Feeding time… apologies for the quality… had a lot of help from (the not so little anymore) Mr. 1001, who thinks he is the center of the universe, and constantly has to remind the shepherdess/s of this fact.
Tag: lambs
Good Morning Lambs
We never tire of seeing these happy faces in the morning. Seeing them come up over the hill in the early morning light, the shiny lustre of their beautiful wool; hearing them answer our “C’mon Sheep” makes our hearts sing.
Good morning lambs.
The Littlest Triplet
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.
Scoring the Lambs
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.
Settling In
The lambs are doing well in their new pasture. Only one breakout – the first night – when they went either through or over a portion of the fence. A double fence has been put in that corner now. They have quieted down and are falling into the morning and evening routine of coming for a little corn and oats and the counting of the lambs. Only one moment of panic so far when 14 of them hid in the shelter at the bottom of the hill; which, of course, was the last place we looked for them. We will bring them back to the barn on Saturday to do a FAMACHA check and check their condition.
The ewes have also settled down and are enjoying their (well deserved) rest and relaxation in the back pasture.
{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
Lambs Wool
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| Cassidy’s girl |
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| Lucy’s girls |
The lambs are growing beautifully *knocks on wood* although looking a little bedraggled from all the storms we have had. Weaning is on the schedule for early Monday morning. It is always a big day for everyone. The lambs always seem to develop more of their own personalities after moving in to their own pasture.
As you can see in the picture below, their wool is also becoming quite lovely. We are really looking forward to a wonderful wool crop come fall.
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| beautiful locks – click – to make bigger |
Lena’s 4-H Market Lambs
Lena’s 4-H market lambs were shorn and taken to Kingwood for the weigh-in. This information will be used to determine the ‘rate of gain’ winners at the Buckwheat Festival this fall.
The daily walking of the lambs has begun.
Creep Feeding
For the first time we have installed a ‘creep feeder’ for the lambs. It has an adjustable gate that allows only the lambs and the smallest of ewes into an area with oats and corn trough feeders. They are free to…
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| go in… |
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| and go out… |
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| free to eat a bit of oats and corn without having to muscle their way in between the mamas |
In other news… Lena’s 4-H market lambs have arrived. She is off at Camp Luther this week so we will try to get her to tell you about them when she gets back.
{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.