# Remuda1-Haps and Mishaps at KB Farms - Poor little Lambies ;)



## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2012)

New to sheep since spring 2011. Livestock background is in horses. Have had those since I was a kid.

1.    What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? North Central Texas, fairly mild winters, HOT, HUMID summers
2.    How many people are in your family? Marital status? Two, my husband and I
3.    How would you define your farm?  Small, growing
4.    What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? Build a barn large enough to house everything I have with room for expansion and fence the other 1/2 of the property for sheep
5.    Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?  No, no, see above
6.    Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? No
7.    Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer? No one, have always loved animals.  No one else in my immediate family, other than husband shares this.
8     Is it a hobby or an occupation? Both
9.    In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more? Knowlegeable about equines, need to learn more about rearing sheep
10.  In what types of farming will you never choose to do? Crop
11.   Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply? Yes
12.   Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? A simpler time and place
13.   Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi? Yes, no
14.   Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? Yes, maybe
15.   Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds? Yes. Horses, sheep
16.   Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood? Yes, wood
17.   Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? Yes. Carrots, tomatoes, squash, cantelope, cucumber, lettuce, broccoli, peppers, onions, many more
18.   Do you fish? Bait or explosives? Yes, bait.
19.   How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country? Own twenty acres, country
20.   Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed? Not degreed
21.   What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? Previously, breeding, raising, training and running thoroughbred race horses, now Dorper sheep
22.   If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take? This one is taking too much thought.....
23.   Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet? Used to make rustic furniture
24.   Are you interested in herbal animal medicine? No
25.   If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? Somewhere that you could not see a neighbors house for a few miles
26.    Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? No
27.    What would your ideal super hero/villain be? ??
28.    Are your family or friends also interested in animals? No
29.    Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs? Yes, yes, no, yes
30.   What was your best animal experience? Worst? Best was winning my first race out as a licensed trainer with my favorite horse.  It was his first win as well and he is still in my pasture, enjoying retirement now.  The worst experience is having to make the decision to euthanize any animal.  Worst part of animal ownership.
31.    Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? No
32.    What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm? ??
33.    Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve? I have only processed a rooster.  I think if my husband were more involved in it, I would do much more.
34.   Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to? No. Yes, wind
35    What is on your to do list? Right now, just getting my first lambs sold and getting through the rest of my first lambing season without any additional complications at lambing time
36.   Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
37.   In what do you trust? My God, my family, my animals
38.  Do you make and fix things yourself to save money? Yes
39.  Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits? Have never been without animals so I guess rather than "changing" anything, it has more specifically helped to shape who I am today.

So there's that.... I am awake at this hour because I have two bottle lambs that spend the night in my garage.  I set my alarm to feed them and have been having a lot of trouble falling back to sleep after that even though it only takes a few minutes.  I've been up since 3:00 now.  Gonna check the radar and if it's not raining, go walk a few miles.  Then come home and start the chores.  

I have seven ewes (all dorpers) still to lamb and three that look very close.  Temps are s'posed to drop this weekend, sooooo.  Five lambs on the ground now.  Two singles that are close to finding new homes or going to market.  One set of twins that were born on the 30th of Jan., one of which was rejected the next morning by the ewe and one bottle baby that I got from a friend to keep the rejected lamb company.  

So, here's the first entry in my journal.... I appreciate BYH for providing this area to allow us to share our experiences and knowledge.


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## 77Herford (Feb 10, 2012)

Good luck with the Sheep adventure.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 11, 2012)

Thank you 77.  I think I'll need that luck .  It has been so cold today.  Our winter thus far has been so mild that this shot of winter weather has been like a slap in the face.  Temps in the 20s this morning and wind chills in the teens.  Makes chores so much more challenging.  But it's all good..... Got everything done but noticed that even the bottle babies had to break out the winter gear, LOL 






When I got back to the house, I decided that chicken stew was a must for dinner this evening.  Yum, yum!  Cut up chicken breast, carrots, onions, yellow squash, zuchini squash, green beans, kernal corn, purple, red and white fingerling potatoes, a finely chopped jalapeno, marjoram, sage, thyme and a hint of cayenne pepper.  Add a couple of pieces of fresh, french baguette to soak in the stew....OMG, heaven 

We are having a little work done on our driveway entry.  It's always had an old, old, rickety rockwork entry so we had it remodeled a bit.  It used to consist of two rock pillars on each side with a low rock wall connecting them.  We had the pillars nearest the drive on both sides torn out, along with the rock walls.  We had the two pillars rebuilt with a 4" steel pipe in the center to anchor steel pins to support gates and used steel pipe in between the pillars.  Heres what it looks like so far. You can tell the pillars on the outsides are still the old rockwork, but that's all right.






We're talking to someone to install an automatic gate with a keypad and that's no problem.....But we also want an intercom at the gate and a button in the house that will control the gate so that we don't have to give fedex or ups or our vendors the code to the gate.  Sounds pretty simple, huh?  NOT!!  LOL, we have to go to Fort Worth to the manufacturer to see if they can hook us up with all of that.... We'll see  .  I've wanted a gate (any kind of gate) since we moved in here 14 years ago so I'm looking forward to having this project completed.  

Bottle lambs are tucked into their crate in the garage and will get another bottle at 9 tonight.  I think I'm going to start spreading out the feedings tomorrow.  They are doing great and look so sweet until they see a baby bottle then they turn into piranhas!!!  Devil lambs.  Their appetites are very very good.  I don't really know when they are supposed to start showing an interest in pellets.  They are trying to nibble hay and alfalfa but they seem like they are just gumming it to death.  Although, when they catch one of my fingers in their mouths I can certainly tell they have teeth!!  Piranhas, I tell you!  They are starting to leap into the air and run/buck just for the thrill/fun of it.  I enjoy seeing them thrive like that.  I'm sure that I did the right thing bringing the other bottle baby home for the little ram.  They take a lot of comfort in eachother's presence.  

On a bummer note, had a lady that was supposed to come buy several dozen eggs today and she's a no show.  But.... I have a regular customer coming on Monday to pick up 6 dozen.  That will free up some room in the fridge 

Oh well, I guess that's it for now. Hope you all have a wonderful night, I think I'll get hubby to start a fire in the fireplace.


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Feb 11, 2012)

Cute baby outerwear.  And I love the entry to your lane.  Very nice.  Good luck with the gate / intercom work.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 12, 2012)

Wow.....so sleepy this evening.  Seems like I didn't get to sit down and put my feet up until 8:00 pm.  Day started cold, cold, cold again.  Chores weren't too bad this morning.  I'd been trying to decide how I wanted to separate the ewes that are getting close to lambing and reintegrating the ewes that lambed in December.  Sooo, I penned them all up and enlisted my husband to help sort.  I only had three that I wanted to keep up, along with the ewe that just lambed on the 30th and her lamb.  Two ewes and their lambs to go back out into the big pasture with the rest of the flock. I kind of hate to send them out there since one of them is the friendliest ewe that I have.  She was also my first lambing ever and it was a difficult lambing that I had to assist with. Anyhow, I think the ram is glad to have them back out there since they are the only open ewes on the place, LOL.  It will only be a few weeks until those lambs head of to market.  

