Norseofcourse's lambing thread - 2015 - over, or not?

[norseofcourse]

I got some updated pictures today, we're now 6 days till the first possible lambing date. The snow is melting, but there's still lots of it. And most of the ground is still frozen, so there's lot of standing water. Where it's thawed, there's mud...

I can tell the sheep's water intake has increased, and I've been increasing their grain. No one appears to have 'dropped' yet.

Number 3, who is now Lukka, doesn't look all that big, but she's likely to have just a single. She's a bit shy, but will come up and sniff my fingers.

Her mom, Rose, is starting to 'waddle' when she walks . She was huge last year, and only had a single (as she did her first lambing). I've been told that if a sheep hasn't twinned by her second lambing, she's likely to continue just having singles. I won't mind a single from her, that'll just mean plenty of milk for me, too!

And finally, Gracie is looking bigger than she was last year, but since she wasn't sheared in the fall, some of it is wool. Last year Gracie was smaller than Rose, and Gracie had twins. If Gracie starts getting really big this year, who knows - twins again, or maybe even triplets? Only Gracie knows for sure, and she's not telling.

 

[norseofcourse]

Tonight was the regular Friday night udder check My first possible lambing date is only 3 days away, so I may have lambs very soon!

Rose still has the biggest udder, with Lukka and Gracie about the same size, half of what Rose has. I realize that udder size doesn't seem to be an indicator of how close they are to lambing, but it's gotten to be habit and it's interesting to see how their udders progress.

I also checked their vulvas. From my notes and pictures the last two years, a somewhat reliable sign of lambing was a 'looseness' to the lips of the vulva, one to two days before they lambed. I didn't see any looseness yet.

I did see a bit of discharge from Rose and Gracie, but unless it's excessive or a bad color, I'm not going to keep track of it. Two years of noting color, amount, and appearance of various discharges from pregnant sheep taught me that the primary purpose of the discharges was to drive the shepherd crazy. I think the sheep were also secretly laughing at me for being so obsessed about it ("Did you see? I got her to take a picture of my butt again today!")

I do think Rose has dropped a little bit. I thought Lukka had dropped a little the other day, but now she doesn't look like it. 'Dropping' may be a somewhat reliable sign for mine, about 5 days or so from lambing. I'll be keeping track of it to see if there is a pattern.

Things are warming up! We have less snow, and more boot-sucking mud. I will start trimming some wool off the girls this weekend. I'm especially looking forward to trimming Gracie and Brosa, since their wool is super long, and it will be interesting to work with it. Sunday may be sunny enough to get more pictures.

 

[AriesX]

They definitely like to drive us crazy!! As far as I can tell, udders just confirm pregnancy but not delivery date. Last year, we drove ourselves crazy trying to guess. This year, we used a marking crayon and know due dates. It is much easier.

 

[norseofcourse]

Aries - I like a challenge

I may someday get a marking harness, but for now it's a learning process. At least I only have 3 this year!

Tomorrow is day 142, so it's getting very close!!! Icelandics have a gestation period of 142 to 144 days, and I have a feeling all the ewes got bred not too long after Elding went in with them. I've been seeing and feeling baby movement. Water intake has increased.

First up is Lukka, she is looking wider than she was just a few days ago.

Next is Rose, Lukka's mom. My gosh, is she wide enough for two?? Of course, she was really wide last year and only had one, so I'm not making any guesses. I am fairly sure she dropped the other day, so she may be the first to lamb.

And finally Gracie. Her extra-long wool makes it hard to tell much. I didn't get anything trimmed off today, so that's on my list for tomorrow.

I've been doing pretty good for the most part, since I knew there wasn't much reason to get too excited till at least day 142. But that's tomorrow, and I can feel the excitement and obsessing start to kick in I don't care how many, but I'm hoping for boys. It's too tempting to want to keep the girls, and I don't need more sheep! I'm also looking forward to seeing what colors I get. I know Gracie carries brown, and so does Lukka. All the ewes carry spotting. Looking forward to lambs soon!!!

 

[bonbean01]

Everything I read said the same thing...if they don't have twins come the second lambing, you won't ever get any from that ewe....WRONG!!!! Dolly our oldest ewe, now 8 years old and always a single lamb and a puny one to boot....had twins last year and twins this year...she didn't read the books and your girls may not have either...don't rule it out! Not all sheep read the manuals Good luck and hoping for a good lambing season for you!!!

 

[norseofcourse]

Thanks bonbean! I'm not ruling anything out, but I don't want to count my lambs before they hatch either lol. It's fun to imagine twins or even triplets bouncing around, but I'm trying not to drive myself crazy - well, *too* crazy!

I got Gracie up on the stand today and trimmed dirty wool and tags away from her back end and udder, and started on the long wool back there. I didn't do a complete crutching job, but she was nice and patient so I didn't want to overstress her. I'll get more done over the next few days (I need to find better scissors anyway).

No one looks super close to lambing yet, this will be a test of how good I'm getting to know the signs and my sheep. Or not! LOL

 

[BrownSheep]

Look at that wool! The lock charcteristics look beautiful!

 

[norseofcourse]

Thanks BrownSheep! It will be really interesting to work with Gracie and Brosa's wool, I've never let it get this long before. I've started trimming some off Gracie, plan to get more done tomorrow. The longest stuff has got to be well over a foot long! I want to try my hand at separating the thel (soft undercoat) and processing it and the longer coarser tog separately.

No lambs yet! I'm still thinking Rose will go first. There's some looseness to her vulva that I don't see in the other two yet. Rose still has the largest udder, but Gracie's udder has gotten much bigger over the past week, it's now much larger than Lukka's. This is Gracie's third lambing, so her udder knows what it's supposed to do! lol

I am still thinking Rose is within a few days. The waiting continues...

 

[norseofcourse]

I was really hoping to have had lambs by now, but it's another Friday night so I checked udders. Rose still has the biggest udder, but Gracie's is nearly as big. They all have swollen vulvas, but Rose's is looking really 'loose' today. And Elding has gone up to her and sniffed her hind end a couple of times.

They all rushed in for their evening feeding like usual, but after I fed the ponies I looked out at the sheep's pasture, and Rose had gone out of the barn and was walking out there by herself. I looked a little while later and she was laying down. I watched for awhile, to see if maybe she would get up, paw, lay down again - anything - but she just stayed laying down. I will be going out to check on her in a bit. I'm not sure if she'll lamb tonight, but I think she's pretty close.

I can see lamb movement in the other two, but I don't think they're as close as Rose. I don't think it'll be long though, Gracie appears to have dropped a bit.

Hoping for lambs soon!

Edited to add: 9pm and I just got in from spending some time out with the sheep, I still think Rose is close, but I don't think she'll lamb tonight. I'm sure I'll be up at first light checking though!

 

[OneFineAcre]

Looks like it will be soon