole lot all cuddled together then one will jump up and take off running and soon the whole pack is running with the leader, zoom one way then zoom back they come.  Then as soon as it starts they collapse in a puddle of lambs again, or go off to find momma for a drink. We also have sad lamb days.  We started milking last Saturday.  We removed 12 of the early lambs from their mothers and put them into the weaning pen.  The first 24 hours around here is LOUD.  Babies bawling for mommas, mommas bawling for babies.  Then they learn we feed them grain and the mommas get into the routine of being milked and it settles down....I know God looks down on some of the painful things we do or the messes we get into and has great sorrow in His heart.  Some of the pain is inflicted upon us and some comes when we are in a time of stretching, change and growth.  It is so often hard to get over those rough times.  And realistically is it always better in the end?  Or is what is better what we take and learn and grow from our experiences.  I don't think my lambs see much past today, or the fact that the lamb pen had greener grass then they were getting.  They aren't very philosophical.  I think, though, I will look for the greener grass I am being led toward.  If i reach it Hallelujah, if I am still on the way I hope to find ways to grow.

March 7, 2007  We have very nice animals.  We had a week off and then on Sunday GiGi had her triplets right there for everyone to see and admire.  GiGi is short for Gimpy Girl.  She has a bad leg that seemed to give her no problems until December.  We think she sustained a spinal cord injury or she was butted on the back end.  One day in December Brad found her out in the shed totally unable to use her back end....What to do?  We gave her several injections of Calcium that the vet recommended and she did get up on her feet but never 100%.  She has been in a pen by herself but adjoining the rest of the herd since then so she would not get run over!  Well as it came time for her to deliver we were a little apprehensive since so many of the animals get up and down several times during labor.  She did fine, she just stood there and squirted out three 6 pound boys.  They will be named Huey, Dewey, and Louey.

Last night Gertrude gave us two fine boys and today a suprise 510 popped out a girl!  We had sent her to the back pasture with the yearlings thinking she was not pregnant.  Karen found her today with a 9 pound baby girl that was less than an hour old.  Both look wonderful and are in a jug in the barn gettin special treatment.

February 26, 2007 Holstein had twins, nice and easy as we knew she would.  A boy, 10# and a girl, 12#.  She took right to cleaning and they were up bouncing within the hour.  We are at 90 babies born out of 45 mommas, 45 girls, and 45 boys.  Perfect.  Well almost, We have about 15 more ewes to deliver, and we have lost three lambs.  It is not unusual to lose some percentage of babies each year.  It brings to me the word/concept of Intervention.  I prefer to watch the animals and let them have their animal behaviors.  If one is coming to harm I will intervene, or if it is a birthing situation that is not going well we will intervene to see what needs to happen.  We have had three breech babies this year.  Breech is not as critical in sheep as humans but you really need to get the baby out in one push so its first breath is not sucking in amniotic fluid.  We saw feet and waited for the push that would send the lamb out to his/her middle section and pulled the head out cleaned the mouth and mother took over.  I like those interventions clean, easy, mother takes over,  I feel I have helped not hindered the process.  Another mother broke her water Friday evening so we watched her and waited for her to go into labor.....nothing, nothing, nothing.  So by Saturday evening, Meg, being a nurse felt we should call the vet.  With humans if the water has been broken for 24 hours we intervene.  Was it time to get more aggressive?  The vet said to check her, she was not dilated but I could feel a nose exploring my finger.  The vet then said to wait until she was in labor and if she starts to push and dilate with no babies go in and see what is happening.  Well Sarah delivered three girls all on her own within the hour.  Nature took over. Did I jump into a situation that was doing what was right or did the stimulation produce labor.  If so it worked, if not the minimal intervention was not anything that kept mother from doing her job.  Another mother refused her babies, would butt them off if they tried to eat.  She delivered well and cleaned them well but did not want to let them get close to nurse and would butt them pretty hard.  We intervened, we tied her head up and let the babies find the teat and eat.  We had to do that every hour or two for the first 12 hours and then mom settled down and realized they were hers and fed them just fine.  Now with the babies.  Our first intervention gave us a bottle baby. Thorne was not being fed by his mother so of course we intervened.  Sam was to weak to get up to eat so we intervened and did what we thought was the most we could do and he did the rest.  He lives with the sheep and we visit both those babies three times a day.  We did have two that died who started out well and then just plummeted.  We tube fed the little girl every two hours one night, she was strong enough to get up on her feet but did not make it.  Was she just  not getting what she needed? or was there a genetic link to her death because her brother did the same thing and we found him the next day.  We feel we must intervene when we can but we must accept what happens.  We have one more bottle baby that lives with his mother.  his bigger siblings beat him to the teat.  We have intervened with a snack three times a day and complement what mother gives to him until he is big enough to fight back.  Thankfully Holstein did all she needed on her own, as most did.  We like to watch and care for our animals but let then do the rest.  We will wean the babies at 30 days, or 30 pounds, and begin to milk the mothers but until then we will let them be under weekly weights and watchful eyes.

