# SheepGirl's 2015 Lambing Thread - Lambs are here!



## SheepGirl

Check out my lambing journals from past years: 2012 (2 ewes) | 2013 (3 ewes) | 2014 (6 ewes)

*FLOCK SIRE*

*Valentino*, born February 2014
1/2 Dorset x 1/2 Finnsheep






*MATURE EWES*





*#44 - Ciqala*, born May 2006
1/2 Babydoll Southdown x 1/2 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1-2-2-2-3-3 | Lambs Expected: 1-2
DATE BRED: 10/01/14 | DATE DUE: 02/25/15
*LAMBED 2/26/2015 - SINGLE*
*#31 - Ewe, x.x lbs*





*#73 - Valentine*, born March 2009
3/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1-2-1-2 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/08/14 | DATE DUE: 03/04/15
*LAMBED 3/05/2015 - TWINS*
*#35 - Ram, x.x lbs - died, hypothermia*
*#36 - Ewe, x.x lbs*





*#09 - Lady Gaga*, born May 2012
3/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/07/14 | DATE DUE: 03/03/15
*LAMBED 3/02/2015 - TWINS*
*#33 - Ewe, x.x lbs*
*#34 - Ewe, x.x lbs*





*#10 - Katy Perry*, born May 2012
3/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1-2 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/05/14 | DATE DUE: 03/01/15
*LAMBED 2/22/2015 - SINGLE*
*#32 - Ram, x.x lbs - died, no anus*

*YEARLING EWES*





*#13 - Rosalie*, born March 2013
1/2 Texel x 3/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/03/14 (??) | DATE DUE: 02/27/15
*LAMBED 2/25/2015 - SINGLE*
*#30 - Ewe, x.x lbs*





*#15 - Bella*, born March 2013
1/2 Texel x 1/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/02/14 (??) | DATE DUE: 02/26/15
*LAMBED 2/22/2015 - TWINS*
*#28 - Ewe, x.x lbs*
*#29 - Ewe, x.x lbs*

*EWE LAMBS*





*#19 - Phoibe*, born February 2014
1/2 Texel x 1/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambs Expected: 1
DATE BRED: 10/23/14 | DATE DUE: 03/19/15
*LAMBED 3/17/2015 - SINGLE*
*#37 - Ewe, x.x lbs*





*#25 - Elektra*, born March 2014
1/2 Texel x 3/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale
Lambs Expected: 1
DATE BRED: 10/25/14 | DATE DUE: 03/21/15





*"Chevy,"* born March 2014
Border Cheviot
Lambs Expected: 1
DATE BRED: xx/xx/14 | DATE DUE: xx/xx/15

~~ You can go to http://twasheep.weebly.com for more information ~~
Or visit our NEW website http://raessheepandchickenco.weebly.com for UPDATED info! (old web site is still kept up for archive purposes)


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## SheepGirl

*LAMB CROSSES*

1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale (#44)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 3/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale (#73, #09, #10)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/4 Texel x 3/16 Babydoll Southdown x 1/16 Montadale (#13, #25)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/4 Texel x 1/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale (#15, #19)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/2 Cheviot ("Chevy")


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## SheepGirl

*DUE DATES*

02/25 - Ciqala
02/26 - Bella (??)
02/27 - Rosie (??)
03/01 - Katy Perry
03/03 - Lady Gaga
03/04 - Ali
03/19 - Phoibe

?? - Ram lost his crayon and I couldn't buy a replacement for a couple days, but there were slight green marks on the ewes from where the crayon had rubbed off on his wool. He was acting interested in the ewes, so I think they were bred. We'll find out soon if they get marked.

** All six mature/yearling ewes are bred, they should be lambing over the course of about a week. Now just waiting for all the ewe lambs to breed! Should be soon... last year's ewe lambs bred on average at 222 days old (221 days for Rosie, Elektra's full sister & 223 days for Bella, Phoibe's full sister) and that would be 09/25 (would be coming back into heat around the 12th??) & 10/21 for Hank's last daughters. I don't know about Chevy girl. She may not breed this year or she may...I know nothing of the genetics of the flock she came from.

** Phoibe was bred 10/23 at  250 days old.


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## SheepGirl

*LAMBING INFO*

2/22 - Bella (#15) - Twins, #28 ewe (x.x lbs), #29 ewe (x.x lbs)
2/25 - Rosie (#13) - Single, #30 ewe (x.x lbs)
2/26 - Ciqala (#44) - Single, #31 (x.x lbs)
3/02 - Katy Perry (#10) - Single, #32 ram (x.x lbs)
3/02 - Lady Gaga (#09) - Twins, #33 ewe (x.x lbs), #34 ewe (x.x lbs)
3/05 - Ali (#73) - Twins, #35 ram (x.x lbs), #36 ewe (x.x lbs)
3/17 - Phoibe (#19) - Single, #37 ewe (x.x lbs)
3/20 - Elektra (#25) - Single, #38, ram (x.x lbs)

Average Lambing Rate: 138%
Ewe lambs - 100%
Yearlings - 150%
Mature ewes - 150%

Not such a great lambing year this year, a part from all the ewe lambs! Two ewes I was expecting twins from, I didn't get, instead they gave me a single... had they produced twins, lambing rates for yearling would've been 200% and mature ewes would've been 175%.


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## Baymule

You have quite the cross breed program going. Did you cross them yourself to breed the best sheep for you needs or did you buy cross breeds? I have studied sheep for that day when I finally get to have sheep. Picking a breed will be real hard. Your ram is a good looking boy!


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## SheepGirl

My first ewe was a 1/2 Babydoll Southdown x 1/2 Montadale cross ewe. She was bred by my neighbor, who gave her to me. He had a flock of Montadales, but he was in his 70s, so he wanted a smaller, more manageable sheep, so he crossed his flock of Montadales with a Babydoll Southdown ram. Every year he would keep back some ewes from the cross and get rid of some of the older purebred ewes and he would get another Babydoll ram. So that's where my 3/4 Babydoll ewes come from.

Then my flock moved to my house, at the time I had one ram, one wether, two mature ewes, and two ewe lambs. I loved Katy Perry's butt so much I wanted to breed my flock to have large butts/a lot of muscle. However, because my sheep at the time were mostly Babydoll influenced, they were small and short statured, so that took away a lot of my options for a meat type ram (no blackface breeds)... except for one, the Texel. I bought my Texel ram and used him for two breeding seasons, I also bred him to two of his daughters from the first year.

So then comes this year, after evaluating my previous two years. I noticed that my ewes had sound udders, but they were pretty small. I wanted more capacity in their udders. So I was looking at a dairy breed or a Dorset. Again, I didn't want to lose the muscle I just bred into my flock, so Dorset was looking to be my option. I stumbled upon a Dorset x Finn cross ram (the one I have now) and I figured he would be a good fit. All of his lambs will be 25% Finnsheep, which means all of his daughters will produce 25% more lambs than others in my flock for their age. Also, there have been studies where Finn x carcasses are indistinguishable from others, so I thought the Finn influence wouldn't be too bad.

So I think the kind of sheep I am trying to produce is a maternal type animal (easy keeper, lambs easily, weans 2+ lambs/ewe, good udder capacity, high weaning wts in relation to animal size) that produces muscular lambs. I will probably rotate between maternal and terminal sires every year or every other year or so and then once I'm happy with my group of ewes I may pick a homebred ram lamb to breed everyone to to kind of tie everything together, if that makes sense, lol.


