New Lambs!

We have a number of ewes who look like any minute they will go in to labor, but they've looked that way for three days! Nate was up every two hours last night to check on our Jacobs ewe. She was larger than we had ever seen her and had twinned the past two years. She waited until I had gone to work to go into labor.. Nate was on the phone to me a number of times this morning with concerns over time, presentation, etc. Well, Jacobs did well. She gave us twins, a ram and an ewe. These babies are 1/2 Jacobs, 1/4 shetland, 1/4 suffolk, so we knew they would be bigger than our pure shetlands. Well, they were. 10 lbs. 6 ounces, and 11 pounds! Big, vigorous babies.

As Nate was finishing up with Jacobs, he noticed that Sugar was going into labor. Sugar is the twin to Plum who lambed on Saturday. The labor went well, but the lamb was unable to stand. She is strong enough to nurse well if held up, and has a good sucking reflex, but is still unable to stand. She weighed in at 5lbs. 5 ounces, with no visible deformities. So far we have treated her with nutridrench, BoSe, and vitamin B. Any other ideas? I plan on giving her assistance to nurse a few times tonight, and just give her some time. She tries to stand, but can't. She does have movement of all her legs and tail. Time will tell.
Kizzy and Scar look to be next, but I'm not placing any bets!
Sugar's ewe lamb.

Jacob's ram lamb, 10 lbs. 6 ounces pounds! (somehow the ewe lamb picture didn't load, I'll try again tomorrow.

One of these things is not like the other...

If you look passed the messy nesting box, to the contents, do you notice one egg that looks quite different? More like a turkey egg than a chicken egg perhaps? Yup, our turkey hen laid her first egg today, and she was kind enough to do it in a nesting box in the coop so that I could collect. Now to get enough to incubate...

Busy Day with an extra surprise!

Backwards order on the photos, darn blogger.

Johanna, first lamb of 2010.

Kelly, Kohen, and Lily supervising Brian Fitzpatrick's work.

Fleecy girls, before.

Poor Jacobs, look at that swollen belly and growing bag. It will be less than a week for those babies!

Setting the last beam on the barn.

So, in the past 15 hours we have been busy. The garage has been converted to a lambing barn, complete with four jugs, and the ewes have been moved on in. All 17 sheep have been sheared and given CD&T vaccinations. The barn now has beams on top of the posts. With some nice handworked mortise and tenons. I also squeaked in time for a batch of yogurt, 2 loaves of bread, and lamb stew. Add that on top of the regular chores of milking the goat, feeding the chickens and turkeys, and you can understand why this is the first moment I've had to sit for more than ten minutes today.

Add in one brand new lamb as a surprise to this eventful day! Earlier this morning I had noticed that Plum was down at the bottom of the pasture alone, I thought it a bit odd, and even said something to Nate, but when she saw me approach the fence she quickly came back up to join the others. I moved the ewe flock to the garage (thank goodness for portable fencing and a husband and dad assisting!) and then went into the house to make lunch for the guys who were busy placing beams on the barn. We ate, and headed back out to work on the barn. You can imagine my shock when I check on the ewes and there was a brand new, wet lamb in the middle of the flock! She was walking around trying to figure out which of these wooly critters was her mom. I quickly realized Plum was her mom and we moved them into a jug. Nate and I were gasping in shock and shaking our heads the whole time. Plum came to our flock 1 1/2 years ago along with her mom Kizzy, and twin sister Sugar, from Rayna at Northstar Shetlands . She was not bred last year so this was her first lambing and she was a trooper! The ewe lamb is a bit early, the rams weren't put in until the last week in October. (Of course I can't remember the exact date unless I looked back on the blog.) I've checked bags on my usual early lambers- Jacobs and Kizzy and was expecting either of them to be first this year.

Well, after shearing it was obvious that we have a number of very pregnant girls! Jacobs and Kizzy are both much bigger than last year, as is Scar. Fiona looks smaller, but is bagging up nicely so it is anybody's guess. I was most excited to see Anna's rounded belly and growing bag. Our little girl is finally going to have a baby! It feels much longer than two years since we were coaxing her through life in the mudroom.

Back to the baby! Nate's buddy Johann brought his mini excavator over today to help set the beams on the posts for the barn. He also cleaned up what will be the inside floor of the barn, did some ditch work and scraped up all the excess hay that was left in the field from feeding round bales this winter. That was disheartening, well over $200 worth of hay wasted by my picky sheep. Not sure it was worth it to feed lower grade large bales, even though it was much more convenient for us. They just wasted so much. I know that they were able to get enough good feed out of it because they all look to be in great condition, but what a mess to clean up.

