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Friday, February 26, 2010
JanuaryWhen faced with an intense lambing season like we have had this year, with many ewes due on the same
day, sometimes all you can do is the best you can and hope that it all works out.... Sometimes it does, and at other
times it seems that everything is working against you. Although we spent hours trying to save Joshua, even with four
ewes delivering yesterday (or was it the day before? -- it's all starting to run together!), Joshua finally gave up the fight
and died yesterday morning. No matter how many times we experience death or how prepared we think we are, each death
brings sadness and guilt - wondering whether we could have done anything else....
But in the middle of lambing
season, we don't have the luxury of taking a lot of time to wallow in sadness or self-pity! There are more lambs to
deliver! And in the last two days, they have been coming and coming.... In a twenty-four hour period, Belle, Geode,
Honey, and Genoa delivered a total of ten lambs! It is starting to become an issue of where to put them all - but
we finally figured it out!
But, again, all of these lambs didn't come without issues.... In general, things
went pretty well, but Genoa wasn't going to let things go that easily! After delivering two black ewe lambs, she delivered
a third white ewe lamb who looked just like Genoa did as a lamb. As she cleaned them up, everything seemed to be going
well - or so we thought! But as they started to dry, Genoa began to favor the black lambs, June and July, and ignore
the late-coming white one, January. Before long, she was not only ignoring the white one, but had decided that
January was not her own lamb - butting her away every time she tried to nurse.
Now keep in mind that although our
barn temperatures are hovering between thirty and forty degrees (F), that's still pretty cold for a newborn lamb who is not
getting the nutrition it needs. We tried several tricks to get Genoa to take January back: rubbing her against the other
two to blend the scents, taking the other two away for a couple of hours so that the only lamb she has is the one she doesn't
much like, and switching the coats in hope of mixing up the look and scent of each lamb. But nothing seemed to work.
By late yesterday, it was clear that if we left January with Genoa, the lamb likely would not live long - so we brought her
into the house.
 I don't normally like to bring lambs into the house.... Doing so ensures that it will have no ewe to look out for it
once released back into the barn. Also, we have three dogs in the house, so trying to keep a little lamb safe is no
small feat. On the other hand, a little newborn lamb needs to be fed on demand for the first couple of days, and with
as little sleep as I have been getting, I figured that it would be a whole lot easier to hear her crying for her bottle if
she was here where I could hear her.
So, January is officially a bottle lamb. Geode and Honey were kind enough
(through a bit of wrestling) to donate some of their colostrum (the rich first milk that comes in for the first couple of
days after birth, before the true milk that follows) - without it, January would likely have died. She is beginning
to understand that when she calls, it will take a few minutes for me to get there. And she's also beginning to get the
hand of drinking from a bottle - something that doesn't come naturally to lambs.
The plan is to get her on a schedule
in the next couple of days, and then take her back out to the barn on Sunday or Monday and let her mingle with all of the
other lambs in the "creep area" - where lambs can come (and ewes cannot) to get high-nutrition grain and pellets,
and the very best alfalfa, helping them to grow to their potential.
Oops - I hear January calling for her next
bottle! I'd better go answer her cries! I'll give you an overall update on lambs on Monday....
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
JoshuaEarly Sunday morning, as I sat in the barn waiting for Harriet to deliver her twins, I heard a mother
ewe calling to her lamb. Now, please understand that it's not unusual during lambing season to hear a mother calling
her lamb, but in this case it caught my attention. The reason that this time was so different was that I couldn't figure
out where it was coming from.... All of the ewes with lambs were in the adjoining stall, and the sound should have been
much louder than it was. Also, please remember that I was working on a minimum of sleep, since I had been up the night
before helping Holly with her lambs, and here I was in the barn again early on Sunday morning, helping Harriet.
That
little sound kept echoing in my mind, and it bothered me; it just wasn't right....  Suddenly, I realized that it might have come from outside the barn - maybe one of the ewes still outside, waiting to deliver,
had had an early delivery! I rushed outside to find Hailey with a very well-cared-for single white ram lamb, who we
later named Joshua (since 2010 is the year for J names here on our farm). I helped the pair into one of the waiting
lambing jugs (or pens), and they settled right in, with Hailey being a very attentive mother to her first lamb.
I
really thought all was well. For two days, Joshua was probably the cutest lamb in the barn, with visitors quickly noticing
his activity and his ever-present "smile" - something that seems to run in his family line. That is why, when
I routinely checked the barn yesterday near noon and found Hailey frantically trying to wake him without success, I was shocked.
