Lambs for Sale

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.

Loads of Lambs

Lambing re-cap...

Wednesday: Madeleine had triplets with one surviving ram lamb. He's a spotted musket.

Thursday: Poa had twin black ewe lambs in the morning.

 

Maggie had twin black ewe lambs in the afternoon.

Friday: Kira had triplets awaiting at 5:30 am - two rams and one ewe. The two spotted ones have sugar-lips and should be musket.

The ewe thought it would be easier to nurse laying down.
 




By 7:00 am Claire had delivered a ram and a ewe. Her non-bred sister Annie was by her side as she delivered.

 

Saturday: Wynona had twin ewes outside! The girls each weighed 8 lbs, which I guess is why I thought she'd have triplets. All the other lambs are averaging 5.5 lbs. She had one solid black and one solid brown. Pictures to come soon.
 
Two to go (and they're both past the due-date)...

Total Count: 12 lambs - 4 rams, 8 ewes
Colors: 5 black, 7 moorit based (1 mioget, 3 musket, 1 fawn, 3 moorit)
Spots: 6 spotted, 6 solid
Weights: 4.5-6 lbs

I'm hoping there are 5 more lambs to come and that they're all rams! There are too many cute ewes with perfect tails and sweet faces. Many of these girls will have to find new homes or else I'm going to have some REALLY hard decisions to make. 

Lambing Begins - Day 163

Which ewe lambed first? One lambed today and these pictures are from Sunday. Just see if you can guess...

Top row: Crystal, Poa, Maggie
Bottom row: Kira, Madeleine, Edna

Well, it certainly wasn't Edna or Poa, the two I predicted would be first. And if you can believe it, the first one had triplets! No, it wasn't Crystal or Kira. Look in the center of the bottom row. Yes, Madeleine had TRIPLETS just three days after this pictures was taken. She has barely an udder and barely a barrel. This was her first lambing. It is very easy to see just why only one survived - a 5 lb ram lamb. The other two were smaller, and with today's wintery temperatures and biting winds it's a surprise that one is thriving. Mom and lamb are snuggled under a heat lamp and doing just fine.

Poa has been moved to her own private stall after an afternoon of nesting and looking quite uncomfortable. She's dropped and her udder is definitely full. Maybe there will be lambs before bed.

Wynona is actually starting to fill and may not be last this time after all.

I've re-calculated the last possible day (day 152 post ram removal) to be next Thursday. So in one week we should have the other seven ewes with lambs. This is going to be one busy week! Photos will come with the new lambs.

Day 150

The average gestation length for Shetlands is approximately 147 days. The only ewe I've ever been able to track is Clover, (because Shetlands like their privacy,) who twice lambed at 149 days. Today is day 150 and not a single ewe looks close to lambing. However, I did witness Cedar mounting at least one ewe the day he was to leave, but that was at the far edge of the field, so I have no idea who is actually expected to lamb on April 6th (147 days from that date). Given that the ewes tend to cycle in groups, I suspect that several of the girls will be lambing in April, and we waited just long enough for him to get the job done. Judging from the pictures it certainly looks like we'll be busy the first week of April.

The only ewe that I think we MAY see a lamb out of by next weekend is Edna. And I think it will be A lamb, not lambs. She is SO narrow compared to the other ewes, and her mother always carries straight out to the sides and looks uncomfortably large. Edna also seems to be acting a bit strange, secluding herself from the flock and staying in the barn most of the day. I'll have to keep an eye on the weather, because with low temperatures and a snow storm predicted, I'd hate to have her lamb outside.

My next bets are on Maggie and Crystal, both of whom I think will lamb the week before Easter. 

Although...Poa may beat one of them to it. Poa looks like she's about 10 days to two weeks from lambing.

Kira looks like she'll go at Easter. This is what she looked like 2 weeks prior to lambing triplets last year. She and Poa lambed within 24 hours of one another, so my guess is they'll be pretty close again this year.

Wynona's always last. My guess is this year will be the same.

The only two ewes that may lamb after her are Madeleine and Claire. Neither have much of an udder, and both are still pretty narrow. It's always so hard to tell with first-timers. But Cedar did seem to be chasing several girls in those last 48 hours before his departure.

Just for comparison, here are Edna and Crystal. Crystal is huge but has a very small udder, while Edna is tiny and has a well-developing udder. 

If there are lambs before next weekend, I'll post again. If nothing exciting happens, I'll post in a week.

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.

Winter Woes

Winter is almost over, which means lambing is just around the corner. I was hoping this would be a post-shearing post, but unfortunately our shearer was badly injured last week and will be unable to take off the girls' coats prior to lambing. This has left us scrambling for an alternative, and a quick one, as lambs could be on the ground in 2 weeks from today! The nine (potentially) pregnant girls and the ten open ewes have been in the barn since Saturday, drying off and getting ready for shearing. When we finally got word of where the shearer was...well, let's just say I've been busy. I've been emailing and calling people all over the place to try to find someone who will clip our girls, and we're still keeping our fingers crossed that someone will come by the end of the weekend. We decided to kick the ten open girls out to open up more space in the barn for the bred girls, but things are still tighter than is ideal for ewes in their last trimester.

