Much of the Same

This post has been in the works all week, and we’ve really struggled to get it done.  We had one almost spring-like day, but much of the week has looked like this.  Much like Bella, we’ve been plodding along.  The bred ewes are devouring 200 – 250 pounds of hay a day, cleaning up every last, little bit.  The hogget ewes are growing out and have been very entertaining of late when we arrive to feed.  Running through the snow, jumping up and down, they bring a smile and sometimes we can’t help but laugh out loud.  And, of course that brings us to the barn cats.  They are always eager to provide entertainment.   The latest toy has been a discarded box that has received so much cat love, we’re reluctant to throw it away.
Hope you’re having a wonderful morning, and not digging out from under too much snow.

Days Five through Eighteen

With apologies to both the reader and our wonderful breeding ewes, we are sharing these days of the lambing season in a slide show.  We still have one straggler.  Hebe has not yet lambed, but here are the rest of the 2012 lambs. Each ewe and their lambs are very different… some ewes won’t eat for hours, others get up and eat between every contraction… really every birth has its own story… here are just a few…
Julie and Jill each had their second twin almost two hours after the first; Julie having her first at 10 p.m. and her second at 11:55 p.m., coming within 5 minutes of being our first ewe to have lambs born on two different days.
Rosey and Princess had their lambs right beside each other in the barn, each continuing to try to take the other’s lamb because that was the first one seen after that final push.
Athena’s second-born whose sack did not open at all, hit the ground fully enclosed and had to have it torn open; had taken a breath inside, had to be worked on for nearly an hour; but is doing great after spending days under the heat lamp.
Meara pushed out her first water bag at 12:30 a.m. but did not get her first twin pushed out until 5:15 a.m.; allowing the shepherdess to enjoy both the gigantic full moon and a beautiful foggy, pink dawn.  Her lambs were perhaps our most vigorous, loudly baaing before their back legs were fully pushed out.
Hera, our mother of several sets of twins and two sets of triplets, had a big, single ram this year; all the way at the bottom of the hill… again.
For the shepherdess/s, each birth is a miracle… when the lamb hits the ground, takes that first breath, lifts its little head and shakes it, then that first baa… oh my… sometimes we see it, sometimes we only hear it if the lambing field is really busy, but each time it is a tug at your heartstrings… a miracle.

More… Anticipation

We are oh so very close… the expectant mamas are spending their time eating and resting.  Everyone gets up and down a little gingerly, a little more slowly.  Second cutting hay and a little corn and oats have been added to their feed schedule.  We’ve been adding apple cider vinegar to their water on these unusually warm April days. 

Bets are on…
who will have twins… almost all of them look like they are carrying twins
will Hera have triplets or maybe Athena will this year… Julie looks awfully big, maybe she will have triplets…
who will go first… will it be Daisy, whose udder is gigantic… or will it be Maibh or Sweet Pea

So go the days leading up to the first lamb hitting the ground… questions swirling around inside the shepherdess/s heads…. conversations held in the pasture and in the barn.  Anticipation… yes… great anticipation.

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