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## SheepGirl

Also, @Baymule, you can go to my Sheep Breed Selector (link in my signature) to help you decide. You don't have to have purebred sheep, a crossbreed of the top breeds that match you would be a good fit also.


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## Baymule

With all the different breeds of sheep that there are, is there not a breed that meets your expectations? Not trying to be a smart alec, just a non-sheep person that has them on the wish list. We just bought a place with 8 acres, so the wish list is getting closer to reality.

I have looked at the different breeds of sheep and there are so many choices! Hair or wool, small or large, spotted or solid, black, brown or white, white face or black face and the list goes on. My main reason for having them would be for meat. I know me and I know that if I had wool sheep, then I would have to dive off into using the wool......need to learn how to knit and crochet......


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## Bossroo

Baymule, when considering breeds of sheep to raise, and since you want sheep for meat,  you have to also consider your land as in soil type ( sandy, clay, loam, rocky, etc. )  as  well as it's carrying capacity , climate ( seasonal heat  as well as cold ), rainfall amount, grasses and other forage, etc..  Now, SheepGirl lives in Maryland and you live in Texas, and I hazard to guess that your local conditions vary widely.  Her crossbred sheep thrive in her location where if they were in your area of Texas they would barely survive.  I used to  breed Purebred Suffolks on irrigated pastures for ram sales in North Central Cal. with great success. I also had hundreds of Ramoulett and Corriedale ewes for wool production and for  crossbred meat production.  When wool prices dropped like a rock and at the same time shearing costs skyrocketed and finding shearers became a chore and economically no longer feasible, I sold out.   While  years later , my next door neighbor in the arid Central Valley of Cal. purchased 20 yearling Suffolk ewes from a very hot desert environment in Southern Cal. which were a mere shadow of what my yearling ewes were due to lack of lusher pastures, just some course grasses , browse and tumbleweeds. He also purchased a Dorper ram to cross onto those ewes, and you wouldn't believe the difference in the quality of the resulting lambs on dry pasture with only 6 and 1/2 inches of rainfall per year. In this day and age of this current economy and your location,  I would suggest that you Google :    " Dorper Sheep in Texas for sale " and read about this breed of sheep developed in arid Africa using  Dorset  rams onto the Persian fat rumped ( desert breed) ewes .  A meat breed that sheds wool so no shearing expenses , browses like a goat and grazes grass like a sheep therefore they thrive while other breeds merely exist, breeds year round so will produce 3 lamb crops in 2 years, the rate of gain as well as there high weaning weights attests very favorably to the ewes' milking ability, the lamb has a very favorable quality of meat in carcass competitions. Also they are quite docil and easy to handle.  Good luck and enjoy your search !


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## Baymule

@Bossroo I started answering you, then realized I was doing a major highjack, so started my own thread. would like to converse further with you!


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## SheepGirl

@Baymule - Not really; none that I've found, anyway. Most muscular sheep are lacking in the maternal department and most maternal sheep are lacking in the muscular department. Of course there is a negative correlation between those traits, but I'm trying to balance it out as much as I can in my flock.

Bossroo gave you some very good information on my thread as well as the other thread that you started, specific to your area.


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## bonbean01

Always look forward to when your lambs arrive...they are so adorable and look like living teddy bears!


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## SheepGirl

This past weekend we put up fence posts for pens on one side of our new barn and also fence posts for a permanent pen to keep the ewes in during the winter or just for use as a catch pen. Tomorrow morning we are having stone dust delivered to get the ground level and then the carport will be delivered. How exciting!! Then we will just need to put the sides on the carport. It should all be done by november, or in november.


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## SheepGirl

I added photos of the ewes. 

Seven of the nine ewes have been bred; Elektra looks to have a faint red mark on her so she could've been bred also...there isn't much to the crayon anymore because the chickens peck it.

Gravel has been delivered for the barn, just have to level it out and then the barn will come!!


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## OneFineAcre

SheepGirl said:


> I added photos of the ewes.
> 
> Seven of the nine ewes have been bred; Elektra looks to have a faint red mark on her so she could've been bred also...there isn't much to the crayon anymore because the chickens peck it.
> 
> Gravel has been delivered for the barn, just have to level it out and then the barn will come!!



I am waiting anxiously on the barn pictures. 
We are going to build a barn also, so I am very interested in what you do.


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## SheepGirl

Its going to be delivered next tuesday!!


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## SheepGirl

Okay sorry the pics are sideways, I am uploading them from my phone.

barn location. 7 tons of stone dust but looks like we need more. It only covered half the area of the barn.



 

Im not sure why no fence posts were put here?? I was at work by the time my parents got around to doing this part.


 

Picture this without the sheep shack lol. Future winter pen.


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## SheepGirl

I registered my sheep business with the state of Maryland and I also got a MD sales use and tax license in the mail just two weeks after I put in my application (they said 6-8 weeks so I was really happy!) so now if anyone wants livestock supplies or equipment, let me know  I have an account already with a wholesaler however I will not be keeping an inventory (don't need a business license if I don't keep an inventory) so shipping will be a tad slower. I figured offering products to sheep & chicken buyers would make stuff convenient. By the way did I mention I'm now taking orders for started pullets for spring? I already sold 12 and got deposits on them after one day of posting a craigslist ad. So now I'm creating a Web site to combine my sheep, chicken, and livestock equipment so that should be exciting. It's a work in progress, but here it is: http://raessheepandchickenco.weebly.com


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## BrownSheep

Good for you!  That is so exciting and ambitious.


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## SheepGirl

I am soo excited for my sheep to lamb. It just hit me that I will be having 6 mature ewes lamb in 8 days which means newborn babies will be all over the place.    I think I'm going to take off that week, or at least work less hours.


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## SheepGirl

We're supposed to be getting 1 to 6 inches of snow in a couple hours... my dad went and bought 8 bales of hay for the time being.

Barn will now be here Dec 8, if they show up this time. Last time they didn't even call to say they weren't showing up.

I'm selling Valentino to a Spanish family from work who wants to eat him. They have a huge family so they didn't want one of my smaller 70 lb lambs  Valentino I estimate at being 120 lbs or more (he's as tall as Ciqala and she weighs 160+ lbs) and he was born the day before Valentine's day of this year. He's 1/2 Dorset x 1/2 Finnsheep. Yesterday I switched him and Odysseus--Odysseus joined the girls and Valentino is by himself in the pen getting fattened up. He was nice while I had him, but he's too mean to keep around. I will be getting less than market price selling him to this family, but this way I know nobody will be hurt by his aggression. I will only lose about $25 or so from his purchase price, so it's not bad.


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## SheepGirl

We got about four inches of snow. Family arrived today for Thanksgiving.

Oh and I updated my Web site and created a Facebook page for my business -- check it out and tell me what you think


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## Southern by choice

YAY! I checked out FB I don't have FB so I couldn't like you 
My customers say I should do a FB page... is it time consuming?
Geesh I cannot keep up with my website so I am thinking how could I do FB. You will have to let me know how it works out for you.

I will check out your website too! Been awhile since I have been to it.
Sorry about the ram situation.

I noticed the rockdust you have down ready for your new barn!
Love it. What exactly did you use?
Did you dig down? How deep is the rock?