So, here are the non-bred ewes. This group includes the seven ewe lambs from last year, Clover, Mocha, and Lwaxana. These girls were hesitant to leave their mothers, but once they got out to the big field, the sight of the round bale was too much for them to resist. Haylage has been a great addition to our feeding program this winter, as it minimizes our chores and the girls get free-choice of feed. Our only challenge has been keeping the ewe lambs off of the top of the bale. I think they like to play Queen of the Mountain!

The bred girls seem to be enjoying their new indoor pen. Aside from the slight bulging here and there, it is really hard for me to see who is pregnant. Half of these girls are too leery of me for a tail lift and udder investigation, so until we get the sheared I really don't know who is expecting or when to expect.

Both Madeliene and Kira look rounded and pregnant to me. This makes sense, as I'm pretty sure I saw Cedar mount one or both of them. I'm particularly excited about their lambs, as Kira's girls are so friendly and have beautiful fleece and colorings.

Crystal does not look particularly pregnant to me. She is no where near last year's size, which is probably good since she had difficulty lambing triplets successfully.

Wynona and Poa, the old girls, look pregnant. I'd say they each have twins, or perhaps Wynona has triplets again. It's just so hard to see under all that wool!

Margaret looks like she did last year before shearing, so she probably has a few weeks to a month to go.

Then there are the newbies: Claire, Edna, and Annie. I have no idea if any of them got bred. Annie was only exposed to a ram for two days, so chances are she's not, but that ram did try awful hard! Claire has such LONG wool that I can't see anything. Maybe she has a single or twins that are a month or so out. Edna is also a big fat question mark.

If only they could get sheared I could see both their bellies and their udders! I would know! As I've said in the past, shearing day really is better than Christmas to me. Imagine if Christmas were postponed by a week, or even two! I don't know how long I can handle the suspense.

In other news, our chicken flock was rapidly decreased when a weasel, or rather three weasels, made their way into our coop this winter. Apparently we had a weasel nest out back of the barn. Our neighbor killed one, and our other neighbor's cat killed one. We lost 11 birds before Thanksgiving and exterminated two weasels. In January another weasel came back and took 14 more in one weekend! We're now down to 11 birds, including Spot, our rooster, and we're down to four eggs a day. So we've put in an order for more layers, and we should get 15 new birds in mid-May. I'm really excited about these new girls, as we are getting 11 different breeds!

As far as the weasel is concerned, he still seems to be around. Here's a picture of fresh tracks I found this morning in the driveway. At least we seem to have weasel-proofed the coop!

 And the goats are doing well...for now.

Fluctuating Flocks...

So October's come and gone, and November is half gone, too. Again, there's never a dull moment on the farm, and the past week has been no exception.

Last Saturday was slaughter day, and five ram lambs were processed on site and are now in the freezer. Their pelts are salted in preparation for tanning. Because these boys were quite shy, I wasn't able to get a sense of their wool until it came off. Overall it is much better fleece than last year with very crimpy roots and a super soft feel. I can't wait to shear the ewes in February and see the lambs in March!

Of the seven ram lambs we decided to keep two over the winter to see how they would develop. If things get out of control we can always use more burger; Shepherd's pie and curried lamb burgers - yum! If not, then we can try to sell them next year.

After being exposed to the girls for a short 23 days, Cedar was swapped for Winston, a grey ram with an impressive set of horns. While he won't get to prove his worth this breeding season, I think this ram will add great diversity to our flock and bring in some new colors. He seems to be settling in well with the wethers and ram lambs.

As for the girls, they're all grouped in our largest grouping yet - 19 sheep! Eight were exposed to Cedar, and if he was fast enough, they will lamb between March 15th and April 6th. A ninth, Annie, was exposed to Nelson (the little moorit that was held over) for 48 hours. I don't have much faith that she took, but it certainly wasn't from a lack of trying on Nelson's part. If she did, she'll be due around April 1st. The girls are getting along well, and it's so nice to have them all in one place!

So the sheep flock has certainly changed, but perhaps not as much as the chicken flock...

In the last few days we've had to remove two weasels from the barn after they'd collectively killed at least seven birds, including this year's rooster. (At least I didn't have to eat the rooster.) Ermine, weasel, what-have-you, these nasty creatures were dropping our flock numbers and out-smarting our wired coop walls. Of course they couldn't have helped us rotate our flock by knocking off the old ladies, but instead they went right for the new girls and took at least five of our pullets and yearlings. So our egg numbers are down, and now I'm not sure how many pumpkin pies I'll be able to make. I guess custards and quiches are off the menu for the foreseeable future. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there were just the two, or else we'll really be out of eggs for a while.

Time to mix things up...

I've been busy the last three days trying to get the sheep sorted and penned and ready for breeding. Since I've been working by myself, it's taken me longer than usual to get the fields in order and ready for the ram. So tomorrow is the big day when Cedar will finally get to be re-united with his ewes...that is, if all goes as planned.