What on earth could have happened to bring him down so fast? At my two earlier checks of the barn on that same day,
he had been his usual bubbly self! There was no time to think back on it right then, though - he needed help, and fast.
 When I find a young lamb down and not moving but still alive, the first thing I do is check whether they are suffering from
hypothermia - easily done by putting my finger in their mouth. If things are OK, I should feel a warm mouth sucking
on my finger. In Joshua's case, all I felt was ice cold. I quickly bundled him up inside my Carhartts and ran
him down to the house. The easiest way to bring a lamb's temperature up is to float them in very warm water, so that
was what I did: I filled the washtub with warm water and held Joshua's head up, hoping he would have the strength to come
out of this....
Unfortunately, that was the first of two tub soaks, and Joshua is still in the house today.
I have been milking Hailey and feeding him with a stomach tube, in hopes that if he does recover, he will still want to nurse
from his mom - lambs who are fed by bottle often lose the desire to nurse because the bottle is so much easier. It's
a lot more work for us, though, and it would mean that he could never be sold for breeding (friendly rams nearly always turn
mean in their adult years).
Even this morning, Hailey is still frantic to have her son back - it hurts me
to watch her mourn, thinking that I have stolen her son. And Joshua just can't seem to keep his temperature stable.
At times, he runs very cold, and then at other times, his temperature rises dangerously high. Our hope is that he
will stabilize over the next few hours and that we can then take him back to Hailey in the barn. But, for now, all we
can do is check him regularly, feed him when he needs nutrition, and wait - and pray - that he will come out of it and entertain
us again with his little lamb antics and cheery smile.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Celeste and CamilleCeleste came to us from Anchorage Farm in Saugerties, NY, in spring of 2004. She did not make the
trip alone - we drove out and picked her up with Camille, who came from the same farm. As usual when we bring in two
or more new animals, they established a friendship on that trip across the states that has served them well over these past
few years in our flock. Like friendships in people, they spend much of their time together: they eat
near each other, sleep near each other, and generally hang out together. In fact, over the last few years, I have always
placed them into the same breeding groups, too - they have the same body types and fleece types, and very similar genetics,
so they end up in with the same ram. Until this year, that is. This year, they were in breeding groups in adjoining
pastures - and they spent much of their time with each other on opposite sides of the fence, walking back and forth and calling
to each other. They are just that close! Since they've been here, their cycles even coincide so much that
they lamb during the same week - often within a day or two of each other - so they end up closed into the barn together at
the same time to have their lambs. In fact, as I recall, they have even had their lambing jugs (or pens) next to each
other for the past couple of years. These two have basically been together since their arrival six years ago..... Until this past weekend, that is. On Saturday afternoon, we moved Camille and the other unbred ewes - all of
whom were in with Ira (who only bred three of his ewes) - up to the shelter on the ridge, where they can spend the time while
the other ewes are in the barn lambing. They don't need the high level of nutrition that the bred ewes are getting,
and they don't need the shelter of the barn for lambs, so we separated them off into their own area. That means that
we broke up the Celeste-Camille pair, though. Unlike Camille, Celeste is still down at the barn, waiting to deliver
her lambs later this week. Actually, that is where she is supposed to be.  Truth be told, Celeste is not spending a lot of time there. Instead, she is keeping a vigil for her friend,
Camille. She stands in the paddock near the barn, looking up to the ridge, calling for her friend (see photo at right).
Most of the time, she is out there alone. Sometimes, a few of the other bred ewes join her to see what all the fuss
is about. All of the time, though, she is calling. Calling for her friend. And, although I know she is just
fine, and so is Camille, the whole thing makes me a bit sad. Regardless of whether you are human or ovine, friendship
is important, and although Celeste has made other friends within the flock over the years, there is no one like Camille
for her. In a few days, Celeste will be closed into the 'delivery room' in the barn to have her lambs, and hopefully
that experience will distract her enough that she will relax for the two to three weeks that she will spend inside.
