Baymule’s 4th Lambing

[Baymule]

They are so cute. Bay, you know I don't know anything about sheep. The lambs are so adorable, do you every sell them?

Most of the time I have them presold, we take them to slaughter and sell by the pound as meat. Last year I didn't castrate the ram lambs, and as @Sheepshape said, they got to be butt heads and I sold them at 4 months old along with a ewe lamb that I didn't want to keep. This year, the ram lambs will be castrated so I don't have to put up with their foolishness. This year we will have them slaughtered, USDA inspected and I will advertise the meat for sale. We have been having them custom slaughtered which is not USDA inspected but since they were presold, it didn't matter.

 

[Mike CHS]

I liked the rate of growth when they weren't castrated but it restricted how we could use our paddocks so we won't be doing that this season.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Congratulations on the lambs. Sorry you didn’t get a ewe lamb.

 

[Baymule]

I liked the rate of growth when they weren't castrated but it restricted how we could use our paddocks so we won't be doing that this season.

I don't have enough pastures to keep a group of hormonal teenagers away from all the girls! LOL

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, they ARE really beautiful...boys. Guitar looks more skunk across the head. At least she had them without issue! Guess you don't need me to tell you that you have quite a few to cut, right? Hmmmm, how many more to lamb? Yep dinner has to be an option with such numbers. My goats start kidding in March, so my turn is coming.

YEARS ago, when I raised minis, I had one mare who always had her foals at dinner time, 4-6 PM Always! She would stand by her stall door, you let her in and within an hour, a foal. NINE times. Was wonderfully weird. Rest of the time, she'd come up when called but on birthing day -- she went there alone & waited. Wish the others had learned that.

 

[Devonviolet]

YEARS ago, when I raised minis, I had one mare who always had her foals at dinner time, 4-6 PM Always! She would stand by her stall door, you let her in and within an hour, a foal. NINE times. Was wonderfully weird. Rest of the time, she'd come up when called but on birthing day -- she went there alone & waited. Wish the others had learned that.

That is an amazing story!!!! NINE times! AMAZING!!!

 

[Sheepshape]

YEARS ago, when I raised minis, I had one mare who always had her foals at dinner time, 4-6 PM Always! She would stand by her stall door, you let her in and within an hour, a foal. NINE times. Was wonderfully weird. Rest of the time, she'd come up when called but on birthing day -- she went there alone & waited. Wish the others had learned that. [/QUOTE] The bright ones like to tell us (and know we'll be there to help if it's needed). I had an old ewe, Longface hitlived to a very ripe old age of approx. 14) who usually had triplets. She'd always come over to me an hour or two prior to established labour. One year, when having quads, she came over to me after feeding time (never missed her ewe nuts), and instead of going into the main area of the sheep shed, she stood and pawed the gate to the 'ewes with lambs' area. Clearly wanting to go in, I opened the gate and then opened a readied 'lambing jug'. She lay down. I left her with some extra ewe nuts. Later that evening, she was lying contentedly. Next morning, healthy and lively quads. Not quite up to the standard of your mare, Mini Horses, but demonstrates the same kind of wish to place themselves where they will have both a safe haven and some help if it's needed.

You said your ewe went inside to lamb, didn't you Bay? I'd guess partly to get out of the rain, and partly for 'place of safety'. And some folk call them 'Dumb Animals'.

 

[Mini Horses]

This little mare had always been stabled and was shown, so she had a very, very disciplined life. First time, surprise. 2nd time, amazement. Third, well it was obvious her stall was HER fortress....she never missed a year. Never kept me up all night, unlike many of them who did

 

[goatgurl]

the dinners are just adorable bay, and of course they are rams. the cute ones always are. just think of how many we'd keep if all the pretty ones were girls. i'm like you with the castrating of all ram lambs this year, last years mob just got to nuts to fast. romping and riding everything they could catch. not happening this year. day one find out they're boys, day two whack... end of story. whos next? mine are just starting to get their little wiggle pouches, not real udders yet, just wiggles. i'm kind of anxious to start having babies. I wish I could post pictures but don't have them on this borrowed computer.

 

[Baymule]

I have 4 FF this season. They probably won't lamb until February. Lambing is stretched out this time. Lady Baa Baa is round and fat, I wonder if she'll lamb on January 18......she's had 3 lambs for me and 2 of them were born January 18. Have 9 ewes total, 2 down, 7 more to go.