February 23, 2007 No new babies overnight.  I think all is well after the big push yesterday.  We had the opportunity to sleep through the night and it was wonderful until 4:30 am and I just could not sleep any more...too much?  I went out to the barn to check on everyone.  All was calm, peaceful, and as it should be.  Holstein and Elizabeth were the only ones who seemed uncomfortable.  They are two of the next to go.  Holstein is actually due today and it would be a blessing to see her go.  She historically has given us triplets and she is huge again.  Belly about 7-8 inches off the ground, although she is vertically challenged and of stocky build so in her non-pregnant state she is close to the ground.  She is part Coopworth which is a stockier, woolier breed than our East Fresian sheep.  The Fresians seem much more delicate, long legged with narrow feet and a narrow face.  Holstein, her mother and sister are excellent milkers.  Their wool is different too.  We had our Friend Gretchen,  http://gretchenswoolmill.com/ , and her friend Jodi,  http://bearpawquilt.com , visit us yesterday.  Gretchen has been a wonderful help getting us into the dairy sheep business in the first place.  When we needed to find milk for our son we visited her, tasted some of the milk from her animals and were hooked.  She has given us resources, both professional and personal, and helped us locate Jerry and LouAnne Craner where we purchased our first animals in 2000.  Gretchen is not only talented with milk and cheese, she is a fiber person.  A spinner, and has been a great encourager to get me going on spinning.  Alas, I am a quilter and have quite a few projects that are being totally neglected at this point in time so I have not made that jump, yet.  But Gretchen and Jodi have teamed up to develop wool quilt batts.  I am so excited to see that the wool off my animals will be prepared to create a product I can use for my own hobby as well.  I recently purchased a wool batt to use in a quilt I am making for our family room.  Gretchen and Jodi have developed a product that may be superior to that batt in some ways.  It is not needlepunched, or felted which means it can come apart in layers and I could use one layer to create a finer quilt with more fanciful stitching, or use more layers to create a springier, warmer quilt.  These fine women took a Suburban full of our  fleeces home to work with and see what can be created.  I hope to be selling wool batts at market this summer and see what all the other quilters think of this product.  Gosh, that means I may have to piece a small quilt to use as a tester, that is just sooo painful to have to go quilt!  All this rambling because I think Holstein will deliver her babies today.  Her wool is just a bit different than the rest of our animals and I wonder what Gretchen will work up with one of her fleeces.....lambing is almost over, will I have time for my hobby?

February 22, 2007   I stand corrected.  As I was in the house typing my earlier note Carrol decided to pop out two ram lambs which brings us to an even 50:50 ratio boys to girls.  One more February momma to go and then the March due dates should begin.

February 22, 2007  Since the last post we have delivered 60 babies, 14 in the last 24 hours!  Well, the mommas have, with occasional help from us.  We have a grand total of 86 lambs born so far,  we are almost neck and neck male to female ratio, 42:44,  with a 200 % lambing rate.  Could not be much better than that, except perhaps a few hours of uninterupted sleep.  Which we did have, one night of wonderful sleep.  Our friends came to spell us....we slept.  They camped out in the barn, with a radio in hand to call if anything untoward happened.  What a blessing,  What rest in the middle of all the commotion of lambing.  My heart was full of Thanks and Joy as I walked into the barn Monday morning and saw two lamb jugs fuller than the night before with two mommas and their twins!  All the after care was done and complete, health babies, healthy mothers and I had slept through it all!  I just had my cup of coffee for me, and a bottle for Sam and Thorne.  I even took the opportunity to leave those bottles on the table and when our friends woke up they made sure the milk got into their hungering mouths.  It has been fun and busy, will need to get the camera fixed to post more pics!

We have separated the older lambs and their moms to another pen and brought in the mothers who are due in March.  We only have two left who are due in February and 6 in March.  It will slow down now and we will progress onto weighing and monitoring growth of the lamb crop and readying the mothers for milking.  We will begin March 10th.  That seemed so far away and suddenly it is close enough to smell.