After that, she can resume her vigil and visit with Camille through the adjoining fence, introducing her new family to her
best friend. I am sure she'll be thrilled when that day arrives, but for now, things just aren't the same
without Camille at her side.... By the way, over the weekend, Holly and Harriet had their twins (Holly had a CVM
ewe and a white ram, and Harriet had a recessively colored ewe and a similarly colored ram), and Hailey had a single white
ram lamb, bringing our total lamb count to twelve. We expect things to pick up this week, with about fifteen ewes due
by this Sunday. I'll continue to keep you posted!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tales of lamb tails: dockingI mentioned in the last posting that I had several kids who were here helping to dock (remove) the tails
of our newest lambs. To those who don't have a lot of experience with sheep, the obvious question is, "Why dock
their tails?" Little baby lambs are so cute with their long tails wiggling behind them while they nurse - why not
leave them be? This is a question even I asked when our first lambs were born - but actually, there is a very good reason
to dock tails in sheep. Granted, there are some breeds that are born and live all their lives with naturally short
tails - like the Shetlands, Icelandics, or Finns - and just don't require tail docking. The rest of the breeds,
however, are born with long tails - sometimes almost reaching the ground when they stand - and these are the tails that will
eventually cause trouble.... If you were to visit a typical flock of sheep when their fleeces
(wool) were long, you would notice that, around the tail area, the wool builds up a coating of manure. This usually
isn't severe, nor is it damp, so it doesn't typically cause problems. If the tail is long, however, the manure builds
up on the tail and the urine keeps it damp. This situation is the "perfect storm" for fly strike - something
I've seen only once, but that was enough. I now do all I can to prevent it ever happening to my flock! Now, let me warn
you, if you are squeamish, skip the next paragraph - for those of you who really want to know what flly strike is and why
it is so important to dock tails, read on.... Damp, dirty wool is the ideal place for different species of flies
to lay their eggs. Within as short a period as eight hours, the maggots begin to hatch out. They immediately look
for nutrition, and find it as they feast on the flesh of the sheep. Unlike what you hear about hospital use
of maggots for cleaning away dead tissue and leaving the healthy tissue, these maggots burrow deep into the sheep, eating
everything in their path. This all happens very quickly, and before long, the lamb or sheep loses interest in food,
and can die as it is eaten alive by masses of squirming maggots. Cleaning up fly strike is a nasty, distasteful
job. I helped do it once and hope to never have to deal with it again. By docking our lambs' tails,
we make it harder for fly strike to occur in our flock. I have seen sheep come to the auction with their big, thick
dirty tails hanging behind them, and I have to admit I have always felt a bit sorry for them - their tails looked a mess,
and I couldn't help but wonder in which other ways they had been neglected.... As for the actual docking, it can
be done a couple of ways.  The tail can be simply crushed and then cut off - but that can involve bleeding, and seems unnecessarily harsh to us.
We use the elastrator method.... I always explain it to the kids this way: Do you remember when your teacher always
told you not to put that rubber band tightly around your finger because you would cut off the blood and it would fall off?
Well, that's essentially what we do - we put a very small, strong rubber band around the tail at about the point that we need
it removed, and within a couple of weeks, the tail and the band fall off. (See photo at right - can you see where
the bands have been placed and where the tail is narrowing - where it will eventually fall off?). If tails are
docked too short, you can harm the musculature around the rump, making the sheep - particuarly ewes - more prone to prolapse.
We always dock "long" (something that is not a good trait for the show ring, known for wanting very short
docks for a 'cleaner look') so that we don't eliminate one problem but create others. We also always
dock tails at between 24-36 hours of age. When lambs are this young, their nervous systems are still immature, and they
feel much less pain for a much shorter period of time than when they are older. We usually see them shake their
behinds a bit, then find their moms - and that's about the extent of their discomfort at one day of age. When we
once tried docking at closer to a week of age, the lambs were miserable for hours (depending on age and size) before they
settled back into their normal behavior. I couldn't stand to watch them in pain for so long, so now we always dock right
after the end of the first day, and typically see very little discomfort. I used to dread tail docking - I didn't
want to do it wrong, and I didn't want to cause unnecessary pain to my lambs. I've come to the point, though, that I've
seen the alternative, and we now can do it with minimal discomfort to the lamb because of when we do it. It
is part of our first day routine: immunize for tetanus, take pics of the lamb from every angle for our records, check the
navel, and dock the tail. It's simple, and a necessary part of good sheep management.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
So tired....I have to admit it: I am really tired. Although we have our ewes' daily schedule set up so that
we shouldn't have lambs in the middle of the night, there are no guarantees. And because there are no guarantees, I
don't sleep very well through the night, worrying about lambs being born at the near-zero temperatures that we are having
at night.
I find myself waking several times each night to check the monitor in the bedroom to see if all is well
- and every time, it is! That doesn't make me sleep any better, though. I wish it did.
