It's that time of year!

[BCSnob]

I stepped out of the back door this morning on my way to work and heard the sound of a lamb calling to its mom. My wife texted me saying the ewe had not delivered her second lamb yet; so the cries I heard were from a new born.

We bred about 60 ewes.

[BCSnob]

This time of year I appreciate the older ewes. There was a new set of twins; mom had cleaned up both and both lambs were laying contently sunggled up next to mom.

3 sets of triplets
10 sets of twins

[BCSnob]

Another set of triplets but one was tiny and did not survive.
Time to bottle feed the first triplet.

3 sets of triplets (1 very small one died)
9 sets of twins

[BCSnob]

Okay, it wasn't a prolapse. It was the ewe's waterbag that started coming out last night around 8pm but she stopped having contractions by 8:30pm. The Vet pulled a lamb that was breach (butt first) which was dead and a very premature lamb that died right after birth.

The ewe was treated (oxytocin, vitamin B, antibiotics); we'll continue the course of antibiotics and feed her up until she is fit to be sold to auction.

[BCSnob]

[BCSnob]

Yesterday brought us a set of triples and there was a set of twins this morning. This morning the little triplet lamb sucked down 8oz of milk (1/2 a bottle). We have a first for us in the 15 years of keeping sheep, a vaginal prolapse; my wife will need help today (while I'm at work) with someone holding the ewe and another person putting it all back in. She may end up calling for a farm visit from a vet.

2 sets of triplets
9 sets of twins

[BCSnob]

Total as of 5am March 2:
1 set of triplets
8 sets of twins

[Little_Kopit]

BCSnob wrote:
Another set of twins this afternoon.

I'm staring to wonder if the little triple has learned how to nurse off mom; the lamb's belly was fuller than I expected at the last bottle feeding.

Fingers crossed for little one.

:W

[BCSnob]

Another set of twins this afternoon.

I'm staring to wonder if the little triple has learned how to nurse off mom; the lamb's belly was fuller than I expected at the last bottle feeding.

[Crowe]

The little triplet is starting to accept a bottle

Yay! Fingers crossed!

[BCSnob]

The little triplet is starting to accept a bottle

[Uppercrust]

Hoping the little triplet makes it.

[BCSnob]

We still have some major renovations left; repair the double decker porches, remodel the existing full bath, add a master bath, refinish the heart pine floors, paint the exterior, replace the back stoop and porch, etc. then we'll move onto the repairs needed on the barns,

4 sets of twins were born this morning; had to sort out the mothers on 4 of the lambs because the moms were out in the snow eating hay in the field.

[rockhillmanor]

Sound like an excellent plan. More people should do it that way. :C

BTW: It's been a few years if I remember correctly when you bought the new big place. Did you manage to get all the renovations done that you wanted? :W

[BCSnob]

The sale prices are highest in the fall so we target 8+ month old lambs for the late fall; we also want to use the lambs in our annual sheepdog trial on our farm at the end of Sept. This means we breed all the ewes in the fall right after our trial. We typically leave the rams in for 6 weeks which means our lambs are born within 6 weeks after 5 months gestation.

We have a breed of sheep that are very good mothers and rarely need help to deliver. I check in the morning when I get up for work (between 4am-5am), my wife checks throughout the day, and one of us checks before bed. Over 90% of the lambs will need no special attention. We record births (and losses) by ewe ID and then ear tag lambs in groups recoding the lamb ID with the ewe ID. We record lambing issues so that we can cull ewes that are not productive enough, have milk production issues, or not good mothers (can only count to 2 when they have 3).

We want ewes that deliver 2 large lambs on their own, raise those lambs without any help on hay & some grain in the winter and grass (when it's growing), and lambs that require little deworming. So we select for those genetics in our ewes and cull ewes that don't meet these requirements. As our flock gets closer to these ideals we have less work during lambing time.

[rockhillmanor]

Great Pictures!
Do you breed them all at the same time or stagger them?

That must be crazy having them born all at the same time! When do you guys get to sleep during lambing season?! :C