Who's that ewe?

Now that the girls have grown some they've been (unofficially) named. In June we'll tag and register all seven. I think we'll be keeping at least five of these girls, but we'll have to see how they turn out in the next few months.

And now for the history lesson...

Nettie
(Crystal x Cedar)

Nettie Maria Stevens was a teacher and scientist. Born in Cavendish, Vermont in 1861, Stevens spent much of her early adult life saving money to attend college. At the age of 39 she finally began her career as a research scientist. Credited with discovering inherited sex chromosomes as the cause of gender determination, her theory was not initially accepted by the scientific community.

Cali
(Crystal x Cedar)

Calista Robinson Jones was raised in Bradford, Vermont where she later co-founded the Bradford Public Library. Known for her patriotism, she helped sew and erect the first national flag flown over a Chicago public school in 1861.  A national president of the Women's Relief Corps, Mrs. Jones sought to increase patriotic celebrations nation-wide and helped raise money for the Southern Memorial Day fund.

Ella

(Kira x Cedar)

Ella Amelia Colt lived in Brookfield, Vermont during the 19th and 20th centuries. A recently discovered photographer, she photographed daily Vermont life.

Franny  

(Maggie x Cedar)

Named after Frances Allen, daughter of Ethan Allen. While this ewe's name has been shortened to Franny, it should be noted that the historical figure went by Fanny.

Born in Vermont, Frances Allen devoted her life to helping the sick in Montreal where she was a nun. Fanny was also the hospital's chemist. Today, Fanny Allen Hospital stands in her memory in Colchester, VT.

Isabel 

(Clover x Cedar)

Isabel Hayes Chapin Barrows was the first female eye doctor, and she was from Irasburg, VT. She spent much of her adult life living in D.C. where she and her husband worked for the State Department. Over the years she lived abroad in India and Russia. For several years her family ran a summer camp on the Canadian shores of Lake Memphremagog.

Hannah
(Poa x Cedar)

Hannah Dustin famously escaped from native captors after being held for fifteen days. A memorial stands in her honor at the confluence of the Merrimack and Contookook rivers in Boscawen, NH.

Molly
(Poa x Cedar)

Molly Stark, wife of General John Stark, was born in Haverhill, NH. During the Revolutionary War she became a doctor, nursing her husband's wounded troops in their home in Wilmington, VT.




All information was researched through the following sites: www.womenshistory.vermont.gov,  www.pa-roots.org, www.nature.com, and www.heritage-history.com. Pictures of several of these influential women and their full stories may be found at the womenshistory.vermont.gov website.

And I almost forgot! For those of you who have been following the lambing news, you may be wondering what happened to Wynona's ewe lamb. Sadly, for unknown reasons, this ewe did not make it through her second day with the flock. I came home from work last Monday to find her dead in the barn. I'm not sure if she was unable to compete with her brothers (although she seemed to be nursing), or if she was just too weak to keep up with the flock. In the future I will definitely keep triplets confined for a few extra days before integrating them. Wynona's rams seem to be doing just fine, and she is being very attentive to them both.

Lambing Season Summary...

Lambing has finally concluded just after three weeks from its start. As I suspected, Wynona and her daughter, Maggie, must have cycled together and been bred one round apart. Maggie started our season on March 30th and Wynona ended it today.

In all we ended with 15 lambs out of seven ewes, which makes our lambing rate just over 200%. This is pretty respectable since the average Shetland produces at 150% (or 1.5 lambs per season). Our lambing rate is even higher if we include the two lambs out of Crystal and Kira's triplets that didn't make it. Genetically speaking our small sample pool followed the statistics pretty closely. Of the 15 lambs here are some numbers: 7 rams and 8 ewes, 6 brown and 9 black, 5 spotted and 10 solid. We actually have quite a nice showing of the many Shetland phenotypes in this crop of lambs from our small flock.

Here they are from oldest to youngest:

 Maggie's twins - HST black ram and solid moorit (fawn) ewe

Crystal's twins - HST black horned ewe and black krunet ewe with white tipped tail

Clover's twins - solid moorit ewe and ram (with Maggie's ewe at left)

Mocha's twins - solid black ram and solid moorit ram

Poa's twins - solid black ewe and spotted moorit (fawn) ewe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kira's twins - solid gray (black with "sugar lips") ram and ewe

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, after weeks of waiting, I came to the barn this morning to find this...

