Tag: lambs

Weekly Wrap Up

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The lineup of lamb cuteness just keeps on coming. We’ve had some challenges with these early babies and some of their mamas but we soldier on to overcome each difficulty. As you can see the rewards are well worth the effort. The barn is overflowing with lamb-love.

And speaking of soldiering on… although it is now the 29th, as in 29-Days, and we are both still on Day 16’s assignment, we are loving every minute we can devote to our secret object. No spoilers, please!

Several new projects in the fiber room – new yarn development and batt planning

To truly wrap things up – here is your moment of zen – compliments of Ivy’s little ewe, Darling.

Let’s Sum It Up

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Hadassah and her twins

Hadassah’s ram lamb and ewe lamb

Herse and her twin ewes

Maibh’s ram lamb

Matilde and her ewe lamb; Sarah and Sally

Matilde’s ewe lamb

Lambing season has come and gone, so it’s time to take a look at the numbers.  Only two of our girls chose to lamb inside the comfort of the barn, about a quarter of them moseyed down over the hill and had their little ones in the woods, while everyone else decided that the pasture was the best place to be.  Almost all the girls had early morning lambs and somehow, we miraculously got through the whole season without a single all night lambing session!

Our girls, along with new ram, Montague, and third-year ram, Frey, performed admirably.  97% of the ewes exposed to the rams had lambs.  84% of the ewes settled on the first cycle.  There were 20 singles, 15 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets resulting in a 1.47 lambing ratio.  There were 24 ewe lambs and 29 ram lambs.  37 of the lambs are white and 16 are black or silver.

Helen had the smallest lamb – a little black ram weighing 6 lbs 11 ozs.  Althea had the biggest – a big black ram weighing 14 lbs 3 ozs.  The average birth weight was 10 lbs 5 ozs.

And so, our favorite time of year has successfully come to an end… now on to the big job of taking care of everyone through the long, hot summer.

Shearing

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Saturday was shearing day, and we have been blessed with a beautiful crop of fleeces.  With the fleece off it will be easier to keep an eye on the lambs’ conditions in between our scheduled scoring days.  Saturday was chilly, damp and foggy, but the sun came out for just a little bit on Sunday.  Despite all the rain, the leaves have hung in there and fall has been just beautiful.

Late Summer

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It’s been a busy few weeks, as summer winds down and we work hard to make the most of the pasture grass.  The guard dogs and the bachelors are settled in nicely in the back pasture.

After moving and rebuilding temporary fence, the ewes are happily established in the hayfield during the day, moving into the adjoining paddock with strong perimeter fencing during the night.

Which brings us to the lambs… well the lambs are living the high life in paddock #2 of the graveyard field.  So far they are growing out nicely, and producing beautiful fleeces that are ooohed and aaahed over when they come in for scoring and testing.  They are a lovely flock.