Lambing Conclusions...

As luck would have it, lambing concluded yesterday while I was out of town. Lambing season was supposed to start March 28th and end April 20th. The season's length was pretty typical, beginning with Ella lambing April 1st and ending with Mary lambing April 19th. We had a total of 13 lambs born: six rams and seven ewes. All are thriving, even the bottle fed ewe.

Some additional stats:
Colors: 4 white, 1 black, 3 gray, 1 moorit, 4 musket

Weights: 5 lbs to 9 lbs

Multiples: 2 singled, 4 twinned, 1 tripled

Lambs sired by Allante: 7 (3 rams, 4 ewes)
Lambs sired by Deane: 6 (3 rams, 3 ewes)


 Introducing...

Ewe #1
White ewe (BBB?/AaA?)
Ella x Allante
4/1

Incredibly soft, even fleece on this ewe. Nice wide stance and nicely shaped tail. Tempted to keep this one...

SOLD





Ewe #2
White ewe (B?B?/AaA?), with phaeo markings
Ella x Allante
4/1

Equally soft, even fleece as her sister. Adorable phaeo markings will fade as she ages. Feminine features and a narrower build than her sister. Very mild mannered. 

Available - $275




Ram #1
Gray, blettet ram (BBB?/AgAa)
Cali x Deane
 4/4

A very friendly ram lamb. He would make an excellent wether. Black fleece will fade to gray as he ages. Phaeo tipped ears will come and go with the seasons. Horns look to be growing outward. Would make a decent ram if he wasn't so friendly! 





Ewe #3
Gray ewe (BBB?/AgAa)
Cali x Deane
4/4

Just as friendly as her brother. Her black fleece will fade to a dark gray. Not a super crimpy fleece, but could change as she ages like her mother. Great Shetland tail and nicely put-together conformation.









Ewe #4
White ewe (BbB?/AaA?)
Madeleine x Allante
4/8

One of three, this girl doesn't miss a beat. She much more adventurous than her brothers and has quite the personality. A sweet little ewe with great conformation and soft fleece. This ewe will not be for sale.





Ram #2
Musket ram (BbB?/AgAa)
Madeleine x Allante
4/8

This boy won't be siring any lambs, but he has a beautiful fleece. Always on the move, thus the horrible photo!







Ram #3
White ram (BbB?/AaA?)
Madeleine x Allante
4/8

Always by his sister's side, this ram is a leggy boy. Beautiful white fleece, this boy would make a nice fiber pet as a wether. Very mild mannered.

Ram #4


Grey ram (BBB?/AgAa)
Myra x Deane
4/12

A very quiet boy with a cute face.

Ewe #5
Musket, krunet ewe (BbBb/AgAa)
Myra x Deane
4/12

Twin to the above ram, this ewe is just adorable. Flashy highlights mark her throat and underside, complete with a white star on the top of her head. Very nice conformation.  This ewe will not be for sale.

Ram #5
Black, krunet ram (BBB?/AaAa)
Lucy x Allante
4/15

This big boy is always right by his mother. At nine pounds, he was ready to join the flock after just a day. 

Ewe #6
Moorit, krunet ewe (BbBb/AaAa)
Shelly x Allante
4/18

This tiny girl has incredibly consistent, crimpy, soft, red-brown fleece. At just under five pounds, she's our smallest lamb of the season, out of a very petite two-year-old. More info to come...

SOLD

Ram #6
Musket, sponget ram (BbBb/AgAa)
Mary x Deane
4/19

This incredibly flashy boy is super soft. Fleece spots will most likely fade to cream and blend with the white. Too long of a tail to sire any lambs, but a fun boy to look at!

Ewe #7
Musket, krunet ewe (BbBb/AgAa)
Mary x Deane
4/19

This poor ewe was rejected by her mother; a first in 96 lambs! A nice silvery musket, her fleece will fade to a gray-tan as she ages. She's thriving on a bottle and enjoys following our dog, Gus, around. Soft fleece, and a real snuggle-bug, but a very long tail. Would make a great pet.


Available - This ewe was bottle fed and is very friendly. $275





Decisions on which lambs will be for sale are not yet finalized. Lambs listed as Holding have interested buyers. Please be patient as I make careful selections. Some ewes will make great breeding stock, others lovely pets; please consider your flock's goals before making decisions.