There are many
sheep people who accept lamb losses as part of the job, factoring in a 10% or sometimes even as high as 15 or 20% loss
factor into their operation. I have gotten used to the idea that some lambs do die. I know that - I do.
Some sheep die, too, and most of the time, there is nothing I can do about it - if I could, they wouldn't die, because I wouldn't
let them. We work hard to save each and every life. To me, that life force is precious, and I don't give up on
it easily. These sheep are my friends, each with her own personality, and I watch closely to keep them from harm.
So, when it is this cold, and I know that a ewe is due to lamb, or very close to due, I sleep through the night
in two-hour increments. Years ago, when we didn't know how to avoid late-night lambs, I used to set my alarm for every
two or three hours, but I don't need to do that anymore - there are no lambs during the night. Even so, I wake up on
my old two- to three-hour schedule all through lambing season and can't fall back asleep until I check the monitor or the
barn - it's crazy!
Well, maybe not totally crazy.... Most ewes have no problem delivering their lambs, cleaning
them up, nudging them back to the correct place to nurse, and generally mothering their lambs - but sometimes things can go
wrong. All of our ewes are great mothers. That's a fact. We don't keep ewes who don't do their job.
For that reason, we don't really have an issue with mis-mothering. We have had an issue, though, with very big lambs
- which creates the problem of long, hard labors, which then means that the lamb is born in poor condition, and the ewe
is exhausted. This is not a good situation for lamb survival.
Because of this problem, we lost six
lambs last year. Our average birth weight last year was about thirteen pounds, and we had mostly twins, with a few triplets
thrown in. Thirteen pounds is a lot of lamb to move through the birth canal when the whole ewe weighs only 140 pounds!
Losing six lambs last year was horrible - especially when the only reason they didn't take a breath (and I was there!)
was that they were second in line behind a lamb who took too long to be born. It was enough to make me rethink whether
this was something I wanted to do.... It was just too much death.
So, this year, we changed rams, to produce
more "normal" size lambs that would still grow as quickly. And now I wait for those lambs, hoping that they
will all - or nearly all - survive. In the process of waiting, though, I don't sleep. I check the barn. I
check the monitor. I watch the ewes like a hawk for the early signs of labor. And through it all, I
try to think happy thoughts of spring flowers and gamboling lambs and healthy, happy ewes. But I'm still tired....
 By the way, I should also share that Gem did finally have her lambs between about eight and nine last night: twin ram lambs.
The first, Jules, is solid black, just like Gem, and the second is a CVM named Jumanji (again, by kids who were here
to help dock tails and give shots to Georgia's lambs). Both little rams are big and healthy and strong,
and doing well - even in the cold night in which they were born! I'm off to bed for a two-hour nap....
Monday, February 15, 2010
Lambs and more lambs!Well, our first lambs of the season arrived this past weekend!  Although both Georgia and Gem were technically due last Friday, on Saturday morning, Grace decided not to wait her turn and
delivered twins: a ram lamb now named Jethro, and a ewe lamb now known as Jenny (the photo on the right is of Grace with both
lambs, and the photo below is a close-up of Jenny). We do try to give community members who would like to watch the
birth of lambs the chance to do so, and we had a friend of mine here with two of her daughters to watch the birth. We
also have a tradition of allowing the "spectators" to name the lambs (as long as they follow our system of naming
by year, with this being the "J" year), so the girls went with an NCIS theme for Grace's lambs.
 What was really exciting for me is that both displayed the white teardrops that are an indication to us that their color is
recessive - something that we have been working towards for the past several years. The surprising thing about these
two is that they look so very Romney - at least to me! - even at their very young age.
Even though we expected
more lambs yesterday, everything remained quiet all day - but it sure did look like Georgia was ready to pop! She waited
until this morning, though: as I walked into our bathroom to brush my teeth, I took a quick look at the TV in the bedroom
that is now set to our lamb-cam, giving us four different views of the inside of the barn. It was obvious that Georgia
had finally decided that it was time to deliver lambs. I threw on some sweats and headed up to the barn.
When
I got there, Georgia was intent on pawing the ground, digging a huge "nest" for her coming lambs. This kind
of behavior is typical in a laboring ewe (it's that nesting thing we all hear about at the end of a pregnancy!), and most
of ours will dig up half the stall, if I let them! Georgia dug furiously for about an hour and a half, then began alternating
digging with lying down and pushing. Eventually, she delivered triplets, and considering that she only weighs about
150 lbs., their combined weight of almost 32 pounds is quite impressive!