I've decided to sell all of the first crop of babies.  It will be nice to RECEIVE a couple of checks rather than writing them!  Speaking of which, I need to call my feed man and get him to deliver a load of alfalfa. I finally got everyone situated the way I wanted them for sleeping arrangements.  I have the three pregnant ewes together in the lambing pen, the ewe with the week and a half old lamb in the 5X10 jug and the two ewes with older lambs in a stall together since it's snowing and sleeting and raining... I didn't want the babies to get bullied out of the shelter by the rest of the flock.  In the morning, the flock will go to pasture, along with the two ewes and their babies.  The three preggos and the ewe with the week and a halfer will stay in the maternity paddock.  

Had to break ice in the troughs this morning.  That really must be my least favorite winter chore.  It wasn't too thick though, last year was the thickest I've ever seen it and it was about 5 inches thick at one time.  All I could do is keep a little hole open that was just big enough for the horses muzzles to fit in.  I hope to get up in the morning to a new lamb.  This is not likely to happen, but I can hope for it.  

The bottle babies are going cold turkey overnight tonight for the first time.  I think they'll do just fine.  I have gradually increased their bottles and both are growing well.  I'll be weighing them tomorrow evening.  I wonder what they'll think of the snow in the morning....if it's still here .  I'll post pics if I can get them.  I'm sure there'll be no progress on the gate renovations tomorrow.  Too cold and sloppy.  

Oddly enough, the hens are still laying very well even through this cold snap.  They were so funny, running around eating the sleet pellets this afternoon.  Oh...and good news, the no show egg buyer showed up today and I made the sale.  That coupled with the sale tomorrow will buy those girls another bag of layer pellets .

Hubby and I had to go pick up our backhoe from a jobsite early this evening as well.  They had cleared a lot and burned the brush but we needed to get it out of there before the weather prevented us being able to do that.  Looks like he'll be home for a good part of the morning due to the weather.  

I'll close for now, will be nice to get an entire night of uninterrupted sleep....At least that's my plan


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## RemudaOne (Feb 13, 2012)

Yuck. This isn't going to be fun this morning. It's raining right now and the roosters are yelling to be let out but rain should stop within 20-30 minutes so they can wait. Mid to Upper 40s for the high today. High tomorrow 63 with a low of 54. Gotta love Texas weather


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## 77Herford (Feb 13, 2012)

Well at least your getting rain now.  We are just now getting our first Snow of any amount this year.  Normally this time of year there should of been around 20 inches...we are behind.  

For the Chickens that I allow to free range, I just open their little door but on cold days like this they usually don't leave the coop.


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## jodief100 (Feb 13, 2012)

You are makign me hungry!!!


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## RemudaOne (Feb 13, 2012)

77, I have a high school friend who is a rural route postal carrier. She lives in Harlan, Iowa, but delivers in a neighboring town. She had to cut her route short about a week or so ago because she went into the ditch. BUT she says she can't complain because y'all have had a mild one thus far. 

Jodie, I made a huge pot, come getcha some  . It's like fine wine....better after a day or two.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 13, 2012)

Well, as expected the chores were a mucky mess this morning, lol  . But all went well and I managed to stay on my two feet throughout....always a plus. And this afternoon, the sun came out and it was beautiful. Went from bundle up weather in the morning, to a tee shirt in the afternoon. I came in from chores and pulled the eggs from the fridge to inspect them for my customer. He had originally asked for five dozen then called back for six. I told him that I *should* have that many. Soooo, as I am opening cartons, I realize that they're not all full. I don't know why my husband does this,  . So I start pooling what I've got. I get down to inspecting the last carton and I have just enough. Then I drop one..... I said a couple of not very nice words and ran out to the coop. I had ONE hen sitting on a nest and no eggs in any of the other nest boxes. So I begged her pardon and grabbed a feel under the hen. THANK YOU!!!! nice and warm, haha  . Got the eggs delivered in time and got back home to finish work.

After I put the two bottle lambs in their pen in the barn, I pulled the crate that they sleep in out of the garage, removed all of the soiled hay (used for bedding) and the feed sack I was using as a liner under the hay and washed the whole thing down. I had picked up large breed puppy training pads the last time at the grocery to use instead of feed sacks so I put those in there and added fresh hay for bedding and fresh water in their bucket.  Turns out though that since it turned out such a nice day, they are spending their very first night out in the barn like the big sheep do, lol. Just got back from their final bottle feeding and all was well. I've got a heat lamp securely hung for them to get under if they wish so they should do great.

I took them with me on a walk down to the mailbox today. They are a pain in the patootie, but I sure do get a kick out of them. Growing SO fast!  They come on the run when I bleat at them, haha  .  I go and let them out of their pen two or three times a day so that they can enjoy themselves and so that they can play with the twin that the ewe did not reject. This does not sit well with the ewe as she's a little overprotective still. Of course, it's only been two weeks since she had them. The ewes with the older lambs RUN from them so they are pretty well halfway weaned now and the ewes udders are diminishing a bit. 

Talked to the manufacturer for our entryway gate and all is good and they have everything that we need. Glad that is headed in the right direction now. 

Will close for now. Goodnight y'all.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 14, 2012)

WooHoo!  We're lambing .  I couldn't tell for sure because I didn't want to turn the overhead lights on, but it may be twins.  I think I saw two water bags.  I've come back to the house because this ewe is very flighty and I don't want to disturb her.  I went down at 5:00 to bottle feed the lambs and noticed her condition.  Will keep you posted!


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## jodief100 (Feb 14, 2012)




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## RemudaOne (Feb 14, 2012)

Sadly, it was not the water bag but a portion of the placenta.  Little ewe lamb didn't make it.  It looked as if the ewe had been at it for a very long time because all of the fluids were very dark orange and pretty dry.  If I had pulled when I first found her, it may have made it.  Rookie mistake

ETA:  Starting to doubt whether I have the right stuff to be a shepherd........


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## jodief100 (Feb 14, 2012)

RemudaOne said:
			
		

> Sadly, it was not the water bag but a portion of the placenta.  Little ewe lamb didn't make it.  It looked as if the ewe had been at it for a very long time because all of the fluids were very dark orange and pretty dry.  If I had pulled when I first found her, it may have made it.  Rookie mistake
> 
> ETA:  Starting to doubt whether I have the right stuff to be a shepherd........


Do not doubt yourself. It is a learning curve.  Lots of things you have to experience to really learn so hang in there.  So sorry about your lamb.  I hope your ewe is doing well.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 14, 2012)

Thank you for the encouragement. It's very much appreciated. The second ewe is in labor and is presenting normally so far.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 14, 2012)

Second ewe had twins. Had to pull the second one but all is well. I have pics on the sheep birthing forum. I believe I'm going to get in my recliner and have a light cocktail. This has been one he// of a day.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 15, 2012)

HAPS:  
Well, as eventful as yesterday was..... Today has been that UNeventful, thank God.  I got up at 4:30 to feed the bottle lambs at the barn (they are there full time now rather than sleeping in my garage), that went without a hitch.  I VERY reluctantly looked to see if the third ewe was in labor and was ecstatic that she wasN'T, lol.  Then I went to the park to walk a couple of miles.  The temperature outside at 4:45 was 60 degrees.  I couldn't believe it, made for a really nice power walk. Once my work outside was done, I came in to do some office work.  Office work is one of my least favorite activities but today, it's a welcome respite.

