Filly, another fabulous first-timer

Filly lambed yesterday in the early afternoon.  She had a single ewe lamb.  She's brown and will most likely lighten and look like Filly.  My small helper named her Pawlonia. 

Tricot was standing by to "help," as usual.

We still have five ewes yet to lamb. They're all experienced mothers ... and they all have huge bellies!

Cashew is just like a pro

For a first timer, Cashew did a great job. She delivered lamb #1 around 6 AM (right in the middle of a thunderstorm!).  It's a little white girl who we've named Mimosa.  She looks just like daddy Feldspar.

There was no long wait for lamb #2.  Cashew's second lamb is a black ewe with gorgeous spots on her head.  We've named her Myrtle. I'm not sure if she will stay black or lighten up. 

Cashew had her little ewes up and nursing in no time.  It's impressive, especially considering that these girls were quite a bit early.  The other great thing about Cashew: she's so calm when I need to work with her and her lambs. 

Pistachio keeps us guessing

We didn't know Pistachio's due date because she was not marked (read about marking harnesses here if you don't know what I'm talking about). Presumably, the weather was too cold for the crayon to work. 
Going by her appearance, we've been watching her for about five days. 

When I went to the barn to check on Macadamia this morning, I saw that Pistachio was having contractions as well.  She didn't seem to be pushing too hard, so I thought she might have awhile.  Next time I looked, I saw her water bag.  Within fifteen minutes, her first lamb was out and the second followed less than five minutes later. 

Firstborn is a ewe lamb who looks exactly like momma.  She's brown with sugar lips, so she'll probably look exactly like momma when she grows up, too.  We've named her Laurel.

Laurel was followed by a big ram lamb.  He's mostly brown, and he's already starting to lighten up.  We've named him Linden.

Pistachio was a little freaked out at first (compounded by the fact that it's almost impossible to keep birthing fluids --and smells-- separate when lambing is occurring simultaneously), but she's doing fine now.

Macadamia has help

I heard tell-tale moaning coming from the barn this morning, and I could see on the monitor that it was not Pistachio.  I ran out to see who it was and found Macadamia with a baby on the way.  Macadamia wasn't due until next Tuesday, so it was a surprise.  (Anyone other than Pistachio would have been a surprise!)  Pistachio was also laboring, but more about that in a later blog post.

Macadamia was in the barn with Tricot.  She's been by the side of every ewe who has lambed so far this year (except for Tiffany, not sure why).  Macadamia delivered her lamb all by herself, but Tricot did help her with the licking.

 I put Macadamia and baby in a jug, and Tricot transferred her licking attentions to Pistachio's offspring.

Macadamia's lamb is a ewe.  She's all brown.  She looks like daddy Feldspar did when he was a lamb, except for the fact that she's not white.  We've named her Willow.

Willow is a bit of a preemie, but so far she's doing great.  Macadamia is an enthusiastic (and loud) mother.  

Some Sad News

With Henrietta having lambed, we thought the most challenging part of lambing season was over. 

Tiffany's lamb, Juniper, died last night.  She seemed okay when she was born.  She was less wiggly than the norm when I clipped and dipped her, but I didn't think it was anything too abnormal.  I saw Juniper latch on and nurse, I was confident in Tiffany's skills as a mother. 

We checked a lot during the day.  Juniper seemed a little droopy, but until early evening, nothing seemed wrong.  At our early evening check, we noticed that she had lost the ability to suck.  Scott stayed in the barn most of the night milking Tiffany and feeding Juniper with a syringe, but she still died around four o'clock this morning.

There are quite a few things that could have went wrong.  Juniper was not early, but Tiffany did deliver her four days before she delivered Galena (so not early for a sheep, but early for Tiffany).  It could have been a virus or a birthing injury or some sort of unseen physical problem.

Now we need to do everything we can for Tiffany.  We need to make sure there's nothing physically wrong with her.  We need to keep her from getting mastitis.  Also, according to what we've read, a lot of ewes who lose lambs get depressed and die, and we don't want that to happen. 