 

 

Our first set of surviving triplets! Wynona, despite all of her less flattering qualities, is an excellent mother. She has one VERY LARGE (9 lbs!) spotted black ram, one medium (6 lbs) solid black ram, and one tiny (5 lbs) solid moorit ewe. All did very well nursing and moving around today and tomorrow they will finally be introduced to the other ewes and lambs to conclude the chaos of lambing season.

Now comes the hard part: naming and deciding which of these girls (sorry fellas!) will be staying here and which will need to find new flocks to join.

Next post...layer chicks arrive on Wednesday!

    

Purely Predictable...

As per usual, Wynona has to be difficult. All season I've thought, She HAS to be next. But no, of course not. Wynona is LAST to lamb. She must have quads, or the biggest twins possible. Hopefully by Sunday she'll wrap the season up so I can get some sleep.

What wasn't predictable was Kira's triplets overnight. The first one must have been mal-presented because it was buried in the hay when I arrived back at the barn at 5:30 this morning. When I left at 11, after 4 hours of labor and no progress, I just didn't know what to do for her and she seemed to be contently eating hay. I suspected something was not quite right, but since there seemed to be few options aside from me entering to "investigate" the situation, I decided I'd let nature take its course. Kira didn't seem distressed, so I trusted she'd be able to handle the situation. She had three black lambs, two ewes and one ram, all with the white "sugar lips" that signify the color gray in Shetland genetics. One of the ewes didn't make it. The other two lambs, while they seem exhausted, are eating and content.

I'll post pictures after my camera battery charges.

The 10-day stretch...

I should have counted on Poa to lamb 10 days after the crowd. This is the third year in a row that she's waited 10 days beyond Clover to lamb. This morning I got to the barn just after the water bag was passed. Within an hour two little ewes were dry and nursing.

The other lambs are growing taller and stronger each day. They love to form a group and go racing around the paddock rocks playing follow-the-leader while the ewes eat breakfast. Most of the lambs are quite shy at this point, but Crystal's little ewes are just (almost) as people-friendly as she is. The ewes this year seem especially cute; but then again, what lamb isn't cute?

Here's Clover's ewe to the right. She has the most uniform fleece of all the lambs thus far, and she seems to have especially feminine qualities. I've been waiting for a ewe from Clover for the last three seasons, so maybe this one will have to stay with us for a year or two.

Crystal's ewes are just so fun to watch. The littlest ewe seems particularly feisty and is out-socializing her sister. When a little ram lamb came to investigate the stick these girls were trying to enjoy, the little ewe butted him away, clearly claiming her rights to the new-found toy.

As for Wynona, I've been thinking she's going to lamb "any day now" for the last two weeks.  She's been letting other lambs sidle up to her and she's been bossy and seeking isolation for almost a week. She grunts and pants and she seems extremely uncomfortable, especially with the temperature in the high 70s. She's so large she has to be carrying triplets, but I guess only time will tell.

The other lambs seem to follow her around - maybe they want more lambs to come play? Come on, Wynona, enough is enough. For both your sake and mine, please let those little lambies out.

Photos taken today of the last two: Wynona and Kira. Kira looks like she did when she twinned last year. Wynona is HUGE.

As soon as more lambs arrive I'll post again.

Mocha's Ram Lambs

I should have known Mocha would be next to lamb. Last year Clover, Crystal, and Mocha lambed 2 days apart. This year they lambed within 24 hours of one another.

Mocha lambed twin rams just after one this afternoon. The first ram was solid black (right), and the second ram was solid brown (below). Both rams were up and nursing within minutes, and the older of the two is already bouncing around the stall.

Our total thus far: 

4 rams and 4 ewes

4 browns and 4 blacks

3 spotted and 5 solid

3 polled ewes and 1 horned ewe 

3 horned rams and 1 scurred ram 

So much variety.

Wynona, Kira, and Poa are left. My bets are on Wynona, but I've been saying that for the last week!

Day 149 - Right on Time: Part II

Right on time: Clover lambed at day 149 for the second year in a row. She had solid twins: one ram, one ewe.

Last night Clover's udder was so large I thought for sure she was going to lamb. I moved her to her own stall, much to her dismay, and was prepared to greet little lambs this morning at chores. Clover was agitated and her whole body was fluttering; I was sure there would be lambs this morning. Alas, no lambs when I ran into the barn at 5 am!