All of the ewes and lambs are doing well
in spite of the cold winds that began to blow today; we have them well sheltered in the barn until they gain a bit of size.
Still waiting in the delivery room are Gem, due last Friday, Hattie, due today, Hope, due tomorrow, and Holly and Heidi, both
due on Friday. I'll keep you posted!
Friday, February 12, 2010
A serene lambing start date, and lamb coatsAt 5:30 this morning, soft snow was falling, creating a gentle layer of silence over the pre-dawn landscape.
Normally, I would still have been sound asleep in my toasty warm bed, surrounded by the soft breathing of our three border
collies who sleep in the room with us. This morning, however, is technically the first day of lambing, and someone needed
to do the first barn check - that meant me. Typically, Rick does that early morning check on his way to work, but
this year, he is so busy that he will be unable to help me until later in the month - so I quietly pulled myself
away from my dreams, bundled up in the Carhartt's and heavy boots, and trudged up through the barely lightening morning to
see if there were any surprises awaiting me in the barn. There is something incredibly peaceful about that early morning
walk through the falling snow that leaves me with a nugget of calm that lasts all day, regardless of what the day may bring. Both Georgia and Gem are due today, but could wait to deliver anytime between now and Sunday evening - or maybe Monday
morning, but that would be stretching things. We no longer check the barn during the night: the last barn check is at
about 10 or 11 in the evening, and the first comes at about 5:30 or 6 in the morning. We discovered several years ago
that we could influence lambing time by adjusting feeding time - so we do! We have found that if we feed in the early
afternoon (between 12 and 2), then the lambs will all be born between about 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. If we feed much earlier
or later, we have to check the barn in the middle of the night, because we could very well find lambs at 2 or 3 in the morning! Once a lamb is born, it is essential to get it dry and make sure that it gets its first feeding of colostrum
- that first thick, nutrient- and antibody-rich fluid that the ewe produces before the milk comes in. Once dry and fed,
a newborn lamb can survive incredibly cold temperatures (as long as it is not drafty), but a cold, hungry lamb will succumb
very rapidly. That is why we make sure to welcome as many of our lambs into the world as possible - we help to dry them
off and watch to see that they get that first meal. After that, we weigh them, dip their cords in iodine to prevent
infection, and return them to their mother who, by this time, is usually frantic that we stole her lamb! And believe
it or not, every newborn lamb is outfitted with its very own colorful coat! We collect outgrown or heavily-used sweatshirts
and sweatpants, and make our lamb coats from those - they are warm and soft for the lamb, and come in enough colors that,
even without eartags (which we insert at one day of age), we can keep track of which lamb belongs to which ewe. I find that
the children that come to help or to watch lambs being born love to see their old clothing keeping our newborns warm!
 For those of you with sheep who would like to try making some, the coats are very easy to make: 1) begin with a child's or
adult's sweatpants or sweatshirt, 2) cut the sleeve or pant leg off at about the length of a newborn lamb,  3) slit along one seam nearly to the cuff, then 4) cut a slit on each side of the cut seam at about the center of the new
"coat." We use shoelaces to tie the coats at the belly because they are soft, but you could use just about
anything to tie them on (see the photos at left which show the early and end stages of the lamb coats). The lamb's
head goes through the cuff, with the legs having freedom to move at the split seam. The coat ties under the lamb's
belly, and the rump is open to allow the ewe to identify her lamb. Our new lamb coats are finished,
and all is ready and waiting for our first lambs. Most of the fleeces from the shearing two weeks ago were shipped
to their new owners this week, so we can fully shift gears and focus on the lambs in the barn now. All we need are the
lambs! Everything is ready - except maybe Gem and Georgia! I'll keep you posted!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Updates: Christmas tree, Gianna, Delivery room....When I sit down to post to this blog, I tend to go over the past day or two and try to find something
that might be of interest. Sometimes I forget that although I started a story on a particular day, I possibly couldn't
finish it that day because it was ongoing. I forget, that is, until someone e-mails me or otherwise reminds me that they are
waiting to hear how things turned out. So this is one of those "catch up" entries to bring you up to date
on a few of my past entries.