MISHAPS: 
First of all, I wanted to let one of my GPs out into the pasture with the main flock and out of the maternity paddock.  This would leave one in the maternity paddock as well.  So I am calling and calling to my dog who is sitting 10 feet from me and all this while, the bottle babies and another lamb are threatening to run out into the pasture.  So I ended up letting the two week old lamb and mom out into the pasture, along with.....wait for it......the ewe that lost her baby yesterday morning.  Good grief.  Thank God the ewe that had twins yesterday was tucked away in a jug.  The only one I kept in the paddock is the third ewe that is ready to lamb anytime and she was having a FIT wanting to get out with her friends.  Sooo, hubs hadn't left for work yet and he and one of his employees helped me get everybody back in and we sorted them out and got everyone in the right place.  

Second of all, I am just finished giving the bottle lambs their 1:00 bottle and letting them walk down to the mailbox with me and we're in the maternity paddock letting them run around a little bit when I hear my yorkies start their "Stranger Danger" barking. I leave the lambs in the paddock and head to the house in high gear.  There, I see my pasture GP just outside my 3.5 foot tall picket fence.  WTH???  Anyway, I call and call, but she has that PREY look in her eye.  I finally waggled her butt back into the pasture, thank God.  They don't have the run of the whole farm because only the sheep 1/2 is fenced well enough to keep them in.  I don't want my dogs leaving my property.  

Hopefully that will be the last of the mishaps for today.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 17, 2012)

I am having SO MUCH FUN with all of these lambs. I scrolled through the pictures I've taken on my phone and was SHOCKED at how many I have taken, lol!  So with all of these pictures, I just have to post some 
Born 2-14-12, first day out in the maternity paddock






Mama makes a pretty good pillow.





Mom, get up and play with me!





Buddies 




The top lamb and bottom lamb are twins. The top one was rejected so is now a bottle lamb. Middle lamb is a little ewe I got from a friend to keep Mr. Rejecto company. I feel like the folks that have an accordion file in their wallets for pictures of their kids  . More later


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## 77Herford (Feb 17, 2012)

Nice lambs


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## RemudaOne (Feb 18, 2012)

Soggy soggy day here in Granbury. 46 and kind of windy it's a pretty raw day. Got chores done this morning and hubby and I went out to run errands. Also picked up the new iPhone for my birthday. It's awesome!! The first two sentences of this post were dictated through Siri. I can text and send emails by dictating them, suh-weet!

Anyhow, the pastures are all soggy and everyone looks miserable outside. Last night, it looked like my little ewe bottle baby might be getting a little bloaty. Thankfully, this morning the tummy was back to normal and she was ready to eat. I backed off on the amount a little bit and she seems to be handling it fine today. No sign of labor from the third ewe today but I'm keeping a close eye on her, for sure. I hope she doesn't lamb today  .


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## RemudaOne (Feb 18, 2012)

Bottle lambs are back in the garage tonight to make more room for the flock to sleep in the barn where the ground is dry. Its like soup out there and I live on a hill with a lot of rock. It's just a nasty mess. I don't think the lambs mind at all but will definitely be ready to head back outside in the morning. At least I won't have to slog through it to feed them at 5:00 a.m. now. 

Tomorrow we'll t be trying to trim some hooves. It will be my first time trimming sheep hooves but I think we'll be okay. Third ewe is still holding on tight to that lamb. I really thought she'd have it today since the weather was lambing weather. The new twins are bright and growing like fire. Mom's doing great as well. The ewe that lost her lamb is drying up nicely. She's the one I placed a bolus in and as of today, there is still no sign of infection. She only rarely calls out to her lamb now. She's doing good. I'm going to try to make it over to my friends house tomorrow to take pics of his flock and pastures. I want to post pics to show how well his ewes and lambs do with no supplemental feed, and pretty slim pickings on the pasture too. Good night for now.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 21, 2012)

Just another wacko day here at KB Farms.  I've been watching one of my ewes closely for about a week now because lambing has been eminent.  So, I go do all the barn and livestock chores this morning and when I am finishing up, I notice that she's in early stage labor out in the maternity paddock.  Lovely  , I've got a doctor's appointment 50 miles away and hubby left yesterday for a business trip.  All I could do was leave and hope for the best.  

Rushed home and she had pushed out a water bag but no sign of nose or hooves.  She progressed nicely and nose and TWO hooves appeared shortly (thank you Lord).  It was a large lamb, but she had it on her own (thanks again Lord).  So I'm all happy and snapping pictures and all when I notice that there are two BACK legs popping in and out of her vulva like a jack in the box. They were still inside that sack and one would pop out then go back in, then they would both pop out and go back in, etc.  It definitely did not look *right*.  The hooves were very very small.  At this point the ewe is still cleaning the first baby, so I strolled over and took hold of the two legs and when the ewe stepped off, the baby slid right out.  If the ewe had coughed, she would have squirted this baby right out. It was that small. It was as if it was premature.  But the first lamb was definitely full term and robust.  Anyhow, the second lamb had soft, soft hooves, was parrot mouthed and had what looked like an umbilical hernia.  It was obvious that it was not going to make it but I didn't want it to suffer so I stepped away to get my pistol.  When I returned in about 3 minutes, it was already gone (thank you again Lord for not making me do that).  I did take a picture of it and posted it in the Sheep birthing forum.  It's not awful or anything, but a couple of folks there wanted to see it.  I put warnings about a graphic pic just in case someone didn't care to see it. You can find it there if you're inclined.

The ewe took about 4 hours to expel the first placenta because after the lambing there was only about 8-10 inches hanging out of her.  Called my vet and he said to gently pull but stop if it felt like it was going to break.  I got it a bit further out  and the ewe started pushing again and she was able to get the large lambs placenta out.  BUT she still had a short piece hanging out of her and it didn't feel like it wanted to come without breaking.  Called the vet back, he told me what to do and I came to the house to get stuff.  When I got back down there, she was passing the second placenta and managed to get rid of all of it by herself.  

I think we'll have probably 3 weeks or so before the next ewe is ready to lamb.  That's okay with me .  I've got four more to go and we'll be done for this lambing.  It was a gorgeous day here.  I think it got to about 75, I was in capris and a t-shirt with sandals.  Nice preview of spring but I think my peach tree will be completely budded out by the middle of next week and our average last freeze isn't until the middle of next month.  I'll be really disappointed if I don't get any peaches this year.  We missed out completely last year  .  The rest of the week is supposed to be really nice too.  Time to get some outdoor work done.  Gotta go get the bottle lamb's dinner ready, until next time.....


