Last lamb of the season

We had (what I believe to be) the last lamb of the season for this year. A lovely moorit ram lamb, out of Java (Windswept Ursa Minor x Bitterroot Joshua) and Kat Burglar. His name will be Jamaica. Lovely curly fleece, pretty uniform - one of the most uniform lambs of the bunch as far as fleece goes. Should be an improvement on fleece over his mother - seems all my black ewes have somewhat harsher fleeces. Kat, though, microned at 19 (as a 10 month old, I believe) - not sure where he is at now, but he is easily one of the finest fleeced animals in my flock. I can't wait to see how some of these babies turn out.

Have several kat babies that I will be keeping an eye on - Villa Hermosa, Margarita, Amalie, and Cinnamon Bay. Have already made a preliminary list of lambs I want to keep - most of the rest will be for sale. A few will be sold unregistered, including (unfortunately) my two emsket girls out of Wildthing - They both not only have fuzzy tails, but both appear to be cowhocked as well. I am definitely not happy with Morell - ended up 0 for 4 for his lambs as far as keepers go.
I am glad he didn't breed anyone else when he broke into the ewe group.

Have to work on my spots database, and see if I can add anything or prove/disprove any part of my theories. Need a lot more data before I can really do that.. Have a lot of data to add that came from Stephen this morning (thanks Stephen!). Having other breeders send me their spot information is the only way to prove/disprove any of these before I have to retire! LOL.

Waiting to hear back from NASSA re: membership. Have several sheep that need to be registered, and I don't know which name I will get to use yet! It will be either Wild Oak or Wistful.

Still feeding lambs... hoping to start them on creep feed in a week or so. That will make it easier. And I found a place to order a lamb bar from - can't wait for that to arrive!

Wow, what a week it has been.

I keep trying to get someone to take a picture of feeding time.. Feeding five bottle babies is quite interesting... have to sit in a chair (because it I sit on the floor, they all jump in my lap!). Put one bottle between my knees - ok, don't let it slip.. usually Mona takes that bottle. Ok, get the second bottle - left hand - get somebody attached.. then add the third - also the left hand. Let's hope the lambs are the same size, and not one tall and one short one. Ok. Fix the bottle between the knees that is slipping a little. Then pick up the last two bottles in the right hand, carefully twist them upside down with out dropping them, and beseech the last two lambs, who are trying their darndest to take a nipple away from somewhere else, to come and take a new bottle. Oh, don't butt that bottle that hard! I can't hang on..! Oops, there it goes on the floor. Usually by the time I get the last one started, the first one is finishing up. And I rather think it is a good thing Holly (the dog) likes to lick the lambs clean.. though we don't take doggie kisses from her anymore, because she likes to clean both ends.

This evening after work when I fed them, I tried to only feed them two at a time - made the mistake of sitting on the ground though, so Marco and Marta jumped in my lap. Mona and Eustatius had the bottles. Poor little Trinidad - she wanted the bottle so bad, and couldn't get the bigger lambs off - so she went to one that was lying on its side on the ground... and nursed off of that! It was rather funny to see her on her knees. Would have been better if the bottle was sitting DOWN hill though - I couldn't let her nurse that way for very long before she would have been getting too much air.

Have to say, I am glad the babies are all good eaters, and took easily to the bottle. Marco had help from a Pritchard's teat at first, but once he was stronger, took to a regular bottle easily. Now I need to find a lamb bar though LOL this is getting ridiculous! Although I still want someone to get a picture!

Bottle lambs

We are up to three bottle lambs now - The third one is the ewe lamb from the triplets. I noticed yesterday that she just didn't seem as filled out as her brothers. And when I was in the pen filling the stocktank - she was sucking down the water like there was no tomorrow. So I brought her up to the house and gave her a bottle - and she took to it like it was the most natural thing in the world. I am debating about taking her away from mom completely - easier for me - but I rather like keeping them with their mom's. Friday I took Mona to work with me... Saturday I took Marco. Tomorrow, I think I will take all three - the kids are not really interested in feeding them, and I will have plenty of help at home.

We have had several more lambs since my last post... Libby had a set of twins - ram and ewe. The ram will fade, the ewe thus far looks moorit, but we'll see. The ram looks rather interesting at the moment - white flecks in his wool, on his ears, around his head... Too bad he won't stay that way.

