Counting Lambs

[Sheepshape]

6 weeks to go before lambing is due to start.

I thought I'd take a weekly picture so that you can see the changes(with apologies for their muddy condition.....it's rained/snowed almost every day for the last couple of months)

2nd from the left is LLeila....she's my avatar as a lamb (weighed under a pound)...now a hogget and expecting one lamb. In the foreground is Minnie....expecting twins and already with a low slung (and very muddy) belly. Behind her is Bluebell expecting a singleton and the next and to the right is Emily. expecting twins and then Winnie who is expecting triplets.

Their silage feeders are on hard standing to give them a bit of relief from the mud.

They're just starting to 'expand'...

 

[Baymule]

I am so glad that you started this thread. I always enjoy your postings and I know this one will be packed with pictures and information, plus your very own personality. Best of the best wishes for a great lambing!

 

[Latestarter]

I think anyone who has barn yard creatures is all to familiar with MUD! Can't seem to avoid it. Thanks for the pics and the thread! Like Bay, looking forward to following!

 

[Annwise27]

We had to move ours to another field because their main one became a mud pit too. I sunk to my knees moving them

 

[Sheepshape]

So, 5 weeks to go now. Not really a great ideal of change in their girth evident in pics., but noticeable to the eye.

We've had more dire weather with freezing temperatures, sleet and snow. The dreaded mud hardened and became a dangerous walkway of sharp frozen peaks and troughs, injuring the girls' legs. They're staying behind the sheep shed at the moment, but are stripping the bark from my saplings....

5 of them are being kept indoors have they have leg injuries which means that they weren't getting to the food. I don't want any twin lamb disease due to inability to eat, so they are 'living the life of luxury' and not having to jostle to get to the feeders.

The remaining ewes outside are getting through lots of silage and will start on 'ewe nuts' a week from today.

Hoping the weather is a little kinder soon.

 

[animalmom]

All your woolies are beautiful, especially that tall girl in the middle of the picture... the one with the white face a huge ears. She's striking!

 

[Baymule]

on mud! on frozen mud!!

 

[Sheepshape]

the one with the white face a huge ears. She's striking!

That's Marilyn (Monroe, no Manson). She was the bottle lamb from a triplet birth 2 years ago and is a Blue Faced Leicester with the best fleece I've ever seen for her breed (lovely ringlets all over). She's super-friendly and loves cuddles. She is expecting a singleton BFL for the first time this year with the father being our friendly BFL ram lamb, Bill.

The girls who have come over to have their picture taken have done so because they're hoping I have treats for them.

The girl on the left with her bum towards us and her head through the gate is Winnie, Beulah Speckled Face,expecting triplets, who already has a belly which is very low slung. The father to her lambs is the tup we borrowed from our neighbour who kept coming back after he went back to the neighbour, so her lambs should be good jumpers. I affectionately named him Jumping Jack Flash because of his athletic prowess and his ability to impregnate all but one of the ewes who were in with him. She looks as though she will be enormous, having a history of always having big lambs and being an excellent mum.

The girl in the middle with the brown markings on her face is Cerys. She's a mule (cross between a Beulah with the black face and a Blue Faced Leicester) She was a bottle lamb and is expecting a singleton for the first time by Jumping Jack Flash.

To Cerys' left is Lilli who was inadvertently sold by OH (and later retrieved in a swop). She's an ex bottle lamb and expecting twins by JJF.

Phyllis is the old girl at the front (in front of Cerys). She is one half of twins whose mum died when they were just under 3 weeks' old. They were very difficult to get any milk into and essentially survived (and eventually thrived) on adult food.She and her sister (Gwladys, not in the pic.) have gone on to faithfully produce twins every year for the last 6 years.

So...I could go on naming and telling their life histories, but it would become boring after a while...some don't have quite the same 'colourful past' and were just normal ewe lambs. However, knowing their history and seeing them all as individuals is the way I operate (not always easy if something goes wrong).

on mud! on frozen mud!!

Oh, Bay,,,,that's only 'minor mud'...concrete underneath. The 'major mud' which I've taken them off is about a foot deep.

 

[animalmom]

Just lovely! Waiting with rapt attention for the wee lambs.

Marilyn is very striking. It is a very good thing we are on opposite sides of "the pond!"

 

[Sheepshape]

Marilyn is very striking.

She's a stunner. To be honest, Blue Faced Leicesters often come up in pics. of 'ugly sheep' due to the 'Roman nose'...they have a prominent bump and. as a consequence a deep bleat...but they tend to have the friendliest natures. They are also huge, greedy and have a thin, soft, lustrous fleece meaning they can't cope with cold and wet.Their lambs have really long legs. Here's a few of their lambs from last year