 You might recall that, over a month ago, we fed our Christmas tree to the sheep because I had read on-line that evergreens
had important trace nutrients for sheep. They had eaten the needles and some small branches off of the tree, but that
was where I had left off. Well, I must say that I have discovered that my sheep LOVE Christmas trees! I am attaching
a photo that I took of the tree this afternoon so that you can see that they have eaten not only all of the smaller branches,
but have also stripped the bark all of the way around the tree! This is definitely something that we will do again!
In fact, I may hit up a few of my friends for their used Christmas trees next year!
I know that some of you have
been worried about Gianna, who last week came down with a terrible upper respiratory infection. She has been on antibiotics
since then, and is doing better. Although she has improved, she is not breathing normally yet - which concerns me a
bit. Usually sheep recover within a few days of beginning antibiotics, so when I am done posting this entry, I will
need to call the vet again to see where we go from here.... We may just need to continue the antibiotics for another
few days, or maybe he will want to switch to another type. I'll keep you posted, but for now she is improving!
And the newest topic on our farm is imminent lambing!  I know that I mentioned last time that Gem and Georgia had been separated into our delivery room stall because they are due
on Friday of this week - but could deliver as early as today..... Well, neither one is showing signs of delivering today,
but I can tell they are close. The photo to the right shows the delivery room with Gem, Georgia, Grace, Heidi,
Hattie, and Hope all enjoying today's fresh bale of alfalfa hay. These six ewes are all due within the next week,
and will share this delivery room, filling it with their lambing jugs as the time comes. You can see one lambing jug
already set up on the far right in the photo - it awaits the first ewe to lamb this year. Once she has delivered, we
will clean an area and build another jug for the next ewe, and so on until the entire stall is filled with six small pens
for these six ewes.
Once the last ewe in the group has had time to bond with her lambs in her lambing jug, we will
take all of the removable panels down and allow these six new mothers to mix with their lambs, getting used to finding their
lambs among many in a smaller group before begin mixed into the larger flock.
In the photo, Georgia has her back
to the camera: you can see where we have pinned her coat up on her back to prevent the leg straps from hanging down.
Last year, we lost a lamb trying to nurse when she got caught in her dam's leg strap and strangled. Now we pin up all
loose leg straps as the ewe gets close to delivery - there's no point in taking chances when the prevention is so simple!
So the delivery room is full and we are back to checking them every few hours - especially in the very cold weather
of the next couple of days - to help any ewe or newborn who might need it. Friday's posting will fill you in on how
we handle deliveries and newborn lambs - hopefully we will have at least a couple of babies by then!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Preparing for lambsOur first ewes are due to lamb on February 12th, and I suddenly realized this morning that those lambs could come as early
as this Wednesday. Oh, my! Since this is Monday, that's pretty darn soon! Usually, I like to have things
set up for our lambing ewes so that things go as smoothly as possible, so today was the day....
Usually, because
we use the marking harness on the ram to mark the ewes when he breeds them, we have a pretty good idea of when each ewe
is due - 148 days from the marking. Since we then ultrasound them too, that only serves to confirm the due date that
we already have. Sometimes the ultrasound date is weeks different than the marked date - when that happens, we have
to assume that we missed a mark (sometimes the crayon doesn't show because it is full of gravel, or maybe the crayon has been
so well used that it's almost gone when he marks the ewe), and we change the due date to the one indicated by ultrasound.
This doesn't happen often, and we have found that when the ultrasound date and the marker date are within a week or two, the
marker date is the most accurate.
So with these first ewes, we have a marking harness due date of Feb. 12th.
Ewes will typically deliver within about a day or - at most - two days from their due date. Any further from their
due date and the lamb will be so premature or overdue that there will be difficulties, and the likelihood of a live lamb at
the end goes down dramatically as days from the due date increase. This is another way of saying that we are fairly
certain of when those ewes will deliver - within a day or two of their marking harness due date.
Both Gem and Georgia
are due on the 12th based on the marking harness - they were marked literally as the ram was put into the paddock with them.
I actually was rather hoping at the time that he would take his time and wait a day or two before marking any of the ewes
- we usually aim for Feb. 14th or 15th as our first lambing date. But this year I had to begin moving sheep early to
get it all done for the 15th, and these two are the result of that. Gem is carrying the typical twins (according to
her ultrasound) but Georgia ultrasounded with 3+, meaning that she has at least three - maybe four - lambs inside of her.
Looking at her now, I doubt there are four in there, but I suppose anything is possible!
To prepare for lambing,
Rick cleaned all of the stalls last Saturday with the help of a teenage friend, Noah, and his friend, Drew. They
put down barn lime as a base on the stall mats - which helps to keep things fresh - and lots of fresh straw.
