We are lambing! We have had 8 Ewes to lamb. (I lost the first Churrio Navaho twins) That ewe walked them to death! (I did not realize they would do that!) Then I had a Katahdin ewe with twins and she lost one of them on day 3 it just died.
Starting Tuesday of this week the real lambing began! Perfect weather for it too! We had 13 lambs born! All were doing great! Then the cold rain set in this morning. I thought “they will be okay”…They had shelter if they wanted it…Clearly “this” shepherdess was not thinking! I lost one lamb to the cold! (man I hate that!) My fault! Abilene tried to help me get it warm and back …But we were too late…
This evening after I came back from running errands I had daylight and Drover and I set out to put the sheep in the barn. What a wreck!
Herding lambs 2 days old is like hemming up marbles that have been cast out on a hardwood floor! Not impossible but a real job!
It was raining not real hard but that steady wet you thru anything you have on…And cold! The ground is sloppy, slick, wet, and muddy. The terraces are full of water. While we need the rain and I am most thankful for it! I should have put my ewes up in the barn this morning. Add to the fact that at this age the lambs do not understand who their Mothers are and the Ewes do not know either with out smelling! Recipe for a mess!
So Drover and I went down and let the sheep into the yard. My thought was let them come to the yard and eat grass on their own less stress on the lambs. (I got that part correct!) Then we would ease the sheep and lambs up to the barn. I did not count on the draw of the grass.
Let me say my dog worked his heart out for me! We worked carefully and and easily at first …But things started going wrong. Sheep would not leave the grass. Lambs were 2 days old! Some ewes wanted to fight the dog. It was raining! We worked for 3 hours. As the daylight faded I got less patience with the sheep and the dog and I was hurrying! Drover picked up on it and started doing what he thought needed doing and fast! I yelled! (not repeating what I said) At one point Les came out and said you do not have to fuss like that! (and I did not ! need to!)
Well all the sheep were in the barn and I was missing two lambs! So Drover and I went to find them! It was dark now! They were laying in the field together! I slipped up on them and reached down to pick them up thinking wow this is easy! The little squirts ran for the hills! The rodeo was on! 7 acres and two lambs and how in the world could I catch them!?! I had no idea who their Momma was or I would have brought her down! But they would not have followed any other ewe!
Finally I had Drover catch them and fetch them to me! One from the woods and the other from the top of the dam! He carried them to me and laid them at my feet! I am just hoping and praying that they are okay and not too stressed to live! The one seems fine the other still seems stressed! Morning will tell!
This story is NOT over…We had to put sheep where they would go into the barn. So it took some time to figure out what lamb belonged to which ewe! Then I had to move them round!
I think I will start putting a collar on the lambs as they are born! That way I will know who belongs with who!!!
Drover did a good job and proved his worth! Plus he is not mad at me:-) But he should be!
I knew better than to leave the lambs out in this weather! Will not happen again!
We have 12 lambs and 13 ewes still to lamb! (we have lost 5 lambs) 4 were unknown reasons 1 to the cold/ rain…
One ewe had 4 lambs the rest have been twins but for 1!