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## SheepGirl

No, took me like 5 minutes to create a page and then for every post, just a minute or two. I already spend like an hour or two on facebook, im a part of a couple sheep groups and goat care and goat health groups as well as sheep and livestock sale groups so im always on there reading. The groups are almost like forums.

And yep, the stone dust was delivered from a local garden center and then our neighbor came over and used his bobcat and leveled it out for us. We never dug out anything, it was just dropped on the ground. The front is about 3 or 4 inches deep and the back goes to about a foot where the slope is.


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## Southern by choice

Thanks!
I went to your website. Your old one had lots of info and articles how come you didn't put them on this one? 
Nice crisp clean look!


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## SheepGirl

Ewes finally have a nice barn to lamb in. Tomorrow I may build a new hay feeder (if any of you remember the $30 10-hd hay/grain feeder I built 3 years ago, well...it's no longer in existence. I made it without pressure treated lumber and between the weather and the abuse of the sheep, it fell a part pretty quickly. I may build another one if I can get Lowe's to cut my lumber on an angle) or I might wait until all of the pens in the barn are built. My ideal situation would be to have a fence line feeder so I don't have to go in with the sheep to feed hay and have them climb all over me and knock me around.

Also I have been toying around with rations for the sheep in late gestation and lactation. Normally I feed the ewes a 16% textured sheep feed from Southern States. It is a complete sheep feed that I feed along with hay. However, at $28.40/cwt, I'm looking for something cheaper, especially since my ewes will be eating a lot this year. So I've been googling and calculating and I found a small feed store that is very cheap. It's in the town I work in, which is great. Southern States chick starter is I think around $9 or $10 for a 25 lb bag, but I went to this small feed store and paid $12 or $13 for a 50 lb bag. The guy loading my chick feed said their sheep feed was around $9, so that makes me wonder how low their corn is priced  (Corn is currently $4.03/bushel or $7.20/cwt) I'm gonna call them tomorrow and ask about a bunch of feed prices and then I will plan my rations from there based on low cost. Definitely corn and SBM will be in my ration in addition to my orchardgrass hay. I will see if it is more cost effective to feed their sheep feed or just start hand mixing my own.

Also my chicks are outgrowing their brooder, so my mom said they can move into the shed that she keeps all of her planting and gardening stuff in (she calls it the "Potty Shed") until they get big enough to move out into the barn. It is 8x12 so more than big enough for the 54 chicks. They are currently in a baby playpen that measures 28"x41" that also has a 30 lb feeder and 5 gal waterer in it so at almost 4 wks old they are outgrowing it. So they will be more than happy with their new, larger space. I have 16 Barred Rocks, 14 Buff Orpingtons, and 24 Red Sex Links. I have 16 pre-sold already with non-refundable deposits. The only downside to moving them in there is I will have to keep buying bedding and spending time to clean their area out. I was planning on building a long cage, 3' wide by 30' long to keep them in that is 3-4' off of the ground and have them on wire, but I'd rather my mom give me that space for free rather than me have to buy wood to build the cage. But as my started pullet business expands, I would like to take advantage of the vertical space I have raising them so I don't limit myself with floor space in the limited amount of buildings I have available to me.

All that said, I have 7.5 weeks until lambs are due!!


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## Southern by choice

Isn't it wonderful to see how your farm has progressed!
So happy for you! New barn, new ventures!

A word about wire... you will need a way to remove it like a tray or something as it will be very hard to clean! 
We raise a lot of started pullets and once they hit 6-8 weeks ours range as they are so messy on wire... we do pen some but outdoors on the ground with shelter then at 12 weeks they can come and go as they please. 

When do you sell your started pullets? We generally sell from 12 weeks to 22 weeks.

Not long for lambs!!!!!!!!!


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## SheepGirl

Yep, I have wire in my chicken house with my five hens. I can't remember the spacing, though I'm sure it's 1/4" or 1/2" square. Their poop sticks to it (but once dried it easily scrapes off) but I figured with smaller chickens their poop is smaller so there wouldn't be much of an issue.

I will be selling them in April when they are 16 to 20 weeks old. I might be getting more chicks in February, of different breeds... gotta figure out how much money I will have after school, feeding the ewes, and getting a new-to-me car (it's a '97 Ford Thunderbird my uncle, who is a master mechanic, has fixed up).


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## SheepGirl

So I called the feed store. 16% sheep feed is $11.40, shelled corn is $5.95, and soybean meal is $15.95, all for 50 lb bags. So that makes me soo happy 

Instead of paying $42.60 to feed grain to each ewe raising twins, I can pay $20.79. So I save $21.81/ewe, which is a total savings of around $200 (or around $65/month). That $200 is the sale of about 1.5 lambs... so instead of those lambs paying for feed for their dams, it's going to be profit 

My feed rations are as follows:

Late gestation (total cost is $14.48 per ewe)
4 lbs orchardgrass hay, 3/4 lb corn

(ewes that look like they may have triplets will be given extra corn)

Lactation - twins (total cost is $40.61 per ewe)
5 lbs orchardgrass hay, 2 lbs corn, 0.2 lb soybean meal

Lactation - single (total cost is $35.12 per ewe)
5 lbs orchardgrass hay, 1.5 lbs corn, 0.1 lb soybean meal

Ewes that have triplets will have their ration adjusted accordingly. (Probably will be 2.5 lbs corn and 0.3 lb sbm.)

Back when I had a couple of ewes, I didn't mind spending the money for a complete sheep feed. But I won't mind spending about 10 minutes weighing feed to save $200. I'd be "spending" $120 in labor, so it's still worth it to me. (10 minutes a day x 90 days = 15 hours x $8/hour) Now that I have a larger flock and I am going to school full time plus I have the chickens and I'm also buying a car, that is money well saved! 

Altogether, I'll be spending about $380 or so on feed for nine ewes. I'm hoping to get around 15 lambs, so selling 2.8 lambs will cover feed costs for late gestation/lactation. Plus $100.21 worth of hay to feed the ewes until their late gestation ration starts. So altogether, it is about $480, the sale of 3.5 lambs (65 lbs at $2.10/lb). However, I used a new sire this year who was 140 lbs at 9 months old (who easily could've been at 150-155 in perfect condition) so my lambs will probably be heavier when Sept comes around when I go to sell lambs at auction. I just hope lamb prices are still $210/cwt when I go to sell!! 

My next biggest feed expense is hay--I already found a $1/bale cheaper source, however, I think completely switching to round bales will save me even more money. However I like handfeeding the bales to give the ewes an exact amount so maybe I will get large square bales. I think that would be my next best bet for next time.


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## SheepGirl

I've been calculating it out even more.

I went to the feed store, bought five bags of shelled corn. Turned out it was $6.05 instead of $5.95. I bought one bag of soybean meal (47% protein) for $13.95, instead of $15.95 like I was quoted. Also bought two bags of chick starter... $13.89, same price as last time.

Then I was looking at my mineral label. Turns out they have a feed recipe right on the label! For a 16% feed, mix 1,500 lbs farm grain, 450 lbs 44% soybean meal, and 50 lbs of sheep mineral. So I took that as a starting point and used book values for the corn and the label I received for the soybean meal and I was playing around with the ration. Turns out, adding mineral to the corn and soybean meal ration makes it cheaper than just feeding the grain!