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## Remuda1 (Feb 22, 2012)

Fed bottle lambs at 5:00 this morning and checked on new mom and lamb. They both seemed to be resting easily. Bottle babies are growing so quickly. I'll be glad when they start eating more solids though. I've started letting them spend time out in the maternity paddock unsupervised after I feed them during the day. I've found that if I do it after I feed them, the little ram is less likely to bother the new moms by trying to nurse from them. Although, he does manage to sneak a sip once in a while. The little ewe has better manners and learned quickly with the moms butting her away. She rarely tries anything with them. The lamb races are in full swing and are so fun to watch. The moms get all bent out of shape when the lambs head behind the barn and start calling to them and running around trying to find them, lol .

Had wanted to keep the ewe that lost her lamb up another week or so in the maternity paddock with the moms but she made my mind up to turn her out with the flock yesterday when she started butting the week old babies around in the lambing pen when I put them up for the night... What a cow. 

Been having pain in my left arm (not heart attack kinda pain though), so I went to the dr. yesterday. I guess I have tendinitis in it. The doctor asked if I could "rest" it :/ . Hubby is scheduled for rotator cuff surgery on the first so that's not likely. He prescribed a cortisone pack (6 pills first day, five the second, etc) once that's done, 30 days of another anti-inflammatory. Could be a lot worse.... I thought it might be rotator cuff on me as well. Took the first of the cortisone pills this morning and I hope to feel some relief by this evening or tomorrow morning. 

It's supposed to get to 78 here today. Amazing, hope we don't have to pay for it with late season freezes! A few years ago we had snow on Easter!  Lol, that was a shock to the system. I remember that the hummingbirds were already here and I kept the feeders full for them. They were at them hard until the weather warmed up. Well, time to get the day under way. More later.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 22, 2012)

What a nice day it was. I think it got up to 79 or 80. Ewes and lambs lazing in the shade, new mama and baby doing just fine. Tomorrow will be thier first day out in the maternity paddock as it got pretty warm in the barn today even though there was a good breeze blowing. This lamb is tall and gangly. 






I took some pictures of the other babies as well. These are the two bottle lambs. The one on the left is the ram twin that was rejected by mom and the other one is the little ewe bottle baby that I got from a friend to keep him company. 




I feel a little sorry for the twin that the mom kept. She SO enjoys spending time with her brother and adopted sister that she almost forgets about her mother. Of course, the mother bleats and bleats to call her and the lamb just ignores her. 
Sorry about my shadow in the next one. This is the twins in front and the little adoptee closest to the camera. She is SO sweet where the little ram is all obnoxious and in your face. 





The next picture is just for fun, lol


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## HankTheTank (Feb 22, 2012)

Soooo, where exactly are those lambs located? You don't really have to tell me, it would just make it MUCH easier for when I swoop down and snatch them  They're adorable!!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 24, 2012)

Almost missed this one. Noticed the ewe in labor in the paddock when I went to give the bottle lambs their last bottle for the night. We got her up into a makeshift pen and she had a nice ewe lamb.





Shuffled sheep and lambs around a little bit and got her bedded down in a jug





Mom and lamb doing well.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 25, 2012)

HTT, I would tell you but then...Well you know how the rest of that goes  .  

Glad we were able to find that last ewe in labor since it's 34 degrees right now.  All of mine are first time lambers so I don't know if mom would have been fast/thorough enough with cleaning it up and drying it off to keep it warm enough. At least the wind is dead calm out there.  I just walked down there with a flashlight and they are both doing fine as far as I could see.  The ewe didn't oblige me by turning around so that I could see her backside, but she looked bright enough.  

This ewe really snuck up on me.  I had just noticed yesterday morning "Wow, her udder is really looking ready" and told my husband yesterday evening that when we work some of the sheep this morning, "I need to keep that one ewe up in the maternity paddock, she has snuck up on me." LOL, so I guess she showed me.  I thought I still had a day or two. So that makes 9 lambs (including one adoptee) all together with 7 being similar in age/size.  The two older ones and the little ewe lamb that wasn't rejected by her mom are now living with the main flock.  I've run out of room in the lambing barn..... Not a good thing.  It's only my first lambing season and I've already got to expand.  Wonder how hubby is going to feel about that little tidbit????

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and decided to check on the sheep.  Came back in and started on some office work and thought I'd update this thread a little bit.  Guess I'll get back to the office work now


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## Roll farms (Feb 25, 2012)

Verrry pretty lambs.  Congrats!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 25, 2012)

Thank you Roll, it's nice to have one less lambing to think about. I love the way the paddock looks when all the babies are out in it. I could watch all day


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## jodief100 (Feb 25, 2012)

What nice looking lambs.  Congratulations on your first lambings.


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## Mamaboid (Feb 25, 2012)

Remuda1 said:
			
		

> Thank you Roll, it's nice to have one less lambing to think about. I love the way the paddock looks when all the babies are out in it. I could watch all day


I hear that, all I get done is watch the baby goats play.


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## RemudaOne (Feb 25, 2012)

Really a beautiful day today.  I didn't get a lot done since I was up this morning at 3 something and never went back to sleep.  But it was so nice outside that I considered mowing the yard.  After trimming sheep feet this morning and the tendinitis in my arm, I thought it was best to let that wait. Maybe tomorrow. 

The new lamb and mom are still doing very well.  This is one of my nicest ewes.  She's very good sized and her baby may be the nicest one yet.  It's odd how some of them come out with more or less wool.  They should all just have hair, but some of the ewes have some wool on them too.  Some of the ewes that have quite a bit of wool have had babies with no wool and some of the ewes with no wool have had wooly little babies.  The ewe that lambed last night has no wool on her and this baby has no wool either. I had made up my mind that I was going to sell the entire first crop of babies, but this one may change my mind.  The plan was originally to sell all the lambs and three of the ewes and look for 3 registered ewes.  I may adjust that to keeping this lamb and finding two registered ewes and a registered ram.... We'll see how she grows out.  

Birthday celebration with my family tomorrow.  Brisket and birthday cake.....Yum, yum . It's a little blurry, but this is my little bottle ram.  He's a stinker.


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## Remuda1 (Mar 5, 2012)

I've been meaning to update this for some time now, but darn it, life just gets in the way sometimes!! Hubby had a second rotator cuff surgery on his left arm this past Thursday.  He's not taking it well..... Tried to go back to work today and (of course) overdid it. Back home now and whiny. 

I've been keeping an eye on one of the ewes that I have in the maternity paddock. Had lunch with family yesterday and told my young niece that I thought she would lamb yesterday or this morning. This was the first time my niece had been over since we started lambing. 





I think she likes them .  I am blessed to have two angels for nieces. Truly good kids. Her older sister starts college this year ( I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that thought). They are both very gifted students and athletes. Love them more than breathing. 

Anyhow, I last checked on the ewe at nine last night when I bottle fed the lambs. She was fine and not showing any signs. I woke this morning at 2:30 and wondered if I should go check on her. Decided that she wouldn't go until sometime this morning or today and went back to sleep. I'm so glad I did . I got more sleep and she got to work, lol. 




