# And So the Waiting Game Begins



## TheSheepGirl (Jan 29, 2012)

I am anxiously awaiting this lambing season as it will be my first. I am playing the wait, see, and guess, game and it is killing me!

I have one ewe that is due to lamb this season. Her name is Ninja and she is a Miniature Katahdin/Gotland cross. She is a small ewe, 22" tall and about 40-50lbs. I'd guess. If she is bred it will be to my Shetland ram Lenny who is 14" tall and weighs about 30-40lbs. She was in with him for a 2 month period from November to December and then I separated them again. I am expecting at least a twinning from her if she is bred since her mother is part Finn and gives quadruplets and twinned her first lambing. 

I am feeding her all the grass hay she can eat as well as 1/4 pound of my special grain mixture twice daily. My grain mixture consists of 2 parts rolled oats/1 part white millet/1 part red millet/1 part corn. I mix in about 1/4 cup each of soybean meal and calf manna at each feeding. She is in a 1/2 acre pasture, but the winter grazing here is very poor and that is why I supplement with grain in the winter. 

I am really hating this waiting game, but she is looking a bit bigger to me and her stomach is getting tighter when I feel it. She has about 4" of wool on her now, but is nicely crutched and ready for the lambs if she is bred. 

I have the lambing stall all ready to go. It is an 8'x10' 3 sided shed with a 3' plywood fence and gate on the front side. It is nice and warm and free of drafts.

I am ready, so let the lambing commence!


----------



## bonbean01 (Jan 29, 2012)

Awww...the waiting game...I know it too well!!!  We thought with our ewes getting larger and starting to bag up just before Christmas that we'd gotten our breeding dates wrong.  Luckily our ewes were patient with the udder and girl parts being checked regularly...LOLOLOL.  First lambs came second week of January and last ewe lambed two weeks later.  Very long waiting game!!!!  This is our fourth year of having lambs, so you'd think we'd have this figured out by now!

Good luck and wishing you beautiful lambies!!!!!


----------



## carolinagirl (Jan 30, 2012)

I am playing the waiting game right now too.  My ewe, Penny, has a nice full udder on her so the babies should come any time!  It's not her first time so she should be able to handle this on her own. I can't wait!


----------

