More Lambing Photos

I am not used to pasture lambing. In a Normal Year the pasture would be wet from November through February or March. It’s hard to remember Normal Years, although the last couple were close. In those Normal Years we lambed in the barn and corral areas because the sheep aren’t on the pasture during those months. This is flat land so water doesn’t drain away—it has to percolate through the soil, and there is a clay layer here so if there is a lot of water it can stay on top for a long time. In those Normal Years, it would be mid-March to April when we put the sheep out and there are plenty of annual grasses and forbs to feed them while we’re waiting for the perennial clovers and trefoil to really start growing well. The last couple of years seemed close to normal at least compared to those previous several years of drought. So it seems strange to me to have lambs in the pasture right now and my managment is set up more for barn lambing.

On Saturday afternoon all the sheep came to the barn except for Alice who had two lambs in the farthest paddock. I needed to get them to the barn. I had to get Dan to help with this becuase Alice was too frantic if I picked up both lambs to carry them and one of them was not on it’s feet yet.

This is the view I am always checking to figure out who is going to go next and be able to put those ewes in while they are in labor. Its actually more about behavior in combination with the physical appearance.

When I went to the barn yesterday morning Ears had one lamb. She delivered two more shortly. These are BFL-X lambs and big (7.4, 10.4, and 12.8 lbs). That’s 30 pounds of lambs!

Jasmine was next with twins. I found myself mutli-tasking here. I had an upcoming Zoom class at 9 so I had arranged to Zoom with my grandkids at 8:30. I took Zoom to the barn with me and they watched one of these being born while I was trying to also watch what they were showing me.

Those lambs cleaned up nicely.

So did Ears’ lambs.

Trina was next that morning. She is just one year old right now and she had only one lamb, which is expected for a yearling.

That brings us to this morning. I’ve been watching Raquel and even put her in the night before. Her due date was a few days ago, she is an old sheep, and she has had triplets more than once, so I wanted to keep an eye on her. She had one lamb when I went out at 5:30. We now have a couple of barn cameras and I checked the camera when I woke and thought that maybe I saw something. While I was waiting for the second I walked out in back.

The ewes are usually bedded down, but they thought they were maybe getting an early breakfast so started getting up when I walked back there.

This is a common site, Amelia and her daughter from last year are often lying together.

So are Ellie and her daughter.

In the very back there was a ewe with two lambs. I was able to carry one and the ewe and other lamb followed.

Terri lambed in the afternoon. This is the first but she eventually had another. Look at those horns! These are number 26 and 27.

There is the views from the barn cameras on my iPad from earlier today. I’m heading back now because I have 3 ewes in the pens in labor.