February 17, 2007  What a day it was!  We had 13 babies yesterday and stories to tell.  We started with a pro.  Gouda popped out twins, licked them and nursed them just like she has before.  Beautiful baby....boys.  Then Corvette got into action and delivered a girl, then Feta delivered a boy, then Corvette delivered a boy, and Feta delivered a girl.  Then, while she was nursing her two babies Feta delivered another boy.  I have not yet seen such a sight.  Feta looking back knowing she had another one to clean off but not wanting to disturb the two that were already nursing.  Brad placed the last one in front of his mother and she started to clean him too.  We got all the babies and their mothers into lambing jugs to bond and I got to go back to work...yes, all that on my lunch break.  Brad called about 4:00 to let me know that Salt had dropped two out with her head in the hay feeder, and at 5:00 when I was trying to tie up things at work Brad calls again to say he has three in labor at once!  Missy decided to have her own out of spite.  She had tried to steal Feta's first baby.  A mother who is close to delivering will do that, she will move in and begin licking off the other mother's baby.  We had noted that and sent her out of the barn so Feta could deliver her babies in peace.  Missy was out under the awning laboring  when 515 came to join her.  Then 515 went streaking into the barn and 320 came out acting like she would like to deliver as well.   Poor Brad.  515 was wild, it was her first baby and she just  took off running not sure about what was happening.  She missed the childbirth video when we showed it to group.  Brad caught her and separated her from the flock into a small jug where she delivered her boy.  Meanwhile, Missy, who is white, had delivered a white ram outside.  And 320, who is black and also in labor, was cleaning the baby right along side Missy.  That has happened in the past where two laboring mothers will share a baby until the second mother pops out her own lamb and surrenders the first to its rightful mother.  Well, Missy delivered a second white baby and 320 delivered a single black ram lamb.  There are two mothers and three lambs and to those of us watching the white mother had the white babies and the black mother had the black baby.  Those babies were cleaned and nursed by two mothers and if we tried to move one mother with here babies into the barn the other got all upset and came along as well.  We jugged them all together and after we tag their ears we will set them loose and see who goes with who.  I don't think the mothers will read the numbers on the tag any better than they could identify their own by color, but it helps me to know who is who.

February 15, 2007  Someone had to do it.  One of the ewes was more than expected to throw a black lamb.  Wooly did just that on Tuesday and she is a beauty.  Now you can imagine with a mom named Wooly what the babies look like.  Lots of curls and fluff.  The white twin sister had brown tips on her curls, the black baby has nice glossy curls and bright black jelly bean eyes that are expressing curiosity already.  How can we be called the Black Sheep Creamery if we don't get any Black Sheep?  We have in the past used our black ram, Hershey, extensively.  We have a lot of genes in our flock for the black wool and skin.  The Fresian breed is know for having sparse wool on the head and it can be especially thin over their forehead and ears.  This leads to a lot of pink peeling ears and faces when the sun comes out.  The black animals do not burn the same way.  We have also noted those first days of sunshine some very pink udders coming into the parlour.  Holstein, mother of Hershey, has a beautiful black udder that has never been noted to burn the same way her sister's has.  So now we have a new pair of sisters who are black and white.  A wooly pair.  A very cute pair, but then I will say that about all of them. 

February 13, 2007  I woke up early this morning and thought I had better check on, Sam, our bottle baby,  I was worried about him.  In an effort to help him realize he is a sheep, not a person, Brad let him sleep in the barn last night.  I did not know if he was strong enough for that.  So I got up and warmed his bottle and trekked out to the barn.  First glance, the newest babies were doing well in the stalls with their mothers.  Second glance, no posturing among the expectant mothers that indicates we are laboring.  Third glance, a small bundle curled up against a wall, quiet and still.  Oh my, I called out his name and the name of the other bottle baby.  What relief Sam jumped right up, ran over sucked his bottle down in no time at all.  He even started to suck down Thorne's bottle since he had not yet gotten up to eat his morning meal.  He was demanding more milk as I left the barn.  This is the little lamb that only took an ounce or two at a time for me yesterday,  the little lamb that seemed to not have enough energy to suck, was well on his way to becoming part of the "popcorn parade".  More than likely having him in the house he was fed too often.  He was too full to suck.  Now that he is four days old he will be fed four times a day.  We will feed him a prescribed amount of milk and he should learn to eat the creep feed soon.  I already found him trying to nibble on the hay in the feeder.  Sam should do just fine.  He is a lamb, he lives in the barn, he will learn to jump and play with his friends, but he will come when we call him since he thinks we are mom.  I noticed one of his brothers stand and listen attentively to Sam the Lamb's cries as I left the barn.  He will have playmates