This is what I found this morning. Everyone is doing fine. This makes eleven lambs on the ground and leaves two more ewes to lamb. Also had two lambs lost. This is our third set of twins. Actually four sets but one of the twins was the preemie that didn't survive. these two twins are both rams.  I'm not complaining as these two only make the third and fourth rams we've had. 

Update on hubby..... The pain meds have kicked in while i typed, he's back to being a sweetheart. More later


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## RemudaOne (Jan 25, 2013)

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted here . Oh well, better late than never I s'pose. 

Tomorrow, I'll be up at 4:00. A friend of mine and her son are showing dorpers at the Fort Worth Stock Show and I'm going to go give a hand if needed. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the folks that I've met at the sales again and also looking forward to putting some faces with names of some of the people in our Facebook Dorper group.  Also looking very much forward to seeing some really nice animals there.  Shows are so much more fun when you know folks that are showing 

I've got to pull another ewe out of the pasture this weekend.  She's bagging up well so time to give CDT. I'll be worming the rest of the current mamas and lambs as well if they look to need it.  I think we'll have more lambs within 3-4 weeks.  I didn't think she would lamb until March since I saw she and the ram doing the wild thang in October.  I was irritated at that time because I felt she should have been bred months prior to.  Guess she was, don't know why she was standing for him in October , but glad it worked out the way I wanted it to. 

The registered ewes are also started to bag up a little bit.  I thought they would be later but this is great since it will let me separate the ram sooner.  He and the wether will be taken out of the pasture but of course, now that the time is getting closer, I've started seeing the ram getting a little aggressive with the wether....... I'm just taking ewes out one by one (when they get close to lambing) and once there are only one or two left I will put the ewes and babies in the large pasture and the wether and ram in the small paddock.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the ram with wether thing works out cuz I'm not getting rid of the wether.  I figure that the rams time with us is limited anyway, lol. The babies we've already had are growing like weeds and enjoying the cooler weather today.  

Weather here has been shocking for this time of year, the high yesterday was 84, day before that 78. It's colder and windier today with a high of 49 with gusty north winds but s'posed to warm back up. Grass is trying to come up in the pastures, but SOOOO hoping my peach tree doesn't bud out till much later on!!! I know a lot of you are suffering through extremely cold and nasty weather and my heart goes out to you 

I guess that's about it for now.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Wow Remuda, I didn't even know you HAD a journal!   Sounds like you have got your hands full with a bunch of pregnant ewes and lambs. Have fun with your Dorper friends!

I don't know where you live but I want to live there! That weather sounds so great right about now.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 25, 2013)

I didn't know you had a journal either!!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!! 

Love all those photos!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 25, 2013)

So glad you started your journal again! 
Have a great time tomorrow!


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## RemudaOne (Jan 26, 2013)

Off to the races, hope y'all have a great day


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## CocoNUT (Jan 26, 2013)

Don't forget to report back and tell us how it went!


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## RemudaOne (Jan 26, 2013)

It was a fun morning, friends son took second with his ram so that was spectacular.  Lots and lots of awesome sheep there. Freaky now huge some breeds are. One Dorper ewe had lambed and was cleaning up the afterbirth when I happened by. Got to see and visit with some folks that I hadn't see since last September, all in all a good morning.  I packed it in early though due to a sinus headache and since I was in Fort Worth, went by to see my mother and father. Came home and took some sinus medicine and I just woke up after a sort snooze........ Sinus meds always knock me out. Hubby just left to go pick up deer meat from the processor and soon it will be time to go out and start feeding critters here. 

Sure wish I could have stayed at the show longer. Stupid sinuses.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 26, 2013)

Glad you got to go to the show!!!!  And sorry about your sinus problems...hope that goes away soon 

I'm dealing sinus issues too and sinus allergy...soon as we start getting warmer and with some wind I think the decomposing leaves fire out mold spores that do me in...of course it didn't help vaccuming the dog room since we have one dog that sheds...sheds lots...have to do this carpet often to keep that allergy down.


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## RemudaOne (Jan 26, 2013)

Some pics from today.  Lots of nice stock, really large ewe classes.












A couple of rams






One really nice looking ewe had lambed in her pen, baby and she were fine.  She began eating the afterbirth and this young boy was standing mesmerized/horrified watching her, lol!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 26, 2013)

sorry about the sinuses...but glad you had a great day! deer meat? YUM!!!!! I'm so jealous! 
I think naps were contagious today! Glad you're feeling better now.


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## Remuda1 (Jan 27, 2013)

Thanks Coco .  If anyone is interested in a registered full blood dorper ram, check out the listing I placed in Buy, Sell, Trade.  We're close to Fort Worth, Texas

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=24158


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## CrazyFlocksters (Jan 27, 2013)

Those butts make me hungry


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## Southern by choice (Jan 27, 2013)

Great pictures.

..and yes... I have turned sheeple!  Shhh your right Straw would have a fit. I have been complaining about the goats all day! 
I would love to have some meat sheep!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 27, 2013)

Love the photos!!!!  Thanks for sharing

Hope you get a good buyer for your ram...he's a handsome one!


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## SheepGirl (Jan 27, 2013)

What a bunch of well-fed sheep!! Lol, I'm glad you had fun!!!


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## Remuda1 (Jan 29, 2013)

Rutt-roe! I'm in granbury


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## Southern by choice (Jan 29, 2013)

That looks very serious. I know you guys need the rain but that sure isn't the best way to get it. 
Stay safe!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 29, 2013)

Nope that does not look good at all...keep safe!!!!  All that is supposed to reach us around or a bit after midnight.  Guess we pay for this spring weather now, eh? :/


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## Remuda1 (Jan 29, 2013)

Well, we got 3/4 inch of rain, so that's wonderful. Also had brief HEAVY pea sized hail and it's cooled off 15-20 degrees which all right too since it was about 78 degrees. 

In other news, I decided to just scan Craigslist this morning for my town. Second ad was for 9 month old Rhode Island reds and Americana mixes. I decided to go get a couple of them. The sellers HOA didn't appreciate him having them. They are in great condition and tame. Even so, they're in quarantine for 30 days. 

