The Business of Barn Swallows

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We have been so lucky to have a huge flock of barn swallows visiting the pastures every evening.  It is so pleasant to watch them swoop and glide through the paddocks eating hundreds of mosquitos, gnats, etc.  They gather on the roof line, and almost like synchronized swimmers, they dive off and go about their business vacuuming the bugs from the air.  In about an hour, they are done and fly off; only to reappear like clockwork the next evening.

The Littlest Triplet

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When all the rest of the lambs were weaned, little miss 1122 stayed with her mama, Hera.  They are still in their own little paddock where they can receive extra corn and oats, and attention.  The smallest and the last of the triplets to be born, 1122 came into this world backwards, rear end first and honestly has had somewhat of a hard time from the beginning.  Always less aggressive than her brothers, we have been supplementing her with a bottle.  She is still quite small.  Hopefully with some extra time, on her own, with Mama she will be able to catch up to the rest of the lambs.

Our Girls Love a Parade

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The ewes consider any visit to their paddock, a great occasion, and they will come parading out of the woods to prove it.  Yes, our girls sure seem to love a parade!   
The ewes are regaining condition… enjoying their quiet time in the back paddock before the breeding cycle starts all over again.
We have all been spending a lot of time in the shade; doing as many chores as possible at daybreak and dusk. Finally, yesterday, we were treated to a little break in the heat and humidity.

Scoring the Lambs

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We brought the lambs back to the barn very early Saturday for FAMACHA scoring.  This is a system that uses a chart to evaluate the mucous membranes of the lower eyelid to show the presence of anemia, an indicator of barber pole worms, the primary parasite in our area.  We also evaluate their body condition, general appearance and behavior.  We record the results on charts so that we can track the health condition of each lamb.  They each get a bright blue chalk mark on the top of the head after checking.
We were really pleased with the results, given the extreme heat we have been experiencing and that weaning occurred about two weeks ago.  Almost 25% of the lambs scored 1 (highest), and we only needed to worm about 10% of them.  Not a single lamb scored below 3 (4 and 5 are considered cause for alarm).  Hopefully the rest of the summer will go as well.  This is a very pretty group of lambs.