Myra's Twins

It's all in the drop. After watching Myra bag up over the last two weeks, I would have anticipated lambs any day if it had not been for last year's post. Apparently she just fills up slowly, keeping me on edge for a very long time. What was obvious, thankfully, was her barrel drop: that distinct hollowing of the sides just behind the ribs and in front of the knee. Yesterday afternoon she was still eating and chewing her cud, perhaps laying down more than usual, but otherwise normal. Had it not been for the barrel drop and a distinctly raised tail head, I wouldn't have guessed she'd lamb overnight. In fact, I wasn't even sure she'd lamb last night, but I didn't want her outside in the cold rain and snow. I moved her to the delivery stall before closing up the barn, but I half expected her to stay there for a day or two before anything really exciting happened.

When I went to the barn at 6:30 this morning, there she was standing over mostly dried twins. Since she hadn't passed the afterbirth, they couldn't have been more than an hour or two old, and they were clearly still damp and new to nursing. Myra was very protective, but I was able to grab a few photos and give them a quick check.

The grey ram has a few white fibers on his head and behind his armpit, otherwise he's solid grey. He weighed 8 pounds this afternoon, so he was also a big boy! He's a little less flashy than Cali's ram, but he's a curious little one.







The ewe is moorit (or musket - not sure yet), and looks like a partial gulmoget (light under body from chin through tail). She doesn't have the typical eye markings of a gulmoget, and her stripe breaks between her throat to her front legs. The fact that she's moorit means her father is BBBb (black based but carries moorit). She is so soft and sweet and has already come up to me and stood for some scratches. She's smaller than her brother, but was still a solid 6.5 lbs. I'm not sure I can part with this ewe. Her markings are spectacular and I haven't retained a ewe out of Myra yet.


 As for the remaining ladies, I think it will be at least a week. It looks like the other three all still have a while to go. My guess is Mary will twin, Lucy will single and then Shelly will single last. Jeanne is not bred. 

Madeleine's Triplets

Madeleine and her triplets: white ewe, musket ram, white ram.

Lamb #1: white ewe.

Lamb #2: musket ram.

Lamb #3: white ram.

Myra's next?

Lucy (back), Shelly (front) and Mary (right).

Patience, my dear...

After two days of watching Cali closely, she finally had twin lambs this morning when I went to the barn. On Saturday Cali was starting to stare off and isolate herself from the other ewes. Her udder was HUGE and she looked like she had dropped some. I wasn't convinced she would lamb that day, but there were wind advisories and the temperature was threatening to drop to the low teens. I moved the white lambs to the lambing jug and gave Cali the delivery stall, and then I waited. No signs of active labor before bed made me question my decision to lock her up, but given the predicted wind chills I hated the thought of waking up to frozen lambs.

Sunday morning I checked her stall and there she was, staring up at me with big tired eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept all night, and the bedding looked untouched. I gave her some new hay and she nibbled a bit, then she went back to standing and watching me. I decided it would be awhile before lambs, and I really hated the thought of her penned up - although this stall is at least eight by eight - so I let her back in the pen with the other expecting ewes. She ran outside and stood there. The other ewes followed and then started harassing her. Head butt here, side shove there - no good. She just didn't seem to have the energy to say, "Hey, knock it off!" So I brought her back inside to the delivery stall. That's when the real waiting began.

For most of the day I checked on her every two hours. By 3 o'clock she had started digging holes. I saw her lay down once and grimace as her udder bulged from between her legs. She stood up. She didn't eat, except maybe a blade or two of hay. Her tail head was raised. She yawned. She arched her back. She looked like she was in early labor. She was uncomfortable. It was cold out - bitterly cold. The wind blew and snow squalls came through all afternoon. I was cold and went back inside.

For the next three hours I set my timer and checked on her every half hour. I wanted to see lambs, but I really wanted to make sure the lambs were dried off quickly due to the weather. I usually don't worry about the moms getting their lambs dry, but Cali had been so big that I wasn't sure if she would have two large lambs or three small ones. What if there were three and she couldn't dry them all in time? I was home and able to help, so I thought it made sense to keep a close eye on her. Every time I went out I saw more of the same: Cali standing in the stall looking up at me with big eyes. Then she started to lick herself obsessively. She cried to her lambs and licked her forelegs. She licked as if she were drying off a new wet lamb, but she was licking herself. The only way I could get her to stop was if I talked to her, and then she talked back. I kept getting the distinct feeling that she wanted me to leave, or she wanted me to stay, or she didn't know what she wanted except for the whole process to be over with.

