Finally a Ewe lamb! And some new worries...

Meet Lavender, she's a strapping ewe lamb born last night as my neighbor and I were dividing up our essential oils order and raving about the scent of Hungarian Lavender. Thankfully Stan let us know that one of the ewes was pushing. I helped to pull her out after the head was delivered. I was amazed that lamb just kept coming and coming. I haven't weighed her yet, since the neighbor was witnessing the whole event and we needed to get back the oils, but I would say she was at least 10 pounds. She was up and nursing quickly and Dot was a perfect mother. I was pretty sure Dot was only going to single, I'm just very glad it was a colored ewe lamb. We're at 3 rams, and one ewe so far.
Lavender is out of Dot is my finest fleeced Shetland Mule, and Granite, our finest fleeced BFL ram. So she is 3/4 BFL, 1/4 Shetland. I may keep her.

Devlyn's fleece is really different, it's very short and feels like suede. So maybe he was more licked off when I first found him than I thought. Sorry the photo below is dark. If you biggify the photo you can see his fleece better.
And now the worries:
Tuesday night just as I was going out to check on the sheep for the night, our neighbor called to let me know that a cougar was spotted just north of us - only about 1/2 a mile or so. Yikes! Right while we're lambing... I didn't sleep well at all. It didn't help that the same night Ozzie got sprayed by a skunk, so the whole house reeked (even though he had to stay out in the garage).
I don't know how one can keep their flock safe from cougars, right now they are penned up tight to the pole building. But once they get out on grass, it could be dangerous for them.
I just hope the cougar was moving through the area and not sticking around to raise a family.

Ozzie still stinks, I think he needs another bath.

Out of the Jug

Rhyn and her lamb were able to leave the jug and enjoy the wonderful sunshine today. I need to figure out a name for this little guy. His sire is Dougal, so I want a "D" name.

A Bright New Day and a Bouncy BFL lamb

Last night I was pretty worried about Rhyn's little guy. He wolfed down 2 oz. of colostrum and 2 oz. of supplement. He was pretty noisy when I turned out the barn lights and headed in for bed.

This morning I got Stan to hold Rhyn again so her lamb could nurse. By this time her bag was fuller and it must have felt better once the pressure was relieved. She relaxed while the lamb worked on both sides. Stan had to get to work, but I stayed a little longer and watched as the little ram nursed while Rhyn munched on hay. Oh, what a relief that was! I still gave him a 2 oz bottle of supplement to make sure he'd get through until we could check in on him again at lunch time.

We only had a half hour lunch break today and thankfully the little guy would only take about an ounce of his lunchtime bottle. Now tonight after work I see that he's gotten those bouncy lamb feet. Thank heavens! And check out his alert upright ears. I'll wait until tomorrow night to dock his tail.

Rhyn is a two year old and she lambed as a yearling. It took a while to get used to that lamb too. My BFL ewes are different than my Shetlands when it comes to lambing, that's for sure. I was spoiled with the easy care Shetland ewes all these years. But I was happy that Rhyn was an attentive mother to lamb yesterday, and now that her milk is in, she's doing just fine.

One more BFL ewe to lamb here. Lanora looks like she will single too. I'm hoping for a white one and I'd like to be home when it arrives.

Our First BFL Lamb of 2009

Well I had my first day of training for the 2010 Census job today. I'm in training all week from 8-4:30. Thankfully we had an hour lunch today so I ran home to check on Delia (a Shetland mule). She looked dropped to me this morning and her bag is pretty full.

Everyone looked fine, so I tossed in some hay and topped off their water before heading back to training about 12:45. When I got home at 4:45 I went out to feed the ewes their grain. Things get really chaotic when I dish up the grain and distribute it -- certainly no place for a newborn lamb to be.
As I brought grain outside for 10-year-old Cordelia and the two bred ewe lambs, I thought to myself that Derra's lambs sounded really upset. Then I saw Derra's lambs quietly frolicking outside. That's when I realized we had a newborn lamb.

I raced back inside and saw a little black lamb standing there bawling, quite a set of lungs on that one! He was dry, but he hadn't been licked clean. I looked for Delia. Oh-oh, her bum was clean, it wasn't hers. Then I saw Rhyn turn around to talk to the lamb and sure enough, it was hers.
Unfortunately she was way too occupied with the food and didn't follow me as I put the poor little fellow in the jug.

He's a little guy only 8.5 pounds. I thought there had to be a twin around somewhere. I searched outside but only found the placenta out in the paddock.

His mouth was cold, so I knew he hadn't nursed yet. I tried to strip her teats, but she's very sensitive and I had to get Stan to hold her. We let the lamb nurse for a bit, and I gave him 4 ounces of a lamb supplement too. She's definitely claiming him, that's good. But she's not ready to let him nurse yet. I checked his teeth for sharp points, none that I could feel. She's not engorged at all, so that shouldn't the problem. I'm going to give him some colostrum from the freezer tonight before I go to bed and hope that by morning, she's letting him nurse.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Derra's black lamb is very laid back. He doesn't get too excited when mom gets lost in the shuffle.
Derra's twins have been out enjoying the sunny afternoons...We've been getting lots of visitors lately...here's a shot from this morning-
Elsie and Emmy, our yearling Shetland Mules, are always the first to greet visitors. Below is a shot from Thursday,
I'm sorry to say I didn't get a photo of Tom and Debbie who visited the flock yesterday (Friday). It's been so fun to meet prospective shepherds and see the flock enjoying all the attention.

On the wool front, our latest shipment of combed top came back from Zeilinger's on Thursday. I had a batch of black with shaela done and a batch of long, silky moorit with fawn. I can't say enough good things about the turn around time for Zeilinger's and the quality of work they do. There is NO VM in the combed top, it's really nice! I got in on the 25% prepaid discount too.
Rhyn is definitely looking pregnant these days. I had her marked on the calendar to deliver today, but there's no telling when she and Lanora will lamb, except that it has to be by around April 25th.
Mabeline (on the right below) is marked down for tomorrow, but I'm sure she'll keep me guessing again this year too.

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!

April Additions

No, they're not the wooly kind, but they are pretty cool anyway. Somehow I feel better having waterfowl on the place again. Notice the pond in the background of the photo above? Once they get used to being here, I'll let them go down there.

I was surfing through Craiglist the other night and found an ad for Brown Chinese geese. They were 4-H projects last summer and won purple. When I found out I could take a trio rather than two pairs, I was pretty happy. They have been laying already, but I suspect the change of location will set them back for while.
I wonder if they have some African blood in them, notice the dewlap on the gander. And one of the geese looks like a Pomeranian cross. I don't care, I'm just looking forward to them hatching out some goslings and having Christmas goose next year.

The rams and chickens were taken aback by these newcomers and their hissing when they arrived yesterday, but all are getting along fine now.

Here is a shot of Derra's bag three days ago, I swear she is ready to pop!