{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
{this moment}
Tag: lambs
{this moment}
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
Tending the Flock
Over the weekend, we brought the ewes and lambs from the paddock near the knoll back to the barn for CD+T vaccinations and FAMACHA checks. We brought them through a moving lane on the outside of the perimiter fence as that was the easiest and shortest route. We had one lamb escapee, but it ran alongside and found its way back in before we got everyone in to the barn. All the lambs had full bellies, and they and the ewes were ‘all present and accounted for’. We only had to treat one lamb (which may have been stress from getting its head stuck in a wire panel) and one ewe; praying that the rest of the summer goes as well!
When we finished, we made the return trip back to the knoll paddock where we had oats and corn waiting in the feeders and vinegar in the watering trough. By the way, we bought our first shepherd’s crook this spring, and we honestly don’t know how we ever got along without it. We bought a fiberglass one since it would be lighter; such a great investment!
We also moved Belladonna to the large adjoining paddock. She is very excited and happy to be right next to her charges, and she has a very large space to patrol. There are squirrels to tree, and all kinds of new things to explore.
Samson continues to guard the barn paddock where we hope to encourage Mr. Foxey Loxey to develop new stalking grounds. He is also guarding the yearlings and the triplets but more about that tomorrow.
{this moment}
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
Greener Pastures
The yearlings, wethers and ewes without lambs are busy bio-mowing a new section of the barnyard. This portion includes our dyer’s garden where they are working on the weeds and fertilizing a bit.
That accomplished, we then tackled the more complicated task of moving the ewes and their lambs into a new paddock. This proved to be somewhat comical because as soon as we opened the gate, all the mamas ran through, but the lambs… uuhhh, the lambs… uummm, only the oldest, Maebh’s ram lamb, followed.
There is definitely something wrong with this picture! Now, in the lamb’s defense… the gate is small and it no longer opens all the way (having once been knocked off its hinges by an over-enthusiastic ram), but honestly… honestly, the grass really is greener on the other side.
We decided to leave the gate open so that the ewes could sort things out, and slowly, one by one, they came back looking for their little ones; eventually coaxing their lambs through. Happily, by late yesterday, most of the families had migrated to the new paddock, and we should be able to close the gate today.
In other… really good… news…
— Poppy’s head is healing nicely and she has rejoined the yearlings in the barnyard.
— Ceres has really perked up. She is eating well and loudly greets us when we open the barn door.
Release the Bio-mowers
So… you’ve been in the peak of lambing season and barely get out of your barn clothes except to go to bed… it’s been raining cats and dogs for weeks and the grass has been growing equally as strong, What’s a shepherdess to do? Why, it must be time for the annual Release of the Bio-mowers!
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| Hestia and her girls know something is going on over there |
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| most of the mamas rush in to take advantage of the new grass |
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| some of the lambs decide to participate |
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| while most decide it’s just a good opportunity for a nap |
Summing It Up
Finally… yesterday morning, the last ewe lambed – twins – a ewe and a ram. There may be one more straggler; she shows little sign of being bred but we had the the ram lamb in with the ewes all winter so chances are she could very well be a very late lamber. We still have a few ewes and lambs to move out in the field but the majority are out of the barn and enjoying the back paddock.
We will probably keep the triplets in the barn for awhile longer in one of the bigger pens, just so we can keep an eye on them to make sure Hera is producing enough milk and all three are gaining weight.
We have two patients in the barn at the moment – poor Ceres, a two-year-old ewe, had to be taken to Kingwood to Doc and have a cesarean. She was in kind of semi-labor for about 24-hours and it turned out that she had torsion of her uterus. It was twisted 360 degrees, and that was why she did not fully go into labor. Her twin lambs were lost, and we are having some trouble getting her to eat. We try to encourage her with herbs, dandelions, clover, etc. She received quite the salad last night; it even included some violets. (Many thanks to Joe and Betsy for all their help!)
Our other patient is the yearling Poppy who somehow managed to get a 3-inch gash over and a small puncture wound under her right eye. We haven’t quite figured out what happened, but she seems to be on the mend.
Of course, now we are looking forward to filling the blog with cute lamb pictures for the next few months. They each really have a distinct personality, and they are so entertaining. The back paddock is quite noisy in the mornings and evenings. We will be watching closely to make sure they are all growing properly. Sometime in the next couple weeks, we will bring them all back to the barn for CD+T shots, etc. (If you are interested in statistics, please check the sidebar for some lambing season stats.)
{this moment}
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
Finally!
This evening after a very productive afternoon in the fiber rom, we decided to make a quick check of the field before heading to the house for dinner. All the way at the bottom of the hill, we were so excited to to find this —
There – finally – beautiful twin lambs! A wonderful white ram and a beautiful black ewe, both weighing 8 lbs 5 ozs. It took awhile to get everybody back up the hill and in the barn, but they’re all tucked in a lambing jug with second-cutting hay and a bucket of molasses-water. Julie did a great job as a first-time mama. We are so proud of her!
Spring Colours Week – White
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| helleborus – lenten rose |
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| muscari – hyacinth |
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| the youngest ovis aries |
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| Poppy – a favorite lamb picture from last spring |
Day 5 of Spring Colours Week over at Poppytalk, and the colour is white. It should come as no surprise that it was very difficult not to fill this space with pictures of lambs. Just a few days until our lambing season begins in earnest, and then the blog will indeed be filled with lambing… lambs, lambs and more lambs. The excitement is building on the farm! In the meantime, please take a look at all the lovely pictures in the Flickr pool. Many thanks to Poppytalk, Spring Colours Week has been challenging but fun!