February 10, 2007 Has it really been a week?  Not much going on in the beginning of the week, took some pictures of some very fat mommas!  Snowflake really had to struggle to get through the chute into the milking parlour for grain, she was huge!  She now has an explanation for her girth, all in white with some speckles, all four of them.  We had our first quads, and they are beautiful.  Twenty seven pounds of baby came out of our Snowflake!  She did a great job, the first one was out and almost dried off when I came out to the barn at 1:30.  He was tiny but got right up and tried to eat.  Momma was very patient and even though she had another baby to push out when this little one tried to nurse she stopped and hunched over so he could find the teat better.  It was a precious sight because the large belly that hung within 7 inches of the ground was still in the way of the little one's head.  He really had to want to eat to find the teat.  But sure enough I could see his little tail going in circles which is our sign that he was getting the milk he desired.  Momma then got busy and pushed out a second and then a third and the fourth!  Her tongue was just a flailing away trying to get them all cleaned up, all the other babies in the barn came to pay their respects and got in the way. Their mothers would come, check out the commotion. and try to call them away.  Poor Snowflake all four of the babies were attempting to go in different directions and she was already expected to be entertaining guests.  I stepped in to help with crowd control.  Needed to place our bottle baby in the creep feeder and lock him in.  As a true bummer lamb, he attempts to bum a drink off of any one he can...even a mother who is still delivering or is attempting to find her four willful children.  I called Brad on the radio, we got the mother and all the babies into a small pen called a jug so they could bond without all the interference of the crowd.  We noted the second born baby was not getting up, he was shaking and had his head turned back.  We made the decision to tube feed him some of the mother's colostrum and warm him up.  We brought him to the house and put him in a box near the heater.  At 3:45 we went back to bed and realized we had done all we could do and would find what we would in the morning.  At 5:30 when the alarm went off I actually didn't get out of bed.  I waited  till I could wait no more.  I went downstairs not wanting to find what I feared I would find but before rounding the corner into the kitchen heard a very loud demanding bleat!  Where is the food?  All is well with little Sam.  He is back in the pen with his family.  He will be a bottle baby since that is what has been introduced and momma has three others vying for two teats.  At least he will have a the life of a sheep but the diet of a cow....most milk replacers are made from cow's milk!

February 3, 2007 We had a busy week and a busy day.  The week went along very fast.  I got all my little lambs weighed and noted one needed some assistance.  Rose who is a nice momma was having trouble with her boy.  She was butting him off and he was not eating.  We had placed the three of them, sister  too, back in a stall together and all seemed okay but in the open area she would butt him off and he was not gaining as he should.  We checked the teeth and had filed them down but they have kept erupting sharp enough to make mother not want to feed him...so Andrew and I have a baby now.  We will bottle him three times a day and he has caught right back up with the crowd he was born with.  The lamb now has a name.  He will be called Thorne. 

Today we cut down three trees in the orchard.  We purchased some slave labor at the church and got a priceless gift to help us with our pasture problem.  We have an orchard of 15 to 20 walnuts huge trees, well overgrown and we only harvest nuts from under the three best ones.  The rest of the trees provide a lot of shade and leaves that kill the grass out underneath.  We had hoped to cut out several of these trees strategically in order to provide sun for the grass and shade for the sheep.  We purchased a wonder, a former logger who could lay those trees right down where they were meant to go without harming the others around them!  The orchard looks more open already and we will hope to get in some grass seed to provide next years lambs with a safe enclosed field that is best protected from predators.  The church was earning money for their Mexico Mission Team.  They are taking 17 people from our area to build homes and a church in an area that could really use some help.  We were happy to help them out but we were extremely blessed in the process!  Isn't it true God takes what little we give and makes it immeasurably more! 

In the midst of all the blessings we had today we welcomed another ram lamb.  Sugar had a baby today.  12 pounds 7 ounces!  He is beautiful!

January 31, 2007  Coffee Bean, who is named such because she is a beautiful black  Ewe, gave us a big beautiful ram lamb late last night.  She delivered without assistance but needed help finding the poor guy as he had crawled into the space between the barn door and the wall.  That is the precise reason we go out to check the barn in the middle of the night.  Had our little boy spent the night in that hole he may not be here today for my boys to name.  Now the mother who is shiny black and bright eyed is named Coffee Bean, her mother is named Americano after that wonderful concoction that keeps us awake and moving....The ram lamb?  Well he is named Vanilla Bean Frappucinno.  He is the decaf sort.  All white and full of calories....11# 11ounces at birth!