By dinner I decided I needed to set my timer to one hour. I couldn't keep interrupting her. She wasn't progressing. After dinner there was progress: her stall was a complete disaster! She was in active labor, right? She had clearly dug holes in the bedding - usually a sign lambs are just an hour away. But there she was, standing in the back corner of the stall looking away from me. She just stood there. No more progress. At least she had stopped licking herself! She was quiet again and I starting thinking I'd have to wait til morning for lambs. I left again, promising I'd be back only once more before bed.

When I went out just after nine, the holes were more visible, but so was her exhaustion. Her back legs quivered periodically and I couldn't tell if it was from standing all day or because it was so cold. She looked like she had a massive hangover and had given up. She had been standing all day, not touched her water once and barely eaten a few handfuls of hay. I offered her grain, which she enthusiastically gobbled down. A few handfuls and I turned off the lights. "Good luck, good girl. I'll be back in the morning." She needed solitude. In an attempt to help, I had clearly made her day longer and unnecessarily stressful. It was time to give her the quiet time she needed to bring her babies into the world.

I woke up once in the middle of the night and contemplated venturing out to the barn. I quickly convinced myself that would be a horrible idea for both of us. So at six o'clock, I finally bundled up like it was February, and walked out to the barn. Thankful to be awake to see the brilliant orange sky over the newly illuminated Kilkenny mountains, I was optimistic I would find new lambs by Cali's side. As I crawled under the barn door to quietly sneak in, I heard the distinctive cry of a new lamb followed by the low grumbles of a very protective mama. I peaked into the stall and saw Cali standing there, just how I had left her the night before, this time with two new lambs by her side.

The ram lamb was HUGE! He was completely dry and was clearly the first born. It's no wonder she labored all day and through the night; he was nearly nine pounds! The ewe looked so petite next to him, but she was still a very sizeable seven pounds. Just as I had predicted in my last post, she had very large twins.

Meanwhile, I got to spend a lot of quality time with Ella's ewes. They are SO soft and have such beautiful fleeces. The taller one is also quite friendly and comes to the gate for scratches. She even stays still for my two-year-old!

The grass is green, the lambs are white...

The warm temperatures and steady rains turned the fields green today, and Ella had her third set of twins - white ewes! Our first lambs of 2016 sired by our first white ram and they're both white! The ewe on the right was born first and has a small black dot (barely visible here) on her left front leg above her hoof. The second born is very tall  with a small brown spot on her rump and another above her right eye. This one has an especially perfect Shetland tail and is a very quiet lamb. Her sister is curious but also a bit feistier. Both have beautifully even crimpy fleeces, and I can't wait for them to be fluffy and dry so I can get a real feel of their fleeces. Since these are our first white lambs, and since Ella is one of my favorite ewes, I may have to keep one - but I can't keep both!

As for the other ladies...
Cali has really filled in the last 24 hours. She may go before the end of the weekend, or she may be like her mother, Crystal, and have a large udder for weeks before lambing. I bet by Tuesday she'll have lambs. After looking at these pictures this evening, I'm guessing she just has twins. We'll know for sure soon enough!














Madeleine (right) is still huge, but her udder's still small. Her udder is gradually growing, but no drastic expansions yet. Not many changes with this girl.

Myra (left) is also pretty stagnant. She continues to look uncomfortable, but that udder is really staying the same.

I still think Lucy (left) and Mary (right) will wait until the end, although Mary's udder does seem to be filling during the past two days. She's also allowed me to scratch her for the first time and has almost taken grain from my hand! At three, she's finally showing signs of progress. This girl has such great fleece and conformation that I was never willing to part with her, even if she was a bit skittish. I'm glad to see she's finally coming around.




Shelly and Jeanne are very hard to get good photos of. Shelly definitely has an udder, Jeanne still has no signs of one. I haven't given up on Jeanne completely, but if there's no udder by next week I'll assume she was left open. If she was, I'll have to beg someone to take her - she's so flighty!