They left the "delivery room" closed off for me to fill sometime this week with the ewes close to delivery, and
today was the day. As I fed the ewes their ration of grain today, I enticed Gem, Georgia, and Grace (who is due on the
16th) into that area and closed the door behind them. I hope to get Hattie in there tomorrow (she is also due the 16th),
which will round out our first group.
In the delivery room, we have already built up one pen (normally called
a "lambing jug") about 4x6 feet in size, into which we will put the first ewe and her lambs. Once she goes
into labor, she will choose an area in the stall (the delivery room) in which to have her lambs. When she is finished
delivering the last lamb, I will help to dry off the newborns and then move them slowly into the lambing jug. Once they
are moved and the ewe has followed them in, I can spot-clean the area in which she lambed, avoiding any possible contamination
by the ewe's amniotic fluids of ewes yet to deliver. I will also then build the next jug, which will sit empty for the
next ewe, and so on until the stall is full of jugs.
I like to put the ewes into the delivery room at least three
days before they are due - just in case. Since they are all sheared now, they tend to choose to rest within the shelter
of the barn anyways, but this way I know the lambs won't be born in a snow drift. I don't like to take chances with
lambs!
Georgia, Gem, and Grace are happily resting in the delivery room tonight. Ewes are usually happy to
be there once they look around because there is more food available and less of a crowd to fight to get to it. It is
kept very clean for the new lambs, and because the other ewes can't get in, it is never crowded. As these three or four
(with Hattie) deliver their lambs, we will bring two or three more ewes into the room, until the entire stall is divided
into lambing jugs, filled with ewes with new lambs. This is a wonderful time of year on the farm!
6:49 pm | link
Friday, February 5, 2010
Gianna is sickWhen I went out to feed the sheep yesterday afternoon, I could hear someone having trouble breathing
- someone really congested. Sheep are normally very healthy animals. Even when they aren't healthy, they try to
act like it.... As prey animals, they know instinctively that being sick is a weakness, and weakness will often lead to death
if a predatory animal is around. So sheep do all they can to not act sick (one of the reasons that so many shepherds
never know an animal is sick until it is dead). The fact that, as I came up to the flock, I could tell there was
illness up there among the sheep meant not only that one of the sheep was sick, but that she was very sick. She had
lost the desire to hide the fact - she had pretty much given up. This was not good.  As I walked among my sheep, patting this one and talking to that one, I found Gianna. She stood there with
her head down against the side of the barn, just trying to breathe. When a sheep stands with her head down, you know
it's bad. When they press their head against a wall while it's down, that's even worse. As I got close to Gianna,
I could see the problem: she had a huge flow of mucus coming from each nostril. As a shepherdess, I have learned
to do a lot of the vetting of my flock on my own. If I called a vet for every thing that went wrong, we would be out
of business - it is just too expensive! I went into the barn to get my stethoscope to listen to her lungs. Oooh,
what nasty crackling I heard! Between the nasty stuff coming from her nose and the crackling sounds in her lungs, it
was obvious that Gianna was fighting an infection, and at that point, she was not winning. What she really needed
was help in the form of an antibiotic. A quick call to the vet told me which would be the most effective ones, and which
were safe for this point in gestation - after all, we have to consider the lambs she is carrying, too! I keep a
small refrigerator in the barn full of a variety of necessary medications: antibiotics, immunizations, painkillers, etc.
That way, when the vet tells me what we need, I don't have to drive all over the county trying to find what he specified
- I already have it on hand (I hope!). In this case, the antibiotic he specified was right there.... I just drew
up the liquid into a syringe and went to find Gianna. Fortunately, she felt bad enough that she wasn't going to
fight much. Some of our ewes will buck and kick and run all over when they know a shot is coming. Gianna made
it clear that she would much prefer to get her shot in the rump rather than in the neck. We usually try to give intramuscular
shots in the neck muscles, but for our breeding ewes who won't be going anywhere in the coming months, the rump works
just as well. In this case, she ate the grain I had brought her, and I poked her with the needle -
a few seconds later, she was still eating and I was done. It usually only takes a day or two for an antibiotic
to kick in and begin to work, leaving the sheep feeling much better. For Gianna's sake, I hope that today is that day!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Making progressIt takes a long time to skirt thirty-nine fleeces, but things are moving along! With the help of
my friend, Kris Franklin, who flew down from Hibbing, MN, to help with the skirting this week, we've actually finished all
but four fleeces! The rest are mine to do on my own, though, as I just dropped Kris off at the airport for her flight
home. Thanks, Kris, so much for your help!  You might think that with only four fleeces left to skirt, the dining room would be returning to normal - but you would be
wrong. Until the last fleece is finished, and we begin boxing for shipment, things don't get much better.... If
you look at the photo to the left, taken this morning, you can see that it doesn't look much better than the one taken over
the weekend in Monday's blog! Yes, there are fewer fleece
bundles, but now we have trash bags full of filthy fleece and manure, etc., under the table, and big bags of skirtings leaning
against the wall all over the place. Some of the bedsheets that were originally used to bundle fleeces are doing double
duty now as protection for the dining room carpet from second cuts and nasty tags that tend to drop off the edges of the table.
