Full Moon

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Despite the full moon, there were no lambs born yesterday.  The ewes spent most of the day in the pasture in a seemingly meditative state soaking up the sun, and of course eating… there’s a lot of eating going on. 

We moved three groups of lambs and their mamas out to the nursery paddock, where they enjoyed getting to know their older cousins, running, jumping and exploring.

All this lack of cooperation inactivity on the ewe’s part, gave us the opportunity to clean out the barn, move some things around and set up additonal lambing jugs.  So in answer to Boo’s Mom’s question yesterday, here’s a little more about jugs. A lambing jug is a small pen where the ewe and lambs are moved shortly after birth.  Unless there is a problem or really bad weather, we usually wait until after the lambs are up and have eaten.  This short confinement (usually two or three days) promotes bonding and gives us the opportunity to watch for any problems the ewe or lamb may experience in those first few days.  After using old wooden pallets and assorted other recycled items, we have slowly invested in this system of welded wire panels and connector hinges.  They are very sturdy and easy to climb in and out of.  They allow us to use our barn space more efficiently as they can be quickly put up, taken down, moved or reconfigured..

Hebe, Patience and their twins are the only occupants at the moment.  They’re getting lonely… come on girls, let’s get moving.

Keeping Watch

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It was another quiet day on the lambing front.  Hebe had a wonderful set of twins, a ram weighing 9 lbs 14 ozs and a ewe weighing 10 lbs.  The old pro that she is, Hebe had the little ewe standing up while her first born was beginning to nurse.  She is a great mama.
A large storm front moved through late afternoon with fierce winds, thunder, lightning and a lot of rain.  By that time Hebe and the twins were settled quite nicely in the barn, snug in their lambing jug.

Just as we waited on the storm yesterday, we feel we’re waiting on another… a lamb storm.  As we keep watch over the bulging bellies and swelling udders, the number of ewes that could go anytime keeps mounting.  Here’s hoping all those lambs don’t decide to come at once.

Meanwhile Back in the Barn

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Spring has definitely sprung in our little corner of the world.  The redbuds are beautiful lining the river road.  The coltsfoot that provided that very first pop of roadside color have given way to the soothing white of the bloodroot, and coming up Rowlesburg hill the trilliums, both red and white, provide a blanket of blooms on the hillside.

Meanwhile, back in the barn, things are slowly moving along.  On Monday, Sweet Pea had beautiful lincoln-cross twins, a ewe weighing 11 lbs 5 ozs and a ram weighing 11 lbs 9 ozs.  Patience, not to be out done, also had a beautiful set of twins; a ram weighing 11 lbs 10 ozs and a ewe weighing 10 lbs 12 ozs.  She had them at the bottom of the hill, but kindly brought them almost to the top.  They were so cute following her up the hill.

We worked in the barn most of yesterday afternoon, moving things around and setting up additional lambing jugs.  So, in a very ‘be careful what you wish for’ kind of way, we are wishing that lambing kicks up into a little bit higher gear.  After all, we have four empty lambing jugs in the barn.

Lambs in the Field

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It was a busy weekend full of fence building, jug mucking, pasture walking and a whole lot of watching spring unfold before our very eyes.  We built a new paddock and moved the first four lambs and their mamas in, along with Liam.  He is kind of overwhelmed by the small, noisy creatures, but has been very patient. 

Only one new lamb so far today.  Little Miss 1307 was born about 4 a.m. out of Maibh and Aragorn and weighed 13 lbs 8 ozs.  She is a beauty.
To say the least, there is a whole lot of excitement going on!

Much Ado about Something

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There has been much picture taking, discussion and general excitement on the farm today; excitement that actually started 2 years ago with a 4-H market lamb.  Bella placed very well at the Buckwheat Festival that year and was bought and given back to Lena to return to the farm flock. Lena decided to try breeding her (a Suffolk/Hampshire cross) to our Border Leicester ram to see what type of lambs would result, and if they would be anyways close to being a festival worthy market lamb, putting her with Liam earlier than our regular breeding season to get an appropriate aged lamb. As they say…the best laid plans often go awry. Bella ended up getting marked 3 breeding cycles…possible because of an oversite by us not realizing that Sampson, being the protective guard dog that he is, may not have been allowing proper breeding activity.

Well. today they arrived, the long awaited:

Two of the cutest little ‘mule’ ewes we have had ! Weighing in at 7 lb 10 oz and 6 lb 10 oz.

 
There has been a lot of excited talk and picture exchanging about the new ones….name discussions, buying offers, …
Freckles and Speckles?  Alice and Renesmee?
 
Whatever their resulting names…those adorable spotted faces are sure to bring smiles to many.
 
We will be keeping a close eye on their progress over the next few months. Another ‘donated back to exhibitor’ market lamb, Katniss, awaits to be bred this fall. 
 
 

Sunday Muse

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The deer come
to your grave each night
and if we have left flowers
they taste them.

This dying as buds
swell on the tall camellia,
songbirds returning
to wet shrubs in the field.

I brought you a Psalm
a song, a poem. We sing
our voices following you
for all of our lives.

~ This Dying for SHB by Dennis Bleything

The old fence is long gone, but the arch over the front steps still stands as a proud sentinel, pointing to the heavens, watching over our loved ones, still welcoming those who come to pay their respects, comforting those who perhaps linger a little longer, weeping.

Weekly Top Shot