Now I've got 4 roosters that I was going to process this weekend. He mentioned that his friend had brought him some roosters. When I asked what he did with them he said "I cull them and eat them." At that point I asked him if he wanted to process my four and keep two of them for his trouble. He said "Sure! Bring them on over." I just love it when things come together like that. There's no way I could get my husband to help with that so I really appreciate the way things worked out . I don't mind doing the culling, but I have VERY little experience in the gutting and such. It doesn't bother me to do it, I just have NO confidence and it takes me about an hour, lol!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 29, 2013)




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## Remuda1 (Jan 29, 2013)

So, I always wait until night time to catch and cage any chickens or roosters that I am going to sell or move to different pens.  They are always so much calmer and easier to handle.  So tonight, the hubs and I go to move the roosters to a transport crate so that I can take them to the fella in the morning. So, I open up one of the doors to the small coop where there are two roosters on the roost. So I reach in, just like I always have and go to pick up the first rooster.... OH MY GAWD!!!!! He absolutely freaked out and the rodeo was on.  Meanwhile the other three are doing the freak and screaming.  When I finally caught the first one he was literally screaming like a woman, good grief!! Got him stuffed into the crate and went for number two. Pretty much same results with number two.  Opened the other door to the small coop and there are the other two on the roost.  Reached in to get the first one and managed to get him into the crate.  And then there was one.  Reached in and when I did, he jumped up and scratched the heck out of my forehead.  I was undeterred and reached for him again..... The turd escaped!!!! I thought if I blinded him with the flashlight, maybe I could grab him, lol! Of course, this was not rational since I couldn't even catch him inside the stinkin coop!  Soooo, I opened the shed door where his buds were resting from their own ordeals and turned the light on.  By this time he was about 20 yards away. I managed to gently push him towards the open door and thankfully he went in.  After a short mini rodeo inside the shed, he rejoined his comrades to await their fates together . Again...... Sooooo glad I found this guy to process them  Rooster Wrangler will never describe me


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## bonbean01 (Jan 29, 2013)

I can imagine the screaming...had one rooster I grabbed at night this summer and could not believe the screaming coming out of him 

Now clean up the scratches really well...nasty germs in chicken toenails!  We aren't very good at chicken rangling here...turns into a rodeo of comedy


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## Royd Wood (Jan 29, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> We aren't very good at chicken rangling here...turns into a rodeo of comedy


 same at this place esp in the dark, including being knocked out (temp) on a low beam while in hot persuit of a feathered type


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## Southern by choice (Jan 30, 2013)

I like a big fishing net,,, works great!


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## Royd Wood (Jan 30, 2013)

Southern by choice said:
			
		

> I like a big fishing net,,, works great!


Very useful for pheasants


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## Remuda1 (Jan 30, 2013)

Southern by choice said:
			
		

> I like a big fishing net,,, works great!


LOL!! Trust me..... As I was being flogged, visions of beautiful, big, long handled, fishing nets were dancing in my head, haha


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## Remuda1 (Jan 30, 2013)

Well, the boys are gone and the new girls are housed in their temporary digs.  It's always been interesting to me how breeds hang with like breeds.  Even if you don't get them at the same time, the Marans will end up hanging with the other Marans, Easter Eggers with Easter Eggers, and so on. So while watching the new ones this morning, I got to feeling bad that the two RIRs were hanging but the EE didn't have anyone to hang with.... On the way to take the roosters I decided to bring another EE home if he had any left.  He did. Of course, the crate I took the roosters in was huge and I had to transport it in the back of the truck so I covered it with a horse blanket for the trip.  I didn't want to put the hen back there so I put the horse blanket in the front passenger seat of my truck and set her on top of it. She sat there, looking out the window of the truck all the way home, lol. Here's some pics of the new girls.

Forgive the nasty waterer. I had to lower it because they are used to pans on the ground.  I usually keep the waterers and feeders about chest high on them.  Really reduces waste on the feed and junk in the water. 

















OH, and the three I brought home yesterday all layed this morning


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 30, 2013)

Very pretty birds---like that blue/gray one.


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## Remuda1 (Jan 30, 2013)

Thanks Pearce . Say, how do you like your barnvelders and what can you tell me about them? I love the dark brown eggs from the BC Marans but I think the summer is pretty tough on them here.  They tend to be the first ones to quit both in summer and winter here so I wouldn't mind throwing in another dark egg laying breed.

Hope you're having a good night!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 30, 2013)

Nice looking hens, and quite something they all laid eggs already...they didn't read the chicken manual...supposed to get used to a new place for a least a week before they start laying again...good thing you didn't leave that manual laying around 

Guess that saying that birds of a feather flock together is true.


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## ragdollcatlady (Jan 30, 2013)

Love the almost pastel easter eggers!

I found that like breeds end up hanging out together too, even if they came to us at different times. It could be that they tend to sound similar????


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## CocoNUT (Jan 31, 2013)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> Very pretty birds---like that blue/gray one.


I was thinking exactly the same thing! She's REALLY pretty!


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## Remuda1 (Jan 31, 2013)

Aww, thanks y'all. All four are really sweet birds. I have to confess though that the one with more white is my favorite color-wise. Maybe because I don't have any others with pure snowy white on them. She also has a small amount of the blue/gray on her head. Here's a couple more shots trying to show the colors a bit better .






Front view. 





The white one actually has some of that blue/gray color on her head and face too, along with a couple of random dark feathers on her body and wings











Here's a few updated pics of the latest lambs. These were born on Christmas Eve. So about five weeks old. The one to the right is the ram and is actually a lot larger than the little ewe, bad angle I guess.






Here he is with mom






These were born on 12/28. 






And this one is the next to go. Looks like she's probably carrying a single but who knows 






I've got some pics of the dogs, but they're on my camera and I haven't transferred them to the puter yet


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## Remuda1 (Jan 31, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> Nice looking hens, and quite something they all laid eggs already...they didn't read the chicken manual...supposed to get used to a new place for a least a week before they start laying again...good thing you didn't leave that manual laying around
> 
> Guess that saying that birds of a feather flock together is true.


Bon, these girls are SOoo laid back that I don't the move phased them a bit. They did seem a bit hungry when I put the feed out for them so maybe the unlimited buffet helped a bit too


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## greenbean (Jan 31, 2013)

Everyone looks great, I want your greyish colored hen.    That's one of my favorite colors.


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## SheepGirl (Jan 31, 2013)

If she were mine, it looks like she'd be carrying twins 

But my ewes carry their lambs differently than a lot of other sheep. I always see pictures of all these ewes with their big WIDE bellies and they have twins and I'm like...why don't mine look like that?! lol My ewes get a little wide, but they carry their lambs low so you can tell when they start getting heavy bred when their belly starts sinking to the ground more hahaha


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 31, 2013)

My Alana carries low too. Sis is wide like a freaking truck, Alana is low, and Arianna is really kinda both. It's her first time and I have no kidding history on her (duh) so I don't know what she'll have thought I think twins because she is real wide, pretty low but overall real big and thick.


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## jodief100 (Jan 31, 2013)

The lambs are HUGE!  

Your birds are very pretty.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 31, 2013)

Yeah, I can't believe how huge your lambs are already! Cute pics


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## Remuda1 (Jan 31, 2013)

Seems like you can watch these lambs grow, especially once they really start on the creep feed. I think this little ram looks like he has a tuxedo on 







Here's one of the dogs...... Hard(ly) at work


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## Southern by choice (Jan 31, 2013)

Your new birds are pretty!

...but your lamb with the  "tux" on....    I love the blk/white!!

Also compliments on your really nice tight fence!

Love it when I can actually sneak up on sleeping dogs!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 31, 2013)

That does look like a tux!!!!  The two older ones today tried out the sheep/lamb pellets today for the first time.  All three have been growing so much, but that will make them grow even faster.  All three have been nibbling on hay and taking drinks of water...loved the grass out in the pasture when we had that good weather...and I'm sure lambs come with springs attached to their little hooves!