SheltrgPines Siobhan had a lovely crimpy fawn katmoget ewe lamb. That makes three super crimpy katmoget lambs. Granita had a musket ewe lamb. Bay Oak Milady had an Ag- Grey katmoget. Minwawe Bobbin had a dark ram lamb - possibly dark brown - with a krunet. And then there is Crema. Crema is a white yearling ewe out of April (the ewe that had triplets). Her lamb is a ewe, and is mostly white, but has dark spots on the mouth and around the eyes and ears, as well as markings on the front and back legs. Looks like a very faded katmoget (minus the belly wool) but her sire is Echo. Both carry spots - Crema could actually be spotted beneath the white. I dont know if this lamb will have horns or not.

And I know why Misto wouldn't take Marco - because he isn't hers. I believe his mother to be Cappuccino (one of Libby's daughters from last year) because she doesn't look big anymore, and the little udder she had, has dried up. I feel bad, and I know it is probably my fault - I didn't find her with the baby and get her into the barn. He still stays with Mary - and I have seen him try to nurse, but I am not sure how successful he is. So we bottle feed him anyway.

One of my next tasks concerning the sheep is to go through all the lovely fleeces I have - and put some up for sale. I don't want to. But I can't keep them all.

Well the last couple of days have been exhausting.

We have our first bottle baby. Mom is a yearling ewe - naturally, one of my favorite yearlings. When I found the baby, it was following another ewe - it was pretty well dry, and up and moving around. Thor, our LGD was in the pasture eating the placenta. Mocha was standing nearby - the only ewe that looked to have lambed very recently. So I took Mocha and the lamb to a pen. She wanted nothing to do with it. Got her to the point she would nurse the lamb as long as someone held her head and scratched her behind the ears. But she won't let it nurse when it is alone with her, and I have seen her nudging it away completely. I didn't have any other ewes have brand new babies, so I left her in with mom, and went down to the barn to hold Mocha 4 times a day. (Btw, this lamb may be modified - her momma is).

Last night when I did my late night check, I found a grey spotted yearling with a grey katmoget lamb - picked up the lamb, mom wouldn't follow. Set the lamb on the ground, but still held it so mom came close enough that I could catch her. Now comes the amusing part. The only part of mom I could grab was the front leg. So I have the ewe by the leg, the lamb in one hand and the flashlight under one arm. hmn. Hollered for help. Of course, none came. Let's try something else. Lamb in one hand, flashlight in the other, which is also holding the ewe's head close to my leg so I can try to drag her down to the barn. hmn. Hollered for help again. Yep, you guessed it - none came. Let's try something else again! Straddled the ewe so her head was between my knees, lamb in one hand, flashlight in the other. All I could think was "Wow, I'm glad she's not acting like an idiot tonight." (LOL meaning the ewe, not sure WHAT I was thinking.. LOL) Hollered for help - none came. stuck the flashlight in the other hand, which also had the lamb, and used my now-free hand to hold onto the ewe's head (still straddling her, btw) and walking, rather knock-kneed down to the barn. hmn. No pens put together. (several choice words). Ok. Didn't want to let go of either the ewe or the lamb, and needed the flashlight to see, so I grabbed a panel, leaned it up against one leg, scooted the ewe forward a little bit. Rinse, lather, repeat. Until I was able to make a pen for the ewe and the lamb. Man, my back hurt SO bad by the time I was done. But momma seemed happy with the lamb.

Well today, my son finds a tiny little lamb wedged in between the propane tank and a broken wooden feeder. HUH? How the heck did a lamb get there? WHO IS YOUR MOMMA??? I have to think the momma was Misto (the ewe in the above paragraph). I know he can't belong to some of the ewes (BbBb x BbBb breedings) or some of the other ewes (already weaned lambs, which were left at the seller's farm). Nobody else had any strings or other signs of having had a baby (wet hocks or back of udder, swollen vulva). Plus the umbilicus was dried to about the same as Misto's lamb. But this lamb is almost 2 lbs smaller than the other one, so I don't know. I told my mom to warm up some milk replacer (which we do the old fashioned way - no icky microwaves for us!), and I took the lamb down to the barn to see if his momma would want him. So.. what do you think? LOL OF COURSE NOT! She wanted nothing to do with him. Tried to hold her so he could get a little milk. Nope. Nothing doing. NOT MINE, she said.

