High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[High Desert Cowboy]

Shaun is a photogenic little beggar I’ll give him that. The oldest ewe is a little ornery, she won’t let me get near her and she acts like she’s fought a few dogs before, she stomped at my neighbors Aussie (he’s a big softie) and he took off running. She tried the same with Dixie and received an education. The younger ewe is still a little skittish and my youngest was a bottle baby so she’s pretty relaxed. My daughter is still madly in love

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

So I haven’t picked up my yearling ewe from my friends place as I wanted to keep her separate from these guys until I was sure everyone was healthy (Shaun and them came from an auction load, you can never be too cautious.). She decided to give us all a surprise last night and lambed twins! We didn’t even think she was pregnant, she’d only been with the ornery bottle ram, and we didn’t think he could breed. We had banded him as a new lamb but after a few days the band broke and we were worried about cutting him because of the flies. We (incorrectly) assumed that couple days had done enough to essentially leave him an intact whether, and his testicles always seemed small as he’s grown. So that’s a happy little surprise for us, I’ll get some pictures later today

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Your flock is growing by leaps and bounds this year!!

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

One ewe lamb and one ram. The ram walks funny, like he’s tip toeing on his front feet I’ve never seen something like that before

 

[Wehner Homestead]

May not be relative, but might be...I've had goats do this before. They outgrew it. Almost like they were out of room so bent awkwardly for a bit before delivery.

I have done like physical therapy where you stretch them out gently to a natural position and hold for 2-3 secs several times a day. We also found Bo-Se to help on a few (don’t know if BoSe is given to sheep or not...) Some we didn’t do anything and they did fine. I’m not sure that the ones wouldn’t have done fine without intervention though.

 

[Baymule]

Cute lambs and congrats! You are a Lammy Grand Pappy!

Ram lambs can breed at an early age. I thought I had it under control until I saw a 3 month old ram lamb after the ewes. I weaned right after that, hope it wasn't too late. For some stupid reason I decided to leave the ram lambs intact this time. It sure makes it a bigger PITA to keep them all separate. Much easier to wean ewe and wether lambs together.

I usually cut mine at an early age and name them all Dinner.

 

[Mike CHS]

We left ours intact this year also but most are going to the sale next Friday. Growth rates are pretty awesome also.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Well after a couple of days Lambert’s feet have straightened out. I’ve banded their tails but my friend requested I leave Lambert intact as he got more bottle lambs this year and is interested in breeding some of the ewes next year. I figured why not it’s worth a shot.

 

[Baymule]

Just make sure you wean him by 3 months old.....these little sneaks can get down to business sooner than you think!

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Those little buggers sure grow fast! The two lambs (my kids named them Lambert and Dotty) spend their days running all over and playing and go seek in the sage brush. Also I noticed when I got them that the oldest ewe (Ma) seemed like she had a little bit of a bag on her, but I figured maybe sheep are like people and things just start to sag after a few lambs. In the last week she’s gotten quite the belly and that bag has doubled in size! So I’m keeping an extra close eye on her as there’s a pretty good chance she’s pregnant.