And that's one vicious looking LGD


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## CocoNUT (Feb 1, 2013)

I think your dogs took lessons from Gus! I swear  - half the time when I see her like that I think she's dead or something HORRIBLE has happened to her! Too cute. 

Love the tux on that lamb....


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

The dogs


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Well, looks like I may have been wrong on who was next to lamb. I've got one of the young ewes out in the pasture hiding under a tree by herself. If I go to check in her, the rest of the sheep and the dogs will follow me. Husband on his way home to help get everyone up and situated so we can go see what's up....

More later


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)




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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

LOL, got everyone situated.  There's no water bag or anything yet but she's definitely not herself. I told my husband... "She's either in early labor or she's gonna die".  She's isolating herself in the small paddock now too so we will see. She's a first timer so it's really hard to tell...


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

Well hopefully she's lambing, not dying.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

She's the very farthest to the right...


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Well hopefully she's lambing, not dying.


Lol, yeah. I was kidding . But you know how they are, usually they would rather die than be without their flock mates.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

Actually I didn't know.  I'm a goat person! hah


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

We'll get you over to the dark side someday . But don't goats isolate themselves when they are pasture kidding? 

I came back in the house.... Going to give her some time to settle in with the others. Maybe then she'll get
Down to bidness. Her respiration is definitely faster than the others.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Oh, also meant to ask you Straw.... Are you feeling better today?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

If I had the land and alot of pasture I would do Romney sheep. Does that count?

Yes they do.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Oh cr*p, she def just had a contraction while standing. No fluids yet, I hope it/they are positioned correctly.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

Hopefully it's a "they" and GL. Let us know how it goes. Hope she kids (oops *lambs) some good healthy babies.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

She's been down and pushing a bit. Pawing, back down now and pushing


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

New baby. I think it's a girl, the ewe did it by herself. If this is the only lamb, that's fine by me. Has already stood and nursed


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## Southern by choice (Feb 1, 2013)




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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

:bun  Congrats!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

There's another coming.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Well, #2 was quick! Lol .


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## Southern by choice (Feb 1, 2013)

I was a wonderin if that was going to happen!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 1, 2013)

That's one big turd  Well two is batter than one. And it's her first time!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Ahhhh, just sat down. Had to run and get the two roosters that I had processed and then it was time to do payroll then time to feed everything..... Except the humans. Then had to inspect and carton up eight dozen eggs for a customer tomorrow. I'm going to take my guy to dinner tonight. I just can't get excited about cooking, lol. 

The babies are starting to jump around so all is good there. Mama is chowing down and has had a good bit of water. I'm not making anymore predictions as to who will go next, lol! Obviously I have NO IDEA!

Oh, and this is the first one I've had that lambed while standing .


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 1, 2013)

Great action shot! Congratulations on having a lamb and not having to supervise the delivery. 

I have a great action shot of a goat over Christmas spewing out some fluid before the kid, but it's not as tasteful as yours. I love how he's just diving right out!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 1, 2013)

Congratulations!!!!  Half of mine stand right at the end to deliver, half don't.  Just love, love, lambies


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## Remuda1 (Feb 1, 2013)

Glad to have another one down . All three are laying down and relaxing now. So far she's been a great mom. Second baby was much smaller than the first but they've both already been hopping and bopping. I really had forgotten what first timer udders look like...... I thought we had a good bit more time to wait on her. I went ahead and put the two other first timers into the small paddock as well. So now only the wether, the ram and one ewe that will not be lambing until much later (she developed a uterine infection so I think the fetus either died or was absorbed) are left in the large pasture. Once all the ewes lamb, I'll switch them out with the ram and wether only in the small paddock and the moms and babies in the large pasture. If the ram sells (keeping fingers crossed!!) then the wether will stay with the ewes and life will be a lot easier . This leaves 3 ewes that are imminent.

Tomorrow the hubster is going to the hunting lease to take a replacement mini fridge down there and maybe squirrel hunt or fish. I'm going to get the chores done, do a little office work and relax . Sunday is SuperBowl, will probably have the folks over for that. Y'all have a good and restful night, later taters


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## Remuda1 (Feb 2, 2013)

Thought I saw one of the new babies underneath one of the panels that make up the pen so I went out to investigate with flash light in hand. As I am walking through the paddock, I'm checking out all of the other ewes and babies and OH WAIT..... That wasn't here last night .  One of the other first timers was nursing a new ram lamb.  Awesome! That means I'm that much closer to having them all done and I can switch the large group to the large paddock.  Don't know if she was finished but I will post pictures once it's daylight. Yay lambs!!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 2, 2013)

So much excitement in a very narrow space of time!


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 2, 2013)

YAY for babies!  Love the birthing shots.  Just something so amazing about seeing new life begin.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 2, 2013)

Congratulations again!!!!!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 5, 2013)

Another set of twins this morning. A ewe and a ram. So far this season, 13 lambs from 8 ewes. 7 rams, 6 ewes. I'll happily take that percentage, lol . 

Blahaha, guess which one is the ram???







Here's the little single ram born on the 2nd






And the twins born on the first. They are tiny and I am supplementing them.  






Only one more that is imminent, then a straggler, but she's months out. Lovin me some babies!!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 5, 2013)

Congratulations again!!!!!  I'm guessing the solid black head is the ram lamb?

Edited since I don't seem to be able to spell sold and solid...doh...


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## Shelly May (Feb 5, 2013)

Congrads, almost at the home stretch now


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## Remuda1 (Feb 5, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> Congratulations again!!!!!  I'm guessing the sold black head is the ram lamb?


Lol, yup. He's the one pooing . 

Yes Shelly, not long now. I love it when the size of the flock seems like it explodes overnight . But then when they're gone, it seems deserted around here!


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## jodief100 (Feb 5, 2013)




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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 5, 2013)

More babies.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 5, 2013)

Seeing all these lambs and kids... I have a problem... I need more land!

Soo darling! I figured the one pooing was the boy!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)

Final ewe (for now) is in labor.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 10, 2013)

Wishing an easy birthing and more beautiful, healthy lambs!!!!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)

Thanks Bon . I may be a bit paranoid but she's acting a little odd. I'll keep
You posted.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 10, 2013)




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## CrazyFlocksters (Feb 10, 2013)

hope you have nice healthy babies,


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)

After a mini rodeo, we have her in a lambing pen. Not quite sure what's going on but all she's been doing is squatting and squatting. She has and has had no discharge. I can watch her in lamb cam now so we will see.

Edited to add: And while she has been isolating herself yesterday and today earlier, this evening she wanted to be right in the middle of the flock...


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## bonbean01 (Feb 10, 2013)

Hope all will be well with your ewe and the lambs!!!!  Something is happening if she is squatting and squatting...she may need help????  Glad you have the web cam!!!