January 27, 2007 We were blessed with the company of four young ladies today.  These young ladies came to work a day in the barn feeding, watering, shoveling, watching, waiting.  They purchased two Ewe lambs from  us two years ago and they were bred this year.  We had high hopes the girls would witness a birth before their own animals went into labor.  This way they would know what is good and what is not.  Well, they missed the first lambing by 10 minutes, they were able to see the care the momma and babies need after a delivery but alas the signs of imminent birth were missed.  Rainbow had given us a boy and a girl just before our helpers arrived.  The girls and their father waited all day, finally they decided to do their grocery shopping before they went back home, about an hour away.  Wouldn't you know it both Revlon and Rose went into labor within a half hour of their departure!  Well, cell phones can be marvelous inventions since we told the father we would call if anything looked promising before they went home!  Two deliveries, two sets of twins and four very happy girls. We even had a bit of a show for them...Revlon dropped a baby on the floor of the barn but was so intent on minding what Rose was doing she left it there!  We had to catch her and place here baby under her nose so she would take the poor cold little girl and that was all it took, she forgot all about the other momma and they each delivered a healthy set of twins.

January 24, 2007  Grace had her first babies today and the first ones of the year.  We welcomed Butterscotch and Xavier during the evening hours.  Momma did a great job and made a great start to lambing season.

January 23, 2007 We had a visitor on Saturday who brought us a picture she had made of our flock.  My favorite picture was this one of the Rainbow sheep, her parents had told her we had a momma-to-be named Rainbow!  I Think she was hoping Rainbow would look like this one!  I think I like her  version almost as much as the one in the barn.....who still has not had her babies! 

         

Barn checks in the middle of the night have begun.  Since friday we have set the alarm hoping to find a momma in labor in the middle of the night....but no, they are chewing their cud peaceful as anything.  It is a wonder to go into the barn at night.  All the animals seem at peace the light takes on a golden glow against the brown wood and the gold hay.  All that matters at that time is that we have our own nest on the ground and are ruminating.  A few will be up eating, several will be laying down with their neck stretched out sleeping soundly.  Not many get up for a scratch on the chin but are willing participants if I enter the lambing floor to get a closer look at what is going on.  A look that with some hope will be come a laboring ewe from a placid cud chewing "I have no cares in the world momma-to-be". 
Okay, so I am impatient, that is not a newsflash for those that know me.  The lambs are my job here on the farm.  We both attend labors as needed but the follow up weights and any medical care Is my role as much as possible.  I love this season.  I weigh each baby each week to be sure they are getting all they need.  I will be sure they get their shots, their teeth are not too sharp, we do dock tails so we make sure all heals well.  I am ready! Bring on those babies!  Slow down!  The first actual due date was January 22.  I must remember with sheep we do not want early babies, we have never had an overdue animal, nor had to induce labor.  I believe they have this figured out better than me and are humoring me as I go out to do my barn checks.

January 3, 2007
New beginnings, newly shorn wool, new straw in the barn, almost time for new babies!  The Shearer came last week and we got almost half of the ewes sheared.  They look good, some of them are looking quite roly poly.  It was a great day!  He did a wonderful job.  Today he will be returning to get the rest done.

The animals are able to return to the barn once they are sheared.  We try to use the barn only during lambing and give it a rest from May to December.  The sheep relished the new bedding and seemed to almost snuggle into it.  On closer look they were eating it.  All the feeders were full but they were happily chewing what was close at hand...maybe that is why I like to hang out with them whenever I can...they just take it easy and slow.  We had a good look at what has been growing under all that wool and have determined that Rainbow will be the first to deliver.  She will be a first time momma so we will make all attempts to be there at her lambing time to be sure all goes well and she takes her babies just fine.  Hot Rod is close behind but she has had lambs before so her udder development is far beyond the first time mommas.  Grace is close also.  We will keep you posted, lambing should be a couple weeks yet.  In other words it is not time to start the midnight barn checks.  We have been graining the ewes in the milking parlor since mid-December.  Brad is daily able to assess who is getting closer to delivery.  When he has one that has begun those pre-delivery changes we will make sure we set eyes on her every two hours round the clock.  So our new year starts with a lot of new changes.  New hope, New clean wool,  New fresh bedding, anticipation for New lambs and what the New Year will bring.  No New years resolution though.  I may go sit on a bale of straw and look into that after we shear the last 40 animals.  Or I may sit on a bale of straw and fall asleep.