# WOO! HOO! First Lambs of the Season!  A Ram and a Ewe Lamb…TWINS!



## Legamin (Mar 24, 2022)

I know it is the same thing every year…year in year out…l know that sheep do what sheep are gonna do….BUT IT’S THE FIRST ONES OF THE SEASON!  WOO! HOO!  Boy!  CDT, colostrum feedings, lambing jug, paint mark the family mark….so much to do..oh! Can’t forget to trim the umbilicus and douse in Betadyne!  Tomorrow if they are doing well the castration and tail docking…maybe wait to the third day just before letting them out of the jug…..I’m always a first time Papa!  Nervous Nelly and quivering with excitement.  My wife giggles at this silly 60 year old skinny farmer running around like a head with his chicken cut off but it always seems there is so much to do at once that even when I’m ready it’s a rush!
I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!!   NAMES!?!?!?!?!?!?!?   Any suggestions?  This is the meat flock and not the purebred pen so they don’t have to be regal names…just family names!  The bulk of these lambs are presold as meat flock breeders but since I introduced the parents and helped with the weddings and honeymoons…..I should get to name them, right?!  My children and grandchildren get the first three ewes so THEY get naming rights for them….a grandpa’s duty to teach wise naming skills and all….
Okay…got all my sillies out…my excitement in turning to tiredness and the doubling of chores…but I had to announce the beginning of our lambing season!

Meet the fam.  Marigold, a Leicester Longwool (father: Maelstrom (who lives up to his name) a Blue Faced Leicester.  The little girl looks JUST like Dad!  (Don’t mind the barn that will get painted this year!)  here they have been cajoled into the lambing jug so that bonding and feeding rituals can be established!  Momma looks like there could be three more lambs hiding out in her but she is just ‘healthy’ and ready to nurse.  She successfully pushed out the placenta and is done lambing!View attachment 90216


here is where they were born…out in the yard behind the barn.
View attachment 90215


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## Baymule (Mar 24, 2022)

I’m with you 1,000000% on lamb excitement!!! YAY!!!! Babies!! And one is black! So cute! I love lambs, I ALWAYS get silly excited, the “new” never wears off. I totally understand where you are coming from. 

Congratulations on an adorable start to the season’s lambing! Love the ringlets wool on the ewe!


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## Legamin (Mar 25, 2022)

Legamin said:


> I know it is the same thing every year…year in year out…l know that sheep do what sheep are gonna do….BUT IT’S THE FIRST ONES OF THE SEASON!  WOO! HOO!  Boy!  CDT, colostrum feedings, lambing jug, paint mark the family mark….so much to do..oh! Can’t forget to trim the umbilicus and douse in Betadyne!  Tomorrow if they are doing well the castration and tail docking…maybe wait to the third day just before letting them out of the jug…..I’m always a first time Papa!  Nervous Nelly and quivering with excitement.  My wife giggles at this silly 60 year old skinny farmer running around like a head with his chicken cut off but it always seems there is so much to do at once that even when I’m ready it’s a rush!
> I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!!   NAMES!?!?!?!?!?!?!?   Any suggestions?  This is the meat flock and not the purebred pen so they don’t have to be regal names…just family names!  The bulk of these lambs are presold as meat flock breeders but since I introduced the parents and helped with the weddings and honeymoons…..I should get to name them, right?!  My children and grandchildren get the first three ewes so THEY get naming rights for them….a grandpa’s duty to teach wise naming skills and all….
> Okay…got all my sillies out…my excitement in turning to tiredness and the doubling of chores…but I had to announce the beginning of our lambing season!
> 
> ...


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## Legamin (Mar 25, 2022)

Baymule said:


> I’m with you 1,000000% on lamb excitement!!! YAY!!!! Babies!! And one is black! So cute! I love lambs, I ALWAYS get silly excited, the “new” never wears off. I totally understand where you are coming from.
> 
> Congratulations on an adorable start to the season’s lambing! Love the ringlets wool on the ewe!


The ringlets are the character of the wool that makes it so desirable.  It is what they were bred for to begin with in the early 17th C.  These are the ‘meat flock’ future breeders for a new flock - Blue Faced Leicester (Ram/stud) Leicester Longwool (Ewes).  The mixing of the breed increases carcass size from the standard 180lb-220lb (ewe) and 180lb-220lb (ram) of the Leicester Longwool to a 220lb-300lb (ewe) and 240lb - 360lb (ram) with a 55-60% lean meat conversion.  The blending also creates a lamb with softer wool that still tends toward the long ringlets of the Leicester Longwool (the dominant wool characteristic) and the wonderfully gentle spirit of both breeds.  Blending the two breeds also speeds the maturity/size/breeding age of the offspring.  The Leicester Longwool takes a full 18 months before they are fully mature and can start breeding.  Though they can have lambs from 8 months on, if you start them before 18 months they tend towards 1 lamb per cycle.  if you wait until maturity the consistently throw 2-4 lambs.  This is a significant difference but takes patience.  With the blended offspring they will reach maturity closer to 13-14 months for breeding (ewes).
I know you didn’t ask but I love this breed and am excited to get others excited about them.  They are definitely worth saving!  But mainly….Lambs-CUTE!  Always a joy!


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