Okay...off for a shower...was holding off waiting to hear about your ewe...back later to check in...wishing that all will go well


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)

Hubby went down to adjust the camera for me and said she is presenting a mucous string.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 10, 2013)

Could be soon then...


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)

For this ewe, this is a huge, honkin ram lamb. Husband had to pull as I just didn't have the strength. He hasn't stood yet, but breathing is good. 







Keep your fingers crossed that he stands and nurses.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)




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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 10, 2013)

Oh my gosh he's HUGE!!


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## Royd Wood (Feb 10, 2013)

Jeepers thats a big fella, so glad he's up


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## Remuda1 (Feb 10, 2013)

Thanks Royd, me too. I'll weigh in the morning, it was pretty hard on this first time ewe so I just want to leave them alone. Just so grateful that she didn't reject him after all of the manhandling she endured .


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## goodolboy (Feb 11, 2013)

Yea, he's a keeper. Nice!!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 11, 2013)

WOW, way to go momma!   Yikes!  Glad all went well.   Can you imagine having to deliver a baby that was that big---he looks like he is about 1/4 of her size (not weight-wise but length and height I mean).


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## promiseacres (Feb 11, 2013)

Wow what a chunk! Glad things turned out ok!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 11, 2013)

Glad it worked out and wow...that is a big lamb!!!  

No wonder she needed help delivering that big boy!  Curious how much he weighs.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Thanks guys, for the well wishes. 

*Can you imagine having to deliver a baby that was that big---he looks like he is about 1/4 of her size (not weight-wise but length and height I mean).*

NO, and I don't want to try to imagine it, LOL . 

I tend to have a hard time deciding when it's time to help, but when she was laying down pushing, I could see that her skin was trying to split a little bit so I got a glove on and checked her.  It was clear THAT head wasn't going to be coming out of THAT little hole, so I made the dreaded "hubby call" to ask him to come to the barn. He really hates any kind of medical drama (trauma) lol, so he is a trooper when I need him to help.  

Weight is 13.2 pounds this morning. I'm feeling glad to be able to enjoy the rest of the lambings and kidding going on with you all now. Wishing all of you the best of luck and smooth, easy birthings for all.


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## goodolboy (Feb 11, 2013)

If it's makes you feel better, we pulled a 19 1/2 lbs. lamb last year. Both, ewe and lamb, were ok.

NOTE:They were of the wooly type.


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## alsea1 (Feb 11, 2013)

wow. he is half grown


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 12, 2013)




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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 12, 2013)

That is huge!  Hope you give that girl a spa day


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## Remuda1 (Feb 12, 2013)

I don't know about a spa day but she definitely got pain meds. Probably lucky she didn't prolapse but her hooha looks a little rough around the edges It's rainy and nasty here so they're still penned up, nice and dry.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 17, 2013)

It's so stressful here for them..... They are already worn out this morning from all of the nursing and lamb races .  Enjoy!

Look, he's already got a wrinkly nose!  







Shhh, baby sleeping.






Don't forget the sunscreen!






Where'd I put my shades?






Oh look, she has the camera!






Smile!






Must. Have. Sleep.....


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## bonbean01 (Feb 17, 2013)

Love, love, love the photos...and the captions!!!!  Are lambies not just the most beautiful little creatures ever?????


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 17, 2013)

So adorable!!!!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 17, 2013)

I love the first one and the last one laying on it's side.


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## greenbean (Feb 17, 2013)

They're so cute!!   The picture that says smile made me laugh.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 17, 2013)

Oh my goodness.... they are so adorable. Beautiful little things!

Made my day!


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 17, 2013)

Oh my, that smiling lamb is the sweetest--you should crop it an submit for POW.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 17, 2013)

Well, just glad they are relaxing now.  A little later on, it will be rodeo time.  Need to band tails, worm new moms and the five older lambs. Reaaaallllyyy need to put ear tags in the registerable lambs too but I went out there and examined their little ears and I just can't do it right now, lol! I've never tagged before and it just seems like there's so little room under the vein (which is where I want them), plus they're getting their tails banded too...... I just can't bring myself to do it!!!

So weird....... I'm totally not squeamish about really gorey stuff, but I can't bring myself to pierce a lambs ear  ......such a baa aaa aaad shepherd.

Maybe I will submit "smiley" for POW. LOL, that would tickle me if she got picked.


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 17, 2013)

Remuda1 said:
			
		

> Well, just glad they are relaxing now.  A little later on, it will be rodeo time.  Need to band tails, worm new moms and the five older lambs. Reaaaallllyyy need to put ear tags in the registerable lambs too but I went out there and examined their little ears and I just can't do it right now, lol! I've never tagged before and it just seems like there's so little room under the vein (which is where I want them), plus they're getting their tails banded too...... I just can't bring myself to do it!!!
> 
> So weird....... I'm totally not squeamish about really gorey stuff, but I can't bring myself to pierce a lambs ear  ......such a baa aaa aaad shepherd.


You just have to do it. Each lamb gets easier.  My babies are docked and tagged within the first 3 days of birth.


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## CrazyFlocksters (Feb 17, 2013)

Smile.... is POW for sure


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## alsea1 (Feb 17, 2013)

Can you leave a Dorpers tail on without penalty. Do you have to cut them off.
Your lambs are sure nice looking.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 17, 2013)

Alsea..... This is a subject kind of near to my heart.  Dorpers don't need to be docked to live great, healthy lives.  However, if you are going into the show ring, as things stand now *I* think you would be at a huge disadvantage having a long tailed animal.  Also when selling as breeding stock, it seems that customers are kind of turned off by long tails.  I will always only sell to the auction as a last resort so I dock.  If a lamb is not something that I would want to have in my flock, they will go to market.  At that point, I would not dock tails.  If I were breeding solely for the sale barn, I would not dock tails.  I am really hoping that show standards and preferences come around to the natural look of an undocked Dorper but I think that's going to be a very uphill battle. It comes back to what tends to happen in the breeding arena to any animal that is shown...... some breeders end up breeding for the judges and other breeders breed to the true standard.

Editted to add:  I do have a long tailed wether in my flock now.  He will be with me forever, lol .


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## Southern by choice (Feb 17, 2013)

I like the tails long too! We did have to get Gwenn's done though..it was to the ground. Looked like a dog tail.


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## alsea1 (Feb 17, 2013)

So we must target the judges. I understand that wool breeds it is nec. for hygenic and health reasons. But if there is only a cosmetic reason it just seems mean. Besides a tail to cover your hind end when your rear is facing the wind would be a nice thing to have I'm thinking. LOL


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## Remuda1 (Feb 20, 2013)

Haven't caught up on any journals yet today, but hope everyone had a good and blessed day.  Just wanted to quickly ask for a small prayer....... Just put the ram and the wether into their new digs until breeding time, please pray that the ram is nice to Rayne, the wether.  I couldn't stand it if he got hurt.  Although, even though he's much younger, he's going to end up outgrowing the ram.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 20, 2013)




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## Elm Tree acres (Feb 28, 2013)

How did they make out - hope all is well


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## Southern by choice (Mar 2, 2013)

and


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