Hopefully, by the end of today, I'll get the last fleeces skirted
and begin the process of writing up descriptions of each fleece, pricing, and sorting photos. We've been working eight-
to ten-hour days standing around the table, skirting fleeces since Sunday morning, so it will be nice to be able to spend
a few hours sitting while I type things up! I am not normally one to sit around much, but after skirting, I'm always
happy to sit down to do the computer part of the job!
So,
the bottom line is that I'm making progress. Those of you who are eagerly awaiting our fleece list can expect us to
release it on Friday with our normal e-mail communication. Please don't contact us before then about specific fleeces,
etc. (unless we e-mail you!) because it will only slow things down.... Just know that you will hear from us soon, and
keep watching your e-mail on Friday!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Taking it one fleece at a time...!Saturday was a huge day for us at Peeper Hollow Farm - it was shearing day for our thirty-nine breeding
ewes! Now, before everyone begins to e-mail us about this or that fleece, please know that: (1) I am skirting
as quickly as I can, (2) it is too late to request a particular fleece (we put a hold on the request list twenty-four
hours before shearing), and (3) the e-mail notification of the available new fleeces should go out to our customer list sometime
late this week. This is the craziest week of the year for us!   The nice thing, though, is that there is now LOTS more room in the barn for the ewes to move around. Where we used to
be able to fit a dozen sheep, we now see somewhere around eighteen, with more space between (see the before and after photos
above) - but the down-side is that there is MUCH LESS room in my dining room! You see, when we shear in the middle
of the winter like this, it is much too cold to skirt the fleeces in the barn. In fact, even in the summer, I don't
skirt in the barn - I skirt outside, because the light in the barn leaves a lot to be desired. For those people
who don't know what skirting is, let me explain.... When the shearer shears a sheep, he/she begins by "opening
up" the fleece at the belly, and then working back from there to remove the whole fleece in one intact piece (if done
well). It is easiest to imagine those footy pajamas that kids wear in the winter with a zipper from one leg up to the
neck - that's how the fleece comes off, too. Once it is sheared, we put it into an old, clean bedsheet and eventually
it works its way up to the dining room in the house (or the skirting table outside during the summer). When skirting,
I open the bundle of fleece, dump it onto the dining room table (or skirting table), sheared side down, and try to spread
it back out as it was on the sheep - with the head on one end of the table, the tail at the other, and the four legs hanging
to the sides. The idea of skirting is to remove all of the wool at the edges (or the skirt, as it hangs) that are the
most contaminated with straw, manure, etc. That hanging portion is the part that was not covered by their coats,
so it is the nastiest. When we take all of that off (called skirting) and pick off the bits of hay and straw that may
have found their way onto the rest, what is left is gorgeous, bright wool, clean enough to spin in the grease (without washing
first). That is what I am in the midst of doing right now  - skirting all thirty-nine fleeces in order: white Romeldale (finished yesterday), white Romney (hopefully finished today),
colored Romeldale, and then colored Romney. We skirt them in that order because, although we clean our table after each
fleece, I don't want to contaminate any finer fiber with something coarser (Romeldale with Romney), and I also don't want
to contaminate white with colored fiber - getting a few fibers mixed from fine into coarse or white into colored is not nearly
so bad. Rick brought all of the fleeces down to the dining room yesterday (see photo), and I am now trying to slowly
regain the dining space! The goal is to finish skirting by Thursday evening, and then write up all of the descriptions
on Friday, getting the e-mail out to our customers on Friday evening. That is the plan. But you all know how well
plans work sometimes! However, I am slowly working my way through them. Right now, I need to take it just one
fleece at a time.... In fact, I'd better get back down there!
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