Not Quite Halfway

We’re not quite halfway yet with lambing, but far enough along that there seem to be lambs of all ages bouncing around now. We have the gentle newborns that stay close to mom and then settle down in the straw for naps and we have the frisky 3-week-old lambs that gallop and pronk this way and that, marvelling at the strength of their legs it seems.

So many people wonder about what animals do in the snow. Well, sheep don’t really mind snow but lambs can get chilled if they are small or not well-fed. We sheared the vast majority of our ewes the first week in January in preparation for lambing. The dorsets and the CVMs needed longer wool to be useful at the mill so we left it on for a future spring shearing. So we keep extra watch over their lambs because the mama ewes don’t realize how cold the wet snow is and happily hang out in the falling snow. Last night as the heavy snow was falling we took 2013 and her recently born twins and popped them all back in a stall for the night so the lambs didn’t get chilled for this very reason.

So far there are only those two bottle lambs from the CVM/Romeldale who had mastitis. Yesterday Penny started to switch them over to a bucket feeder so they can self-feed as much as they want/need. However, getting them transitioned to the bucket feeder with its bigger nipple size is like converting your child to a new bottle. It takes some convincing for sure!

The ram lamb, Hughey, likes this abundant food source, while Patty, the ewe lamb, is still not convinced!

Some lambs are clearly growing well so we don’t weigh them as often (in part because they’re harder to catch!). Some lambs, like Patty and Hughey, that are relying on milk replacer for a significant portion of their nutrition, are monitored with regular weighing, at least in these early weeks. So far they have been putting on our usual growth for a set of twins (1/2lb per day). Nothing exceptionally good or bad, just average.