So, I can feed my ewes 4 lbs of hay and 2 lbs of my feed mix and it will cost $0.734 per day to feed to a ewe nursing twins. Compare that to $0.802 without the mineral (5.2 lbs hay, 2 lbs corn, 0.2 lbs soybean meal)!

Oh my gosh... I love saving money. It makes me want to find more ways to figure out an even cheaper ration. Though I think I will stop here for now and go to bed


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## secuono

Love this thread! Great progress! Can't wait to see the newborn lambs added here, too!


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## SheepGirl

6 weeks until lambs arrive!  Some ewes are starting to look a little rotund. I cant wait until babies are born.


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## Southern by choice




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## luvmypets

I agree @Southern by choice


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## SheepGirl

I got some hay delivered today... different hay guy as my last hay guy doesn't text me back :/ But this guy was so nice and so personable, apparently he did business with my old neighbor who had the sheep and the man across the road (we asked him to come over and help because his truck got stuck in the snow) was his Ag Mechanics teacher in high school some 20 or 30 yrs ago and they remembered each other! What are the odds?  Anyway, it is 50 bales of 2nd cutting orchardgrass hay (really soft, pretty green stuff!), 65 lbs each. Such a great deal I got on the hay, I'm so excited. Definitely more than I will be needing, but it's good to know I won't have to worry about getting another shipment of hay out when I'm running short again.


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## BrownSheep

Back when my old ag teacher was starting out he went to a conference in Kansas City. He got talking to somebody in the line for lunch. It ended up being the ag teacher from the next town over!


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## Sweetened




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## SheepGirl

Some ewes are looking really noticeable. Most have little udders starting. Feb 1 I will vaccinate the ewes and start them on feed.


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## SheepGirl

First lamb is due Feb 25 (day 147) but my ewes lamb 142 to 146 days with 144 to 145 being most common so we may have lambs sooner!


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## SheepGirl

Finally decided on a final ration. It is only 14.4% protein, but should work well enough. It has corn, ddg, sbm, limestone, and minerals in it. I'm mixing 20 lbs at a time which should last me around 4 days.


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## mysunwolf

When you feed a fine/powder feed like that, do your sheep (literally) inhale it? Or is there no problem?


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## SheepGirl

No they lick it up. I could add water to it, but u don't have the kind of feeder for that...i would want plastic and I have wood.


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## SheepGirl

1.5 to 2 more weeks for lambs!! Unfortunately ive been sick the past week with norovirus so I havent been out to see them. My dad has been out feeding them since my mom is sick with me, lol. I barely have the energy to stand up longer than a few minutes before feeling dizzy but the antinausea meds the doctor gave us seems to be helping with getting us rehydrated and less dizzy. Im just happy im sick before the lambs arrive, lol.


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## SheepGirl

FOUR days until the earliest possible due date!! Ciqala has lambed on days 143 (twins), 145, and 146 (last two triplets) before so who knows what she'll do again. I'm thinking she has just a single in her, maybe small twins.


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## SheepGirl

Checked out the ewes this morning. Ciqala doesn't look like she will lamb today. I give her another 2-3 days (days 145-146). Bella is due tomorrow, but I think she has another 2-3 days as well (days 144-145).


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## OneFineAcre

SheepGirl said:


> Checked out the ewes this morning. Ciqala doesn't look like she will lamb today. I give her another 2-3 days (days 145-146). Bella is due tomorrow, but I think she has another 2-3 days as well (days 144-145).


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## Southern by choice




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## luvmypets




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## bonbean01




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## SheepGirl

Yesterday we got 6 to 7 inches of snow. Last night we had a pipe freeze and burst, so water is shut off for now until my parents come home for the weekend and can call the insurance and plumber. Im supposed to close tonight but if I cant shower then im not going to work! I work with food so if someone sees a dirty person serving food thats like a turn off, lol. Especially since ive been out with the sheep and chickens im kind of stinky haha.

Anyway, both ciqala and bella have puffy pink vulvas. I dont think bella is going to lamb in the next 12 hours but probably late at night or early in the morning. Definitely tomorrow im thinking as she was walking away from the feeder today instead of just standing there stuffing herself full of hay. ciqala I still think will lamb in 1 to 2 days. She has a swollen pink vulva but other than that she doesnt look too terribly close. I think bella will go before her, but thats up to them to decide lol. And then rosie is due tomorrow, but she doesnt look close at all. Maybe 3 to 5 days yet for her.


----------



## Goat Whisperer




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## Southern by choice




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## SheepGirl

Well, since I'm home from work I figured I can at least work on my own business. I was on Facebook and saw an ad for GoDaddy domains for $0.99 for the first year and $9.99 for the second. Unfortunately with Weebly you have to upgrade from the free web site service in order to purchase your domain. I didn't realize that.  So then I went ahead and got the Website builder that GoDaddy has, only to realize it comes with a free domain (yes, after I already bought it). But fortunately it is also on sale for $1/month so I went ahead and got that and now I'm building up my Web site... again. I dowloaded the zip archive from my Weebly site and I'm essentially transferring it over. It will look similar, but not exact. I'm lucky I was a geek in 8th grade and I studied HTML and CSS and the like in my free time, so I do have a good understanding and I still remember most of it!  But my new web site is www.sheepandchicken.com -- it's not published yet, but I'm working on it.


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## SheepGirl

I was right about bella! Twin ewe lambs sometime this evening. I got outside about 20 min ago and they are dried off and fed.

I will get weights on them in the morning and I will tag and dock them as well. With all these babies coming, I have to be on top of things!

These lambs are 1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finn x 1/4 Texel x 1/8 Babydoll x 1/8 Montadale -- boy, that was a lot to type out! haha


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## SheepGirl




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## Sweetened

Awwwwh! Grats!


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## luvmypets

Nice start!!!! 

Cute 

Hope for the same odds with my ewe


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## bonbean01

Congrats!!!!  Adorable and twin ewe lambs   can't beat that!!!!


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## OneFineAcre

Good job Bella!!


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## SheepGirl

#28 is 6.0 lbs and #29 is 6.8 lbs


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## SheepGirl

Tagged docked and weighed them this morning  Rosie was a little off to herself this am... maybe lambs tonight or tomorrow? Ciqala still doesnt look terribly close lol.


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## SheepGirl

So Rosie's vulva has changed color a lot in a couple hours. This am when I found her with her head stuck in the fence it was purpley and this afternoon when I found her AGAIN with her head stuck in the fence it was starting to turn pink. Babies are coming soon for her!!

Speaking of babies, #28 got her stuck wedged between the hay and the barn wall this morning. Like, literally, wedged. I had a hard time pulling her out after my mom and I moved twenty 65-lb bales out of the way to rescue her. We could've taken the panel off the side, but we weren't sure if we would've been able to get it back on, so we just moved the hay. My mom said she heard baaing outside so she woke me up to go check on the sheep. I go out, see Rosie stuck, and then I hear a lamb crying too. I for the life of me couldn't find the one lamb. So I follow the sound of the baby baa and it was coming from the corner of the barn. I don't even know how she got stuck in there! I was just out there at 11 pm last night and then this am at 8. Once I found her I went inside and asked my mom for help, even though she was about to leave for work and she was in her work clothes and had her hair all done lol. My dad took everything out of the feed shack and placed it right in front of the hay (we are emptying out the feed shack to use as a bldg for the chicks but I wanted to go through everything as we took it out and get rid of stuff and throw trash away, but nooo. My dad just puts it all in front of the hay so now I can barely reach the bales). So that little baby had to go through the gate, go through the junk obstacle course to find her way in between the hay and the wall, walk on the slippery metal frame of the carport, and wedge herself in like a 3-4" space. It was perplexing. We moved a hay bale directly up against the wall so it hopefully won't happen again.