Looked up and saw Mary hanging around in the barn. She had fresh blood on her udder! The other ewes moved, and lo and behold, there was a very freshly birthed, just out of the womb lamb, that was still a little stunned, and covered with tissue and mucus and fluids. Score! Without a second thought, I grabbed that poor little ram lamb, and rubbed him with the new lamb until they were both covered about the same. Offered the little black lamb to Mary first - and she licked him! WOOHOO! Made sure her teats were unplugged, and helped that weak little lamb to some yummy thick colostrum. Once he had a taste of it, he started to nurse on his own! I could have danced!Left them in there together, and she continued to clean him and let him nurse. Her own lamb gradually also got strong enough to get up and get some milk.

I think the only problem he will have - is that he is so little that it seems difficult for him to actually get milk out of Mary's udder. So we have offered him a bottle as well, and he has drank from it very well. Otherwise his is in the pen with his adopted mommy and sister. And I was so pleased to hear - that when I took him out of the pen tonight, Mary wanted to know who the heck did I think I was, taking her baby away from her like that. And she settled down immediately when I put him back, licking him all over and talking to him.

It will be interesting to see what color Mary's katmoget lamb turns out to be - Mary is the ewe I think is an Ag mioget.

Also looked at Wild's girls today - they are definitely emaket! woohoo! Took some pictures. Vaccinated a few of the girls we are releasing from the barn. I want to have everyone that hasn't lambed yet inside the barn, and we are letting the girls with lambs out in stages. It is always so much fun to see them run and crowhop and jump and play. There is one ram (Martinique) who has already earned himself the nickname Turbo, because all he does is run from one end of the paddock to the other. We'll do a few more each day, until every one is done.

Welcome!

Picked up three new ewes from Malinda. Yeah, I know, I was going to get two. It's a sickness, I tell you. Stephen calls it Shetlanditis. There are rumors of a 12 step program... LOL

The kids and I drove to St. Louis to meet Malinda and pick up the new girls. They weren't too happy about being in the crates, and were glad when the travelling was over. Phoebe has already gotten to the point that I can almost scritch her under the chin - I still can't get near Snowcap and Alura.

Snowcap appears to be smirslet/kraiget/sokket. I feel sorry for her - her udder is so large and full of milk she can't run very well.

We have also had several more lambs in the last few days.

Bay Oak April Eve and SheltrgPines Sigune delivered their lambs on the same day. They had both gone into the same pen (which I had left open for them) to have their lambs. Then, bossy April apparently decided to be mommy to ALL the lambs, because she was cleaning every one. Patrick thought April had had Quads. Mom sorted them into two sets of two.... but April carried on so much that we gave the little black ewe to April as well... and then the were happy.. and quieter.. I didn't have enough A names, so their names are Trinidad (the black ewe). Tobago (White ram lamb) and Tortuga (fawn(?) Katmoget - right now his face looks brown and his legs look black.)

Sigune had a little ram lamb - His name is San Juan. He is a fawn katmoget with a lovely crimpy fleece - except in the exclamation point on his side. Those "spots" appear to be more along the primitive line. I say "spots" because they are not white , more of a dark chocolate color.

Fletcher Aileen (who is Alura's half sister) chased the new girls around all last night - and I found her with a lovely ewe lamb this morning. They do say walking will help speed up delivery!

SheltrgPines Nixie had a little ram lamb - I think he is moorit, but won't know for sure until morning - it was dusk when I saw him. I am proud to say that my son (who is nine) found her, put together a pen, put Nixie and the lamb in the pen, and dipped the lamb's navel before coming up to tell my mom there was a new lamb. He didn't want to tag it by himself, but I let him tag the ear after I got home. The only thing I wish he had done was give her a bucket of water. (She was only penned for about an hour before I got home).

More lambs

I should have pictures of the rest of the lambs tomorrow. I have to go into town to pick up 50 chickens. Somebody picked them up at Farm and Home ("because they were cute").. then found out that since they live in town, they can't have them. DUH. Our fortune though. They are Rhode Island Reds, fairly young (I think the farm store sold the last of them in the middle of April). And I plan on going in and having the rest of the lamb pictures put on a disk.

The next lamb born was Granada - she is most likely a musket - she has rather faint sugar lips at this point in time. Her mother is SheltrgPines Gracie, out of Lugthart Ruby. (I have three ewes out of Ruby's lines, and they have the most fantastic fleeces). Her sire is Kat Burglar.