All day I thought about Clover and the lambs that would greet me when I got home. Just after 4 I drove into the barnyard to meet the little fluffies, and still no lambs! Clover was up walking in circles, and as she turned I could see a lamb emerging. Within minutes the first one was out and Clover quickly turned to clean up the little brown lamb's face.

As the first lamb was being born I heard a rustling in the back stall, and there was Crystal with a large pile next to her. As I got closer I could see a very LARGE lamb motionless and spread out. Crystal was licking and calling to it, but it didn't look good. I ran into the stall to try and help, but the lamb was limp. I picked it up and swung it back and forth in an arc to clear its lungs and mucous came pouring out, but still no sign of movement. I laid the large ram lamb down in the hay and his eye slowly opened and then closed. I picked him up again, I thought I felt a pulse, and again more mucous came out. This time when I put the lamb down I couldn't feel any life. He was already getting cold and yet Crystal was trying her hardest to get the lamb to respond. No luck. She was calling and calling, licking and licking, but the solid black lamb would not move. If only she could have waited an hour until I had gotten home, or if only he hadn't been 8 lbs, maybe one of us could have helped him make it. Crystal would not leave the lamb. For what seemed like an hour or more she licked and licked; she wouldn't give up. Finally, she laid down and prepared for the next lamb. (I was starting to worry there was just one.) The next lamb came out easily, and as she was cleaning off the second the next bubble emerged. Hooves! There were hooves in that bubble. The bubble sunk back in, and Crystal continued to clean the second lamb. A few more minutes passed and I started to wonder if she was done. Then a quick push. One more. And out popped another lamb! A peanut lamb. I could see horn buds as it was getting cleaned off, but it was so little - at least half the size of the large lamb that didn't make it. A ewe and a ram. Twins from triplets.

Wait! I forgot! While all of the drama was happening in Crystal's stall Clover was still lambing. Actually, Clover and Crystal both laid down to push for the second time together. How could I possibly watch two ewes lamb simultaneously? Clover's second brown lamb came out just as easily as the first, and it was also cleaned and cleared without complications. A little larger than the first, this lamb clearly had horn buds; again we had a ram and a ewe.

After Crystal's lambs were up and nursing I decided to check on gender. After all, I didn't want to neglect a cute ewe or start to get attached to a meant-for-meat ram. As it turns out, both of the surviving lambs out of Crystal are ewes! The littlest one (on the left) will either have horns or scurs - another surprise! She's about 2/3rds the size of her sister, but she's a strong nurser and seems to be doing well. Had the ram lamb survived he would be double her size. At 8 lbs, I didn't think it was possible for Crystal to have two more lambs in there. I'll weigh the ewes in the morning after they get a chance to rest.

Two sisters snuggled in straw. Both have the tiniest white tip on their tails. The ewe on the right is much larger and is solid black except for her large star, a white freckle on the side of her muzzle, and the teeniest little white tipped tail. The ewe on the left has two hind white socks, youglet eye markings, and a half white tail.

I guess in addition to HST genetics, this year I get to investigate polled versus horned genetics. I have one semi-horned ewe and one semi-horned ram (Maggie's). What a strange year!

Clover's lambs are all dried off and like to curl up in the hay. They are identical, solid brown lambs. I'm not sure how I'm going to tell them apart or how I'm going to tell this ewe from Maggie's ewe (other than size). I guess those ear tags may have to go in sooner than I thought!

Four more ewes to lamb. Next post will be the next lambs. I knew we'd have lots of lambs by Easter! I'm just surprised that Wynona's holding them in as long as she has. Maybe she'll be next?

Ewes are due...T+1 Week

 Six ewes left to lamb. Who will be next?

Mocha, Poa, Wynona

Clover, Crystal, Kira

Clover's due date has officially come and gone; however, I did find a note saying she went 149 days last year.  Friday is day 149...

Maggie's twins are doing quite well. They've been introduced to the big girls and are doing a great job staying close to Mom. They'll be a week old tomorrow, and still no friends! In the past, Clover's singled first, and her lamb has had to fend for himself and patiently wait for playmates. These two seem happy to have each other to jump around and cuddle in the hay.

The ram lamb looks just like Crystal. I think he looks more like her than either of her ram lambs did last year. He even has identical leg markings, right down to the same leg!