Also my stupid adult chickens are pecking at my poor babies! #28's vulva is bleeding. I figured since they are snowed in the barn instead of their chicken house, they aren't getting much to eat (thus trying to eat the lambs) so I moved a bowl of chicken feed out to them. Hopefully that will stop the pecking as those chickens are too wild for me to catch to lock in their house. Bella doesn't even do anything to stop them! But if the goat goes near her babies, she attacks the goat. And the poor goat just wants to play. Apparently Bella doesn't think her babies should make friends but Bella thinks her babies are okay being bullied.  So far I haven't been impressed with Bella's mommy skills. Last year she rejected her lamb (though of course she had a rough vet-assisted birth) and this year she's not really even keeping track of her babies. She keeps them fed and she keeps an eye on them while she's eating hay, but she lets them wander. Even when her baby was crying while she was stuck, she wasn't freaking out and pacing like the other ewes I know would have done trying to get to their lost baby. When Ciqala lost her baby last year, she was baaing at him as I took him away and she was pacing the fence. (This is when I tried reviving him, unfortunately he never came-to.) When I brought her dead baby back out to her so she could sniff him so she knows she doesn't have to take care of him anymore, she was still baaing for him for a couple days. And Ciqala is Bella's mommy so why isn't Bella acting like Ciqala? ughhh silly sheep. So likely I won't be keeping these ewe lambs as breeders. I will either sell them as lambs or I will breed them and then sell them as yearlings, or as bred yearlings fall/winter of 2016. I think selling them as lambs at auction will get me the most money, but I will have to do those calculations after all the lambs arrive so I know how many ewe lambs I'm working with, lol.


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## SheepGirl

Oh, I forgot Ciqala's update. Her udder has grown tremendously so I'm thinking babies soon! She's even separating herself from the others. When I went out this afternoon, she was laying in the corner of the barn while everyone else walked over to me to say hello. She wasn't even chewing cud, so maybe she was in the early stages of working on those babies (or likely just one baby)!


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## Goat Whisperer

Congrats! So cute.


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## bonbean01

You had quite a time of it Sheepgirl with moving all those hay bales and hunting and finding that baby and stuck sheep...and chickens pecking your babies ... if it were me, any chickens pecking on any lambs or sheep would hit the freezer pretty quickly!  Hoping the rest of your day went smoother


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## SheepGirl

Lol, I wish I could catch the darn things! They aren't friendly at all. Once I saw the chicken pecking, I was like, this is war! And I was trying to chase the chicken around trying to catch it to no avail. Now that it's dark I'm going to go out to try to catch the darn things and lock them in their chicken house away from the sheep! lol


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## bonbean01

It is easier when it gets dark to catch chickens...I have a very long handled large fishing net too for such occasions


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## SheepGirl

I need to invest in one! lol


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## SheepGirl

Rosie had a big single 10.0 lb ewe lamb last night. I texted my mom when I got to work at 5 pm to please check on her when she got home because I had a sense that babies were coming. Good thing, too! Rosies baby had one leg stuck far back. My mom called me at work and I was in the first window in drive thru so I was walking her thru pulling the lamb in between customers, lol.

Then this morning right before school I went to check the ewes. Ciqala finally had her baby, a single ewe lamb also! All girls this year so far!! Ciqala didnt have any milk, which is unusual for her so I tried milking Rosie for her colostrum but her baby done milked her dry lol. Time was of the essence so I drove to Sheepman Supply and got colostrum replacer. Im so happy to have a store like this15 minutes from home. They have more things in stock than TSC or Southern States and a lot of it is sheep specific rather than for horses or cattle. So I got home and fed the baby. I had to squeeze the milk into her mouth, she didnt have much of a suck reflex. By the end of the bottle (4 oz) she was nursing fine. Im going to leave her out with Ciqala because she is still claiming her. I will just have to bottle feed her until ciqalas milk comes in, if it does. So weird because she has an udder, its not full full like with her triplets but there should be milk in there. I will be watching her. I havent weighed, tagged, or docked the new baby yet.

Rosies baby


 


 

ciqalas baby


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## HoneyDreameMomma

So cute!!!


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## SheepGirl

Rosie's baby is 1/4 Finn x 1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Texel x 3/16 Babydoll x 1/16 Montadale - definitely looks Texel-y in terms of body size and type, looks Finn-y with the ears and the black spot, and Dorset-y with the pink nose and pick around the eyes. Perfect blend!

Ciqala's baby is 1/4 Finn x 1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Babydoll x 1/4 Montadale. She just looks like a lamb, lol. I can't really pick a part any visually identifying breed-specific traits, lol.


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## luvmypets

Im sooo jealous


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## BrownSheep

Why have I not been getting alerts for this! I'm so far behind!


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## SheepGirl




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## BrownSheep

They are all adorable and hearty looking!...Not going to lie I hate how skinny look my rambouillet lambs look but your gals all are chunks!  

How many are left to lamb?


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## norseofcourse

Congrats on some nice lambs - and you and your mom for 'teaming up' to deliver!


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## SheepGirl

Bella and Rosie's babies look pretty chunky. Ciqala's is a bit thin and she's all hunched up because she's cold. I'm about to go out an check on her.

Right now I have five left to lamb. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Ali are due any day now. Lady Gaga looks like she'll go next; her vulva is turning pink so I think in the next 24-36 hours if she doesn't already have babies on the ground. Katy Perry and Ali I think still have another 2-3 days. And then in mid-March I have Phoibe and Elektra, ewe lambs from last year, due.


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## BrownSheep

Lady Gaga and Katy Perry will always be lambs to me


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## SheepGirl

Haha, they will be 3 this year! Can you believe that? Time goes by so fast.

Oh and ciqalas baby is 8.6 lbs.


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## bonbean01

3 years old?????  Are you serious!!!!  Apparently it is true that time speeds up as you get older!!!!  Does not seem that long ago when you they were born and I was loving the names you picked!!!


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## SheepGirl

Yep! They are May 2012 babies. They are still so cute and they are nice and quiet, very reserved little ladies. As a lamb Katy Perry was quite obnoxious however she doesn't have a mouth on her anymore, lol. She keeps to herself mostly. She does walk up to me every now and then wanting to be pet, Lady Gaga isn't as friendly and tends to keep her distance unless I have treats or grain.


And I forgot to update this in my last reply, but I tried milking ciqala out again and she has milk! Baby was able to nurse with help. I always say ciqalas has goat teats because they are as long as my hand and they are pretty wide. Plus her udder hangs low so lambs have a hard time looking down below for her teats. After 2 to 3 days they figure it out. She had a good udder as a first timer and then when she had Billy and Ali in 2009 she got these monster teats. Fortunately none of her daughters inherited this trait. It would be okay if they are dairy sheep, but they are expected to raise their own lambs and it's hard when you have to help the lambs nurse until they figure it out. It would be a nightmare if I had to help every ewe with their lambs because of poor teats! It gets physically exhausting trying to restrain a ewe and getting a lamb to grasp onto a teat when they just want to nibble on your fingers. Probably wouldn't be bad if one had a headgate, but still. Not a fun thing to do!


