Big white dog on the job

Oh yeah - Sam is clearly on patrol!!! It's like he thinks about coming over to greet you - then decides his sheep are more important....LOL!

We bred 71 ewes in 3 groups, one group for each of our rams. There is only one ewe left to lamb and she does not look pregnant. The weak lamb that my wife warmed in the house eventually died, we suspect the ewe that had a broken leg ended up with mastitis on one side contributing to the lamb's death.

We have 122 live lambs; about an even mix of ewes and rams.

16 singles
46 twins
5 triplets

There are several ewes that will be culled before breeding in the fall; the ewe with the broken leg/mastitis, many of the ewes that only had singles, and a ewe we believe that has gone blind (and her twins).

Okay, I managed to capture Sam Patrolling the fields. He starts out in the field with the yearling ewes (not bred) checking secents left behind by something he doesn't like. He the sees me and comes over to check to make sure I am not a threat, then he goes under the fence to the field with the ewes and lambs. He had been barking towards the woods when I first spotted him.

Great videos, Mark. Nice to see everyone moving around well and looking happy.

Rita

Still waiting on the last ewes to lamb.

Here is some more lamb races and a couple of ewe decided to relive younger days.

Here is a typical feed time and it shows Sam in he spot in the barn while he is off duty.

Sam is in the video at the time indicated, he is sleeping. It's hard to get a video of him actively patrolling since I don't have a night vision video camera (he patrols at night and sleeps during day like most predators).

No dog in video.

Beats ye olde wood stove oven!!

:D

Half bath off mudroom doubles as "lamb wamer"!

A month or so before lambing one of the ewes broke a hind leg. We found the ewe holding up her back leg and the part below the hind knee was wobbling free. We don't know how it got broken. We splinted the leg trying to align the two ends a close as possible to correct. She was splinted for over a month and by the time she lambed she was putting some weight on her leg. This ordeal plus carrying lambs caused her to loose weight. She delivered normal sized twins and we kept her in a pen longer than most so we could make sure she got extra feed. Yesterday was warm so we turned her and her lambs out. It was warm overnight but it rained a little. My wife found one of the twins wet, cold, and lethargic in the field. This lamb likely did not get enough mothers milk to stay warm (wondered off from mom, mom doesn't have enough milk, sibling is a milk hog, who know why...). My wife penned the ewe and her other twin. She brought the weak twin in the house, tube fed it warm milk replacer, put it in the half bath (6' x 6') on a towel, and turned on a space heater in the bath. The lamb is now sleeping while being "cooked".

Here is a commercially available lamb warming box

Checked our records on which ewe was put with each of our 3 rams and we bred 71 ewes (not the 75 I have been estimating). We're almost done.

14 singles
44 sets of twins
5 sets of triplets
117 lambs
3 ewes left to lamb