Tiffany: A little too much togetherness

Tiffany lambed this morning.  Despite her massive belly, she had a single ewe lamb.  The lamb is dark brown, and currently looks a lot like daddy Chert.  We've named her Juniper.

Tiffany is a good (although loud) sport when it comes to lambing, and she loves babies.  She's okay with being near me. In a lot of cases, that's a good thing.  It's not such a good thing when her afterbirth is dangling about two inches from my face....

Photo cropped.  You're welcome.

Multi-Species Baby Photos

Magnolia & Mahogany

Sycamore

Barack O'Llama guarding his new charges.

Mahogany & small humans

Mahogany

A visit from the calves.

Peanut, Aspen, & Acacia

Sycamore meets Sally.

Magnolia, Sycamore, & Aspen

Finally, Henrietta

Henrietta has been keeping us waiting all week.  Although she was only two days late, which is not out of the ordinary, we had been watching her for days.  She's usually a few days early, and she's needed help before.

Henrietta started baaing around 4:30 AM this morning.  She'd expelled her water bag, and was laboring pretty hard.  We watched her for a while and decided to pull.  The lamb was in a normal position (yay), but seemed to be too large.

And he is large.  Most of the ewes would have struggled with this big guy, and Henrietta is a small ewe.

Henrietta's lamb is a solid black ram.  He looks like a lot like big sis Macadamia.  We've named him Buckthorn. 

I took some pictures of Elsie's, Elvira's, and Peanut's lambs while getting the barn ready for the next due ewes.  I'm going to try to get them on the blog today or early tomorrow, so be sure to check back.

Peanut's Big Surprise

Twins!

I never expect my first time moms to have twins.  In my experience, it's rare for them to do so.  Peanut herself is a single, so it's even more unlikely. 

Peanut delivered her first lamb around 10 AM.  He's a white ram, and we've named him Aspen.  He looks like his momma (and other relations of Sandy).

The second lamb followed at around 10:30.  We've named her Acacia.  She's gulmoget (Shetland pattern that's dark on the top and light on the belly with markings by the eyes) just like grandma Elvira.  I think she's dark brown, rather than black, but she's so dark it's hard to tell. 

You wouldn't know by looking at them, but their daddy is Chert. 

Sassafras and Sycamore meeting little sister Acacia.

Elsie's Easter lambs

We could hear Elsie digging a hole yesterday morning around 5 AM.  We decided to sleep a little longer, and when we checked a little before 7 AM, we saw a lamb.  By the time we arrived at the barn, there were two lambs up and about.  Yay for a speedy twin delivery.  (Although it did take her forever to deliver her afterbirth.)

Elsie's first lamb is a light brown ewe.  We've named her Sassafras, and the boys are already calling her Sassy.  We've never had a lamb this color, so it's pretty exciting for us. 

Elsie's second lamb is a dark brown ram with spots.  His name is Sycamore.  I love his spots.  His horn buds are light colored, which is why you can see them so clearly in the pictures.  

Their daddy is Chert (if you couldn't tell from looking at Sycamore!).

Two more ewes are really close to their due dates and we have some non-sheep stuff going on, so we're really, really busy right now. 

Shearing Day 2015

Feldspar's before

Feldspar's after (with a nervous Pecan)

Peat's before, with Professional Small Sheep Catcher

Peat's after.  He's such a gorgeous color of grey!

Chert is a lovely dark chocolate brown color.

Marble and Sandy think white (and white-ish) are good colors, too.

Some pregnant bellies! 

As soon as the last sheep was sheared it started to rain.  By late evening, it was storming and now the pasture looks like this:

See the tree stump?  A cedar tree fell into the road (not the fence--whew) and the chicken coop lost its top again.  Since the chickens don't sleep in it anymore, it's going to be moving out of the field today.  Add that to the other post-shearing and lambing stuff we need to do today, and it's going to be another very busy day.