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## SheepGirl

Lady Gaga and Katy Perry both lambed March 2. LG had twin ewe lambs. She doesn't really want them, KP seems to have claimed them. KP had a single ram, but he was born without an anus. Unfortunately he will be euthanized. Kind of works out okay since LG doesn't want her babies.

Hopefully soon for Ali!


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## BrownSheep

That's a bummer about the ram lamb. Interesting, but sad all the same.


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## SheepGirl

Alis vulva is pink and swollen... maybe she will lamb in a day or two.

and here are all my babies so far...



 

and here is a new baby...


 

and the other one


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## SheepGirl

I am now starting to doubt who gave birth to who, lol. When I went to the barn the other night, Lady Gaga still had blood on her rear end, however, all the babies were cleaned off. One baby was all yellow (one of the ewe lambs) and the other two babies were whiter. One baby (the ram) was apparently well-fed, as his abdomen was really wide and he was already getting backed up. But then Katy Perry wasn't wide enough to have two babies, so I think just one baby was hers, and Lady Gaga had twins. But I would think both white babies were together, rather than a white and yellow? I can't really remember if I've had yellow and white babies born to the same mom or not. However, if the white babies are twins to each other, then that means they couldn't have been Lady Gaga's because she had just lambed recently in comparison to Katy Perry whose back end was all cleared up.

My original thought was the ram lamb was born to Katy Perry and the twin ewe lambs were born to Lady Gaga. Katy Perry was taking care of all three. Lady Gaga calls to only one of the ewe lambs, but she doesn't let any lamb nurse unless I hold her. Katy Perry feeds the two ewe lambs. Any ideas from anybody else? I kind of want to do a paternity test, but I'm not sure it would be worth it, or if it would be conclusive as KP and LG are twin sisters out of a twin sibling mating, so their genes are very close as it is and then the lambs all have the same sire.


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## purplequeenvt

I've had one pure white and one bright yellow out of the same ewe. Actually, now that I think about it, it's rare that they are both bright yellow. It's usually one of each or neither are yellow.


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## SheepGirl

Well thats good, I couldnt remember from previous lambings!

And Ali lambed Thursday night after it got done snowing. We ended up with 9 inches of snow!! I went out around 4 or 5, came inside, and went back out a little after 9. I saw Ali with a baby by her side and a placenta hanging out so I knew she was done, but I was like, just one?! You were huge, girl! And itwas a tiny ewe lamb at that. So I walked around the barn looking for new babies, none. I walked in the path I shoveled for them to get to their water, no babies. Then I looked around the barn, and there he was! A big ram lamb, head first in the snow with his front legs stuck.

My guess is Ali had him, and she started having the other and he started walking awaytrying to find his mom but his mom was too busy giving birth so he walked around and ended up right outside the door. The path of snow he was in was too small for an adult sheep so I think he walked that far by himself. And there was no discolored snow so I doubt he was born outside in the snow.

So I rushed him inside to try to warm him. He was limp and unconscious, but had a full belly as though ge had eaten already. Poor lil guy. Temp couldnt be read on thermometer as it was too low. Keep in mind he was still wet from birthing fluids surrounded by 9 inches of snow around his abdomen and head and the low at night was 4 degrees. He was frozen but I thought he was still alive because he was limp and my mom and I both thought we felt a heartbeat. Unfortunately after 3 hours I felt his eyes and they were like jello and they were unresponsive and he started to bloat so I knew he was gone.  Shortly after he tensed up from rigor mortis. I gotta say, he was definitely the cutest baby we had born! Big, fluffy ears, a soft fluffy face, a blocky head, and black nose (instead of the ugly pink haha). Plus he had a little brown on his nose and legs as he was 3/8 Babydoll. 

So next we have Phoibe and Elektra in the next week or two. And Emily is coming to shear March 19.


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## SheepGirl

So that leaves the count to 9 lambs out of 6 ewes... 3 sets of twins and 3 singles. I was only expecting one single out of this group (Ciqala), Katy Perry and Rosie surprised me when they had only 1. KP looked small enough for a single but Rosie looked big enough for twins, though she ended up having a big single. Unfortunately I lost two lambs (birth defect and hypothermia from exposure) and they were both my boys. So now I have 7 ewe lambs and im expecting two more babies out of my ewe lambs.

Oh and this is unrelated, but just as exciting... I asked my general manager if I could leave since I was done my shift and he called me in the office and he said next paycheck, you will see a small bump in your pay. He said dont tell anyone, so im guessing im one of the only ones who got a raise. And that small raise was 6.25%!! This is only about a week after I had been out for a week and a half and I came in late several days. You know they missed me and value my work then, haha. I was going to ask for a raise but I was thinking I should wait because I was out and everything and the next day my boss told me that! I was soo happy. Oh and my mom got a 6% raise too at her job! My dad was like, my girls are rockinnn.


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## SheepGirl

Here are all seven babies so far... Phoibe and Elektra are due the 15th and 16th for day 143. Though this year my sheep held their babies in to 148 days or close to it, so it could be the 15th to 21st.

As you can see, Rosie's baby is the biggest so far (second from right). The five in the barn from left to right are #29 (Bella), #33 (Lady Gaga), #34 (Lady Gaga), #30 (Rosie), and #36 (Ali). In the back, from left to right are #28 (Bella) and #31 (Ciqala). I'm still thinking of names, but I think I will go with a flower theme with all of these girls!


 

Also, I was thinking about the pink noses vs dark noses. Four of the nine lambs had the pink nose from their daddy and five of the nine lambs had the dark nose like their mommies. I think one of the pink nose babies (Ciqala's) will darken with age, as hers is a mixture of pink and black. Time will tell.


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## SheepGirl

We have another baby! Phoibe had a single this morning... and yep, its another girl!


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## Hens and Roos

Congrats!


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## SheepGirl

Valentino has a date with the butcher at 10:30 tomorrow morning. I'm so glad he's leaving. I'm sad that he's going to die (especially after all these girls!) but honestly, he has too much aggression... he tries to charge me through the fence and I don't even think about going in with him, and when I do, I have him near me so I can grab a hold of him and control him that way.

He was raised by a couple of little girls who were excited to have a little lamb. It was irresponsible of his breeder to sell him to me, and it was irresponsible of me to purchase him as I had seen some aggression in him when I went to check him out (him moving his head up and down). But I just wanted a nice finn x dorset ram! So to end this vicious cycle... the poor boy shouldn't be sold to anyone else as he is a nightmare... I sold him to a family I know that will enjoy him on their table. They are from Bolivia, apparently they only eat sheep and they don't like goat. (The place I got my doeling from sells bucklings for $30/head... I figured I could raise them up for meat and sell them but since they won't eat goat I won't bother haha.)

So I need to take him to the butcher, and then rush over to school for my class at 11, and then within a half hour of me getting home from class, Emily is coming to shear!

After she's done shearing, I can separate my non-working sheep into the pen so that way I'm only feeding grain to the sheep that need it. The ones that don't have babies at side are fat! And the ones that do are pretty thin. So I may feed the lambs grain this year to reduce the stress on their dams. I didn't feed them well through late gestation--I had the stomach virus, so my dad was feeding them. Because of last year, he was very light with his feeding this time around and then the first day I felt good enough to walk farther than the 15 feet to the bathroom, I went outside and gave them hay and my dad was like "oh wow you give them a lot more than I do." So it makes me wonder how much he was giving them... Anyway the good thing I got out of it was low birth weight lambs and easy births, and ewes with milk (except Ciqala at first, but she came into milk a little bit later). My plan is to feed them enough for twins, maybe triplets. That way they are getting enough to support themselves, their lambs, plus gain weight. Or maybe instead of pouring feed into them right away I will give them grain throughout the summer so they are a good weight by breeding. I will have to check grain price history reports to see if grain is cheaper now or later in the year to make that decision.