When I sorted the ewes on Monday I had seven ewes mapped out for breeding, but things never seem to go as planned. (It's good to be flexible!) So Cedar will have 8 ewes this year because Poa was being a brat and apparently didn't want to be left out of the fun. As she's my second oldest ewe and she always produces correct lambs, I really didn't want to expend the energy to drag her into the non-breeding pen. Poa joins Crystal, Kira, Madeleine, Wynona, Maggie, Claire, and Edna to complete the 2012 breeding group.

When Cedar's done in mid-November I'd like to re-home him, whether it be in another flock or in the freezer. After this breeding cycle he will be too closely related to my flock, especially when it comes time for next year's breeding. He really has been well behaved, but I need to add some diversity and I just love his daughters too much. He's improved our flock so much that I really do need to sell some of the older ewes to make way for the new. He's listed on the NASSA site as registration number S30956. If anyone knows of someone looking for a ram, they can contact me at oldhomecrawford@gmail.com.

Even with all of the breeding sheep, that still leaves 4 wethers, 7 ewe lambs, 3 open adult ewes (Annie, Mocha, and Clover), and Lwaxanna, the rescue meat mutt.

The next decision is whether or not we breed the goats. I keep going back and forth on this one - to have goat cheese, or to not have goat cheese. If it were that simple it would be a no-brainer, but with the freshening and the kids and the milking, I'm not sure that I want to take on that kind of commitment.

Seasons come and go...

You can always tell the season's changing if you watch your flock. A few weeks ago I was seeing lots of lip curling from the rams (see example to the right) and head-butting between the ladies. It seems to me that the sheep can tell the seasons have shifted, which means it's time to consider who will be bred this year. I've already decided to sell Cedar after this season, as next year I will have several of his daughters to breed. I really don't like the idea of having multiple rams, so he'll have to find another home.

As for now, he's been excellent with the ram lambs. Yes, some of his sons have tried challenging him, even if they are half his size. But Cedar always responds with a quick throw of the head and they know to back down. He's even stepped in upon occasion when the brotherly fights get out of control, or when Otto tries to be the big bully wether. And his boys certainly are fond of him. Many times I've seen them rubbing their faces into his neck wool. Perhaps it's the teenage sheep version of cologne? Whatever the reason, Cedar proudly offers his scents and willingly takes the affection. 

So, on to next year's lambs. This year the process was more about who not to breed, primarily for promoting as much genetic diversity as I can using one ram. Some of my favorite girls will be sitting on the sidelines, but nevertheless I am still very excited about what lambing possibilities exist.

Crystal will be up for her third breeding here at Old Home Crawford. Last year she had twin ram HST lambs, this year twin surviving ewes (a ram lamb died at birth), and her lambs are always so friendly!

Wynona will be bred again - if she cooperates and joins the group. Two years ago she wouldn't switch pens so I had to leave her open. Last year she jumped in to the mix. Hopefully this year I can convince her it's a good idea. Her lambs are always structurally correct.  This may be her last year breeding, as she'll be 9 this year. I'm hoping for another ewe out of her. With triplets this past year, I'm hoping for at least one solid ewe out of her before she retires. Wynona is a solid moorit that carries spotting.

Maggie has been an excellent mother this year to her lambs. As Wynona's daughter, I've been pleasantly surprised by her mild manners and sweet personality. Maggie is a speckled-faced fawn who carries the HST pattern. I'm hoping she'll produce a nice HST moorit ewe for me someday.

 Kira will be bred for her third season here as well. Here ewe lambs are always so friendly, and her rams almost make great rams - if only those horns would curve a few more inches away from their faces! She is a very light grey ewe who has given us two sets of twins. Last year she has twin musket lambs, and this year she had twin grey lambs. Her lambs always have the most downy fleece with a shorter staple length. 


And this year Kira's daughter, Madeleine, will be bred. Maddie is the friendliest ewe, and is often aggressively affectionate. She always knows where the treats are and will do almost anything to get them from you. She rams other sheep out of the way if she feels she's being neglected. As a lamb she would crawl into my lap and fall asleep. This ewe really is more like a dog than a sheep. I'm excited to see what this spotted musket produces when crossed with a solid black.


The other two ewes that will be bred this year are Mocha's Edna and Poa's Claire.  Mocha and Poa will take the year off, but their daughters will continue their lines. Edna is a moorit with a white star and Claire is a mioget with white face markings. Both are yearling ewes who will be bred for the first time.

To recap, Cedar will be exposed to seven ewes again this year; however, this year there will be many more spots involved and the possibility for more colors. Most of the lambs will probably have white-spotted faces, and there is the possibility for more greys or modified colors.

Mocha, Poa, and Clover are taking the year off. Poa's other yearling ewe, Annie, will also remain open (- I think). With four ewes out of Poa in two years, I felt it was best to limit this line.

 And just because it fits the season, the dogs wanted to show off their hunter-orange outfits.