Ok, I have a lot of barn and sheep pictures to post, but they'll have to wait till tomorrow, even my fingers are slowing down now!

New Face in the Flock

Anyone recognize this adorable ewe?

If you follow Sabrina, you might. Yes, it's Darla Gay. Sabrina's precious love, who is quickly finding her own spot in our hearts. Thank you Sabrina!
Her fleece and nonpolled (that means she carries the trait for horns) did not fit with Sabrina's goals for her flock, so she moved northeast in Minnesota a bit. We were excited to make the drive to Boston Lake Farm to pick up this sweet girl. My boys also had a great time running around and playing with the big boys.
She is settling in well. I usually quarantine new arrivals, but do to pasturing constraints and the fact that none of my girls have had spring 'work' yet (worming, CD&T shots, hoof trimming, or shearing) I felt comfortable enough to move her in with the other ewes.
There was a bit of sniffing, and much maaing, but no severe antics. I was more distressed to look in the ram pasture and realize that Daisy has started my shearing a week early. Bright fluffs of Marshmallow's fleece are littering the pasture. You might remember that she was kicked out of the ewe pen for harassing Scar with much of the same treatment. I had hoped that the boys would be a bit more assertive and curb her nasty ways. She has toys, and lots of room to run, but loves to torment which ever sheep she has singled out. If I weren't so worried about fox and wolves (my dad just spotted one within a mile of our place) I would not feel a need for her presence.

In other flock news, we are shearing one week from today. Brian Fitzparick again has the honors. The following week brings the first possibility of lambs. Lots to do in a short amount of time to be ready. Tomorrow brings another spinning day with a local group of ladies, and I also am registered for a booth at the Iron Range Earth Fest on April 17th. Plus planting a garden and general spring farm work, but more on that later.

On the drive to Sabrina's the boys and I were discussing Darla. Isaiah could say her name well. However, when we were at Sabrina's and I asked him to tell me the name of the new sheep his response was "Mine!" We'll see how that plays out...

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Mother Nature is a Tease

Annafleece watching her "Dad" out in the pasture.

Manda and Shrek.

The 14 ewes trying to figure out what Nate is doing. Notice Annafleece's position, directly behind him. No comfortable distance there!

54 degrees on March 7th! Not a very common occurrence in northern Minnesota. I know that we will still get more snow and miserable cold, but a girl can hope!

The snow is disappearing very quickly. We had big plans to head in town for the arrival of sled dogs and mushers in the WolfTrack Classic Sled Dog Race, and a free movie. Unfortunately the trail disintegrated so much today that they had to cancel the race. Even without the sled dogs, the boys and I headed to town for a quick bite to eat and the free movie "Snow Dogs." The boys were very well behaved and loved the movie.

Nate took advantage of the nice weather and remaining snow cover to burn one of the large piles of brush in the pasture. The ewes decided to venture out to investigate. I love how no one wants to venture in the untouched snow, they all traveled single file in the truck tracks that Nate left behind. Fiona, our icelandic, was in the lead most of the way, until Anna ventured up to check and see if Nate had treats for her. As I headed out in the pasture I held a bag of animal crackers over my head and hollered to the ewes. Kizzy was the first to break rank and lumber her baby heavy body across the snow. Kizzy will do anything for a cookie, just say the word cookie!

They are all getting big, lambing could start in 3 weeks! We have shearing scheduled for the 27th, about the same time as last year. Last year I fretted about shearing so close to lambing but it was the date that worked for our shearer. We had no problems, and he is so gentle with the girls I don't forsee any problems this year. Our lambing area will again be in the garage this year. Nate's schedule has been so busy that the barn will not be built until this summer. I don't mind-it's nice to have such a short walk for the nighttime lamb checks. Plus, the cameras work best at a shorter distance! Last year we set up with a large pen for the ewes and three jugs. There was only one night we needed to throw together a fourth jug last season, so three should be enough.

Milking Feta each morning is getting me up a bit earlier, good practice for lambing season. We've made ice cream and yogurt this week from the goat milk. Both turned out very good. I even made granola yesterday to go with the yogurt. A perfect breakfast! I am still milking twice per day, but afternoon production has gone down drastically. I think the main cause is Brie, she is growing very fast. I've also noticed that she eats more when the goats are outside for most of the day. More exercise equals more eating. My plan is to begin penning Brie each night and then milking only in the morning, letting Brie have free eats all day.

Ok, I best go get ready for another work week, and bed. Have a wonderful week everyone!