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## SheepGirl

Well my worries of my sheep being thin were unwarranted! With no wool, I'm actually really happy with their condition. Feeling them through their wool made them seem skinnier than they actually are, and the ewe I was worried about most, Ciqala, doesn't look that bad!

They actually are at good condition levels looking at them. Pics tomorrow.

Elektra is still holding in her baby!


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## SheepGirl

Sorry, I didn't get any pics. Elektra had her baby the day after shearing, and yes, a little BOY! #38. Had entropion in both eyes. Fixed with me holding them out for a couple seconds each. Had to go back the next day and do it again and haven't touched it since. However, he has a butthole and he didn't find himself in 8" of snow! Only problem he encountered is his momma didn't want him. When I went outside to check on the ewes, his nose and feet were sticking out, but they were dry, so he must've been like that for at least 45 minutes. So I went and started pulling, poor Elektra screamed, but he came out. As soon as he did, she stood up and walked over to the hay feeder and just stood there with her head down. After a few minutes she started eating. I cleaned him off with some towels since momma was showing no interest. Once he got up to walk I held him near his momma who obviously didn't want him. She was momma baaing at him, but she would push him away when he would get near her. Poor girl was confused as to what she wanted, lol. So I held her 2x a day for a couple days for him to eat. TOOK foreverrrrr. That lamb was so stupid it was frustrating. He would grasp onto a teat, drink, and then go to the front of his momma and look for food there. After he already knew where the faucet was! Drove me insane. Finally Sunday night when I went to go hold Elektra so he could nurse I noticed he had a full belly! And Elektra has accepted him as her own. I didn't even have to pen anybody up 

Oh and tomorrow I have someone coming to get 10 started pullets.


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## SheepGirl

So here are the names for everybody:

#28 - Pansy
#29 - Poppy
#30 - Hyacinth
#31 - Dahlia
#32 - Oliver
#33 - Daisy
#34 - Petunia
#35 - Cane
#36 - Ivy
#37 - Clover
#38 - Yarrow


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## SheepGirl

Chevy has an udder developing!! If she lambs before April 17 (I don't think she will), it is Valentino's baby... if she lambs after, it's Odysseus's baby. How exciting!! A late lamber, but she will be caught up with the flock to lamb with everybody else next year.


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## SheepGirl

I sooo want to get this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/King-Can...C1820PC/203576569?N=5yc1vZbty1#specifications

It is a carport, but it has a canvas/tarp roof. I want to build it similar to the carport barn we have, except have 4' walls (built kind of like how we did the sheep shack) and then the space between the wall and the roof, fill it in with chicken wire.

I want to use it as a chicken house, as my chicken business is expanding.  My parents didn't say no, but they did ask where I would put it 

I have 100 more chicks coming in June... after those are sold I will have enough profit to buy this and build it up. My 10x8 previously used feed shack just isn't big enough anymore 

Until I can get this carport, I was planning on building platforms about 2' above the floor to give the chickens more floor space so I can put 100 in there. I had 49 of them in there, pretty comfortably. Ten went to their new home about a week ago so I'm down to 39 in there. Just waiting on other owners to come pick up their poultry 

So I would separate the new place into four 5x12 pens, to have different aged poultry. Since I raise started pullets, I only have them for 16-20 weeks, so I can get a new batch every month and have 1 month old, 2 month old, 3 month old, and 4 month old pullets in the pens and the newly hatched chicks in the playpen in the garage. I sold out my pullets the first month I advertised them, which was about 5-6 months in advance of them being ready for sale. I am going to start advertising my next batch of 100 here in the next week or two.

Fortunately the hatchery I get them from will let you pay through PayPal and will keep your order reserved so long as its paid within 1 week of hatch. So if I can get 60 reservations ($5 nonrefundable deposit) by June 3, I will have the purchase of them paid for and then I use the rest of the reservation money to pay for their feed. The rest is pretty much profit. It's a nice little business I have going. What really helped me is writing a business plan to really take the time to research costs, alternative suppliers that are cheaper, etc.


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## OneFineAcre

SheepGirl said:


> I sooo want to get this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/King-Can...C1820PC/203576569?N=5yc1vZbty1#specifications
> 
> It is a carport, but it has a canvas/tarp roof. I want to build it similar to the carport barn we have, except have 4' walls (built kind of like how we did the sheep shack) and then the space between the wall and the roof, fill it in with chicken wire.
> 
> I want to use it as a chicken house, as my chicken business is expanding.  My parents didn't say no, but they did ask where I would put it
> 
> I have 100 more chicks coming in June... after those are sold I will have enough profit to buy this and build it up. My 10x8 previously used feed shack just isn't big enough anymore
> 
> Until I can get this carport, I was planning on building platforms about 2' above the floor to give the chickens more floor space so I can put 100 in there. I had 49 of them in there, pretty comfortably. Ten went to their new home about a week ago so I'm down to 39 in there. Just waiting on other owners to come pick up their poultry
> 
> So I would separate the new place into four 5x12 pens, to have different aged poultry. Since I raise started pullets, I only have them for 16-20 weeks, so I can get a new batch every month and have 1 month old, 2 month old, 3 month old, and 4 month old pullets in the pens and the newly hatched chicks in the playpen in the garage. I sold out my pullets the first month I advertised them, which was about 5-6 months in advance of them being ready for sale. I am going to start advertising my next batch of 100 here in the next week or two.
> 
> Fortunately the hatchery I get them from will let you pay through PayPal and will keep your order reserved so long as its paid within 1 week of hatch. So if I can get 60 reservations ($5 nonrefundable deposit) by June 3, I will have the purchase of them paid for and then I use the rest of the reservation money to pay for their feed. The rest is pretty much profit. It's a nice little business I have going. What really helped me is writing a business plan to really take the time to research costs, alternative suppliers that are cheaper, etc.


Very cool
You are quite the entrepreneur

I do have a question though
I think I paid about $600 for a 16 x 20 metal carport
I'm not sure about pricing in your area but it seems that would be a better value

Edited
Correction the ones I paid $600 were 12 x 20
But a metal roof and higher gage steel in the frame


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## SheepGirl

That's not a bad price. I think my parents paid around $4,000 for our 20x32... but my parents are fighting extra charges by the company through the credit card company because they charged us waaayyyyy more than we were quoted (mainly for extra legs and also they said they would give us a discount because of the delay in delivery with a no call/no show).

Carolina Carports sent the credit card company a copy of the invoice my dad signed and they had whited out the stuff my dad wrote down (which I saw him write and so did the head honcho of the building crew)! My mom was livid to say the least.

But with this canopy that I want to convert to a chicken house, I figured it would cost me about $780 in wood and the actual canopy. (That's for having a vertical 2x4 every 4' going across the 4' wall; I could probably get away with less wood, but ehhh.) We have plenty of welded wire and chicken wire I can use, so I don't need to buy that. Plus we have containers full of nails and screws we bought for other projects that weren't used or haven't been used yet, so I don't believe I will be needing those.

