Tag: ewes

Saturday in the Pasture

Sheeps & Peeps7 Comments

A foggy, early morning greeting at the barn was followed by a most enthusiastic group of lambs coming into the barn for FAMACHA scoring.  We have been lucky that this year’s lambs come right in, all the way into the barn without requiring one of the shepherdess/s becoming a border collie.

Once we finished the scoring, we thought we better separate the yearling ewes from Liam before they begin cycling, and we were surprised next spring by very early lambs. 

That went very smoothly, except for Larry and Moe who were left behind with Liam.  They spent much of the day walking the fence line; trying to figure out why they weren’t allowed to join the others.  They finally gave up and settled under a shade tree.

The yearling ewes moved through the pasture in a huddled group for awhile, but in no time at all were grazing right along side the breeding ewes, happy in their new paddock.

After Weaning

Sheeps & Peeps2 Comments

The ewes’ lambing chores are done for another year, and their job now is to regain strength and condition.  It has still been pretty hot and muggy for them so they spend much of the day under the trees.  They come out for brief periods of the day but do most of their eating at night and in the early morning.  We are feeding them about a bale of hay a day, as the pasture is still growing slowly even after the recent storms.  The shepherdess/s’ job is to keep an eye on them to make sure they are all recovering from the big job of raising their lambs, and that everyone is drying up without complications.
The lambs are already becoming much more independent.  They have been moved to the cleanest and greenest pasture on the farm.  Hay was made here in early June and nothing has been on it since late March.  The lambs are now scattered all over the field in small groups when grazing, but are quickly learning to come when they hear the call “C’mon sheep!”  We scored them again on Saturday, and all but three’s scores were satisfactory.  Those three were marked with chalk on their rears so that we can easily spot them in the field and keep an eye on them.  It is very rewarding observing the lambs growing and developing their unique personalities.  It’s lamb watching time, once again. 

Weaning Day

Sheeps & Peeps8 Comments

The lambs seldom nurse and have become much more independent; some days spending more time with other lambs than with their mamas.  All of the lambs are now over 60 days old.  Those precious moments between mama and lamb are over until next spring.  It’s weaning day.  Each lamb is weighed and given advice ~ “Be brave.”  “Be strong.”  “Don’t let the bigger lambs pick on you.”
“Don’t worry,” we tell the mamas, “we’ll take good care of your little ones.  We love them too.” 
As always, barncat Davita is right in the middle of all the action, doing her best to help with the record keeping.  One by one we work our way through the lambs and ewes.  The ewes out the side door and in to a moving lane, going to the pasture by the knoll.  The lambs will go out through the corral and on to the graveyard field.  There are two paddocks and four fences in between them.  Even so the next couple days are full of separation anxiety and they can be quite determined to get back together. 
It is a bittersweet day, but new friendships will be formed, old alliances will be re-kindled.  In a few days… all will, once again, be quiet in the pasture.

First Shots

Sheeps & Peeps5 Comments

This beautiful, pastoral scene… ewes and lambs peacefully grazing… is really quite different from the activity on the farm just a few hours earlier.  Let’s rewind…
We rounded up all the ewes and lambs bright and very early yesterday morning (that was a zoo, there should have been a movie made) and brought them back to the barn for a health check-up.  We herded them through a moving lane we put up on the outside of the perimeter fencing the night before.  It took three of us (Thanks, Mom!), two on the inside and one on the outside.  Once, again, the shepherds’ crooks were invaluable.  We did FAMACHA checks on the ewes; most were twos, but we had a few we needed to worm.  The lambs received their first CD-T shots, FAMACHA checks and tail checks. 
We have had a problem with fly-strike this year at the tail docking area… the very thing we are trying to prevent by docking their tails.  We’ve never had this problem before.  (It’s probably a result of the unusually mild winter; the flies are bad already this year.  Has anyone ever tried Fly Parasites?)
Everyone behaved very well in the barn and were very relaxed and quiet.  That was wonderful because it made everything go pretty smoothly.  After the shepherdess/s did some re-hydrating, we all headed back out the barn door, but to a new pasture.  The ewes and lambs are now in the knoll pasture.  It was very noisy for several hours as it took quite awhile for the mamas and little ones to find each other again.  But everything has quieted down and they seem quite happy, once again.
(If you’re new to our blog, you may be wondering about the farming detail in some of our posts.  We began our blog as a farm journal, somewhere we can go to quickly find… when did we do that? what did we do?  We keep very detailed paper records also, but we can access this from basically anywhere… even in the field on our phones 🙂

Yearling HiJinks

Sheeps & Peeps5 Comments

The yearling ewes are spending their time getting fat and sassy, awaiting their new roles as breeding ewes come fall.  For now, they are carefree and full of teenage fun.   They observe all the excitement going on in the adjoining pasture, and sometimes they just can’t help but join in when the lambs start their running games. 

It’s very entertaining to watch them running… bucking… kicking their heels… soaring through the air.  Then, almost as quickly as it begins… there they are again standing at the fence, once again observing life in the adjoining pasture, just as if nothing had happened.  This group of young ladies are growing out very well, and are really quite beautiful.  They are the future of the flock.