Lambing concluded one week from its start. From the eight ewes we had 16 viable lambs: 7 rams and 9 ewes. It was quite the week, but overall it was a very successful season with few complications and lots of very solid Shetland lambs.
The biggest surprise was certainly Edna. She's the ewe I thought would single a week or more before the rest. She twinned four days after the last average lambing due date. At least she gave us twin rams - the only set!
Crystal had triplets again, and again she lost one. I left her in the barn Monday night after watching her closely for two hours. She seemed close when I left the barn around 9, but I knew once she started it would be another hour or two before I'd get to bed, and as I'd already been feeling off earlier in the day I decided to go home. When I got the barn the next morning there were two dried off lambs and one covered in hay. The surviving two were almost solid black - a ram and a ewe. The ewe that didn't make it had white stockings and a white muzzle. She would have been the most varied ewe of the season. There probably wasn't much that could have been done had I stayed that night, but coming into a stall with a dead lamb is always puzzling. On a brighter note, the surviving ewe lamb is already nibbling my fingers and demanding tail-waggling chest scratches. Hopefully we can find her a good home.
I finally set up a page with animals for sale. If you'd like to see pictures of this year's ewe lambs, go the For Sale tab above.
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