Sheared Sheep

Finally! The bred ewes are sheared. I can now begin estimating approximate due dates and numbers of lambs.

These girls are all two-year-old, first-time fresheners. Because I don't have any comparisons from previous years, it is a little hard for me to tell just who will be first and how many each are carrying. My guess, based on barrel width and udder formation, is that Madeleine and Claire will each twin in early April and Edna will single in a week or two. Judging on udder size, Edna may be the first to lamb of the whole group.

Edna

Madeleine

Claire

Maggie twinned last year, and my best guess is she'll twin again in 2-3 weeks. Poa has twinned for the past three years and always looks quite wide. Though her udder is still quite small, she may be closer than several of the other girls.  

Maggie

Poa

Crystal looks quite a bit smaller than she did last year, but her udder is still small. My guess is she'll twin this year in a few weeks, or else she'll wait until the end and triplet. Kira on the other hand, definitely looks like she will triplet again this year. She has barely any udder formation but is already HUGE. Both Kira and Crystal twinned two years ago and had triplets last year. Both ewes lost one lamb during birth. Hopefully this year lambing will be a little smoother for these girls.

Crystal

Kira

 

 

 Wynona looks just like she did last year. Triplets after Easter.

Wynona

And, from the front...Madeleine, Claire, Edna, Maggie, Poa, Crystal, Kira, and Wynona. Cedar certainly did his job, settling all eight ewes in just three weeks.

And then there is just Annie. Annie was put in with one of our ram lambs for three days in November. He tried hard to catch her, but she just didn't seem to be having any of it. This was just a we'll-try-it-and-see pairing, so I'm not too disappointed that she clearly isn't bred. Annie is out of Poa and is Claire's sister, so we'll have plenty of Poa genetics in this year's lambs without any from Annie.