Anguilla was next, and she is the new tiny lamb on the place. Her mother is Amaretto, a moorit yearling ewe. Anguilla is a black ewe with a teeny krunet. Her sire is Echo.

Windswept Madeline was next - another disappointment - I expected she would have twins also. But she has a lovely dark dark brown ram lamb. He was almost black at birth, but is definitely brown. It will be interesting to see how he turns out - the last lamb I had born this dark was Ristretto, who is a dark fawn color. His sire is Kat Burglar.

St. Croix was next - her mother is SheltrgPines Sedef (who I also expected twins from). She has a really interesting krunet - more of a crescent on her head than a spot. She is an off shade of brown and may be modified - which would prove that Kat carries the modified gene.

Frappuccino was next - she had a lovely little ewe lamb that I named Belize (since I couldn't find and F names!) She is black with a krunet marking.

The most recent lambs were born today - twins to SheltrgPines Zehra. A black ram lamb with a small krunet marking, and a solid black ewe lamb. They both will have longer, more primitive fleeces, I believe, but they are still very soft. They will be named Domingo and Dominica (again, no Z names!)

No other babies at the moment - things have definitely slowing down here.. We still have 14 ewes left to lamb - including April who just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And Stormy, who looks like she is about to pop! And Libby, who probably also has twins - and loves her belly massages. Too wet to sit outside and give her one tonight - and I think she missed it.

More lamb photos

The next set of twins were born to Windswept Ursa Minor, a 6 year old black iset ewe. Ursa has been a puzzle to me - she is solid colored, but both parents were spotted. She is one of the reasons I have been working on my spots project (but that's another blog entry LOL) Ursa delivered a katmoget ram lamb (Maartin), with some interesting spots on his side, and a lovely little katmoget ewe lamb (Merida).

The next ewe to lamb was Windswept ChoChang. Cho is the ewe that was attacked by my own dog last year. Her wool still looks a little off-color in the spot that was bared. She produced two ram lambs, a black krunet (Caracas) and a katmoget (Cartegena). My mom found them in the morning, and she and Holly put them in the barn. Poor Holly - Cho took one look at her and slammed her into the wall, then rushed my mom for bringing the evil dog down to the barn. I can't blame her.

Lucia was born next - she is a lovely little white lamb - with one tiny black spot on her left shoulder. She also has some freckling on her ears, like her mother. I suspect the black spot is a breakthrough spot. Lucia is my mom's favorite lamb.. mainly, I think, because she is white, and reminds her of the lambs she used to have years ago.


(I haven't gotten pictures of the rest of the lambs yet.)
While I was moving pens around, and putting all the older single lambs together, and the older twins together (along with their mom's of course!) I noticed Viola was acting strange. Vista Vale Viola is the wildest ewe on the place - she seldom stays around where there are people. She is a lovely light moorit/mioget color. Anyway, she was hanging around in the barn, and wouldn't leave, even though we were down there working. So I caught her in a pen anyway. And sure enough, she was the next to lamb. A beautiful katmoget ewe lamb.

The last lamb born on the 17th was Royale, a 4 lb dark moorit ram lamb. His sire is Sheepy Hollow Echo. His mother is Ristretto, Cho's ewe lamb from last year. I am hoping this ram lamb will have good horns, so that I might keep him as a replacement. He carries spots (his mother has markings on her face), and may be modified. I hope so.

The next ewe to deliver was Windswept Millicent - another ewe that disappointed me because I really expected her to have twins. She had a katmoget ram lamb. His nickname is Elvis, because when he stands, he has shaky legs. He was born on the 18th.

Antigua was next, on the 19th. His information is in the previous entry :)

This morning, we found two yearlings with single lambs - SheltrgPines Gracie had a musket ewe lamb, and Amaretto (out of SheltrgPines Sigune) had a tiny black ewe with a very small krunet. She weighed only 3.5 lbs, and seems less sturdy than the rest of the lambs. So we will see how she does. Her sire is Echo.

The last lamb (so far!) is a ram lamb - I think he is dark brown, but it is hard to tell at this point. His mother is Windswept 59 (Madeline). He looks to have improved fleece over his mother - as he should - his sire is Kat Burglar. He also carries spots - Madeline has a few white markings on her forehead.