But anywhoooo.... pictures of my lambs (taken over the past week or two or three since the sheep have been sheared)! Oh and Valentino weighed 63 lbs after he was butchered. He was 142 lbs in November, so at best, his dressing % is 44.37%. I don't think he was any bigger than 160 lbs (39.38%). Considering the average is 37.5% (50% dressing plus 75% of dressing as cuts), he didn't do too bad.

Rosie and her 36 day old ewe lamb





Freshly shorn sheep in the snow.




Lambs layin in the sunshine 




Momma Elektra with her baby




Babies are growing up so fast 




#36 (back) and #37 (front). I love how thick #36 is. She's Ali's baby.




The barn. I bought the sign, my dad hung it up there. I just need a goat and chicken sign now! The piece of plywood in the front covers the extension cord on the ground which goes to my spotlight I use to feed/check on the sheep at night. Lattice was put on the gate in the barn because the darn goat would climb through and jump in the feed bins and eat all the grain 




Barn from another angle. The boards all need to be repainted again. This spring we should be finishing it, putting the rest of the boards up, doors, pens, trim, etc.




All the lambies! The goat was over eating grain with the ewes.




My chickens had a pen built onto their house. Everything looks so junky right now as we are in the awkward winter --> spring transition.


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## SheepGirl

18 out of 19 sheep -- just kidding sheep #19 is hiding behind the one all the way to the right


 

my goat goat


 

#31, Ciqala's lamb. She is such a sweetheart. Very friendly. Going to be a big, TALL ewe. I imagine her being bigger than Ciqala.


 

Another photo of the entire flock (well the butts of the goat and #31 in the front)


 

They're so cute


 

#31 again


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## OneFineAcre

Thanks for the update
Lambs and barn look great!!


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## OneFineAcre

Oh... The goat looks great too.


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## SheepGirl

Went to a poultry swap last weekend. Distributed about 100 business cards and had plenty of people come back to visit my tent multiple times. (Yes, that's my mom hiding behind the blanket ) I had a great time, even though it was snowing... yes, snowing, at the end of April!!




 

And this weekend I went to the MD Sheep & Wool Festival. Had a great time.

I'm getting ready to wean the lambs here in the next week or so... going older than what I like but I'm going to start treating them as a group rather than individually. When the youngest is 60 days old I will separate the ewes from the lambs then. And vaccinate them as well. Last year I liked putting the ewes in the pen rather than 2013 when I put the lambs, but there is a small shelter in there, so I will probably just move the lambs again this year. Next year the barn will be finished and I will have a nice large pen inside with a lot for the ewes when weaning lambs.


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## ohiogoatgirl

the 3/4 babydoll sheep (first page of this thread, sorry) is their fleece finer? I had been tossing around a couple ideas on wool crosses with babydoll and some other longer wool breeds but wasn't sure the short length of the babydoll would suck the length down quite a few generations. Was thinkin at the time like 5, a lot more than 3/4 back to babydoll genetics but keep for the longer nicer fleeces. but from your pics the length goes out nicely.
just curious  thanks!


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## SheepGirl

Their staple length is about 3-4". I don't have any exact micron measurements, however, their fleece, as a breed, grades "medium." Staple length is a moderate to highly heritable trait (30-65%). Which means if you breed a Babydoll to a longwool breed, the fleece of the offspring is likely to be much shorter than the longwool parent. You keep breeding the cross to Babydolls and you will have a Babydoll length fleece in 1-2 generations.


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## ohiogoatgirl

thanks. so I was to try that it would be better to go round the long way and do something like babydollxshetland then breed the offspring back to each other or to Shetland again and breed back to percentage babydoll to work on the length.


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## SheepGirl

What are you trying to accomplish with the fleece? What grade of wool and what desired staple length? If you keep breeding back to shetland, you will eventually have a shetland fleece...if that is your goal, just stick with shetlands. No need to crossbreed.


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## ohiogoatgirl

I am a handspinner. the idea would be a nice crimpy fleece (like the babydoll) but with longer staple and maybe less lanolin. not exactly like the babydoll or exactly like the Shetland or other breed. I just said Shetland because its a breed I can get in the area and they are also smaller size like the babydolls. also shetlands have some cool colors.


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## purplequeenvt

The only way I'd on purpose cross a BD Southdown and Shetland would be if the ewes were BDS and the ram was a Shetland. They may be a similar size, but you need to take into consideration their shapes. BDS are thick with big heads. Shetlands are fine boned. 

Personally, I don't really see the point of crossing the two breeds. I'm not sure that their fleeces would "mesh" well. You might end up with something really strange instead. 

You might be better off getting a few of these and a few of those so you get all the fleeces that you like (have you ever spun Border Leicester??). You might have to keep 2 or 3 different rams or just breed all to a ram that size-wise works for all the ewes.


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## ohiogoatgirl

Thanks. Ya I have spun a variety of fibers I am just curious  And having rabbits got me into genetics and then into other animals genetics so genes and wool types was very cool as a handspinner. But mainly just "you know what would be really cool to try" just to find out what it actually makes. Plus theres always 'breed the best and eat the rest!'... plus maybe a few sweet pets or dorky wethers.
Good idea on the Shetland ram over BD ewes though. I hadn't thought that far on it. Now that I thought about it very true. always good idea to go bigger female with smaller male just in case.


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## SheepGirl

Last year about this time I was having issues with internal parasites in a few of my lambs. This year was no different. I lost #38 Saturday morning. When I checked his body, he was very anemic. So I rounded everybody up and I checked everyone... I dewormed #29, #33, #30, #15, and #44 with cydectin. None of them were white, but were a light to questionable pink. Figured it would be better to be safe than sorry. Most were a deep pink to red. I will be checking them again here in another 2-3 weeks to see what everyone looks like.


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## mysunwolf

I am so sorry that you lost one  We have had fewer problems this year since I did some preventative worming with Cydctin (I am a little ashamed to admit it)--but on the lambs I didn't do any preventative, we have had some eyelid scares but no losses yet. My prize ram had been acting off, and right before a big rain I checked his eyelids again and he was almost white. Dewormed with Cydectin and Valbazen (vet has told me to do this in the past), but he had developed bottle jaw by evening and totally white eyelids. Dewormed again 12hrs later (another vet recommendation), and gave iron shot and Bo-Se. Will be giving a B-complex and more iron tonight since he is still bottled up, worse in the evenings after a day of grazing. Maybe some nutri-drench too? I'm thinking I'm just dealing with barber pole as there is zero loose stool.

Are any of yours showing bottle jaw, or only the pale eyelids? Do you move pastures at this time or let them be? I am curious because I was always told to move pastures, only to read that that spreads the parasites and to leave them be, as long as you know your dewormer is working.


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## promiseacres

Can relate to loosing one to parasites. Will you have a fecal checked?


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## SheepGirl

I actually didn't suspect a problem! No one had any manure on their rear end, no bottle jaw, everyone is growing nicely. Only thing was that he was anemic.


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## purplequeenvt

Just so you know, checking eyelid color after death isn't very accurate. They go pale as soon as the heart stops pumping. It's likely that parasites were the problem, but I wouldn't base it off pale eyelids on a dead sheep. 

Sorry for your loss! It sucks every time.


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## Goat Whisperer

Sorry


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