Our First Lambs of 2009

Yesterday was Derra's due date. In the morning I noticed she had a bit of discharge and she looked smaller - not so much like a hot air balloon. I headed off to work thinking for sure there would be lambs when I got home. Nope.

This afternoon she hung back and didn't get up when I went out there. I noticed a little more mucous discharge. But when I fed the flock she got right in there to eat.

After supper I checked the barn cam and noticed her digging in the corner of the barn - finally! She didn't lay down though, she went back outside. So I gathered the lambing bucket supplies: the scissors, iodine, towel, camera and sheep book.

Then the door bell rang. It was Jeannine, a gal I used to work with at the orthodontist office. She was out on her evening walk and decided to stop in and see if we had any lambs yet - her granddaughter has been talking about seeing lambs when she comes to Mora for Easter.

Talk about perfect timing! Sure enough, by the time we got out there, a white ram lamb was being licked off. We watched as ram lamb number two arrived, this one was black (English Blue pattern) and smaller than the first. Derra was pretty focused on the white one and Hattie came along to lick off the black one. It was time for me to set up the jug and move the family inside the barn.
Thankfully Jeannine stuck around to help me weigh the newborns after clipping and dipping and stripping. The white one was 9 pounds, and the black one was 6 pounds. They are 3/4 BFL, 1/4 Shetland.
I would say Jeannine would make a fine shepherdess, the sheep really liked her!