bonbean01
Herd Master
All adorable! Love the pics!!!! 
purplequeenvt Lambing 2016
- Thread starter purplequeenvt
- Start date
Ridgetop
Herd Master
congrats on the lambing! Difficult when you can hardly breath, move, etc. with pneumonia. Hope you are recovering ok.
- Thread starter
- #133
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
Continuing this thread on from last year rather than starting a new one.
Lambing is due to start in about 2 weeks. We used CIDRs to get all the ewes cycling together. A few settled the first go round, but a large number recycled and got rebred a cycle later. Hopefully they don't all decide to lamb at once.
20 ewes put in with the rams. We had them all scanned a couple weeks ago. 16 were obviously bred. The vet wasn't able to see anything with the other 4, but he always tells us that he can tell for sure that they are bred, but it's not 100% if they are open. 1 I knew wasn't bred. The ram never marked her. Another I was pretty sure wasn't. The other 2 I was surprised about since they were looking bred and are ewes in their prime that have had no issues getting bred before. Turns out, those 2 ARE bred. Their udders are growing.
So that's 18 out of 20 that are bred.
3 of those I'm trying to sell. I am cutting back on the Shetlands. We are stretched too thin between my dad's job, my job, my youngest sister in school (especially since the car accident back in December - my mom is still not back on her feet) and we need to refocus the farm. I'm keeping 4 of my favorite Shetlands (one is bred) and selling the rest.
Lambing is due to start in about 2 weeks. We used CIDRs to get all the ewes cycling together. A few settled the first go round, but a large number recycled and got rebred a cycle later. Hopefully they don't all decide to lamb at once.
20 ewes put in with the rams. We had them all scanned a couple weeks ago. 16 were obviously bred. The vet wasn't able to see anything with the other 4, but he always tells us that he can tell for sure that they are bred, but it's not 100% if they are open. 1 I knew wasn't bred. The ram never marked her. Another I was pretty sure wasn't. The other 2 I was surprised about since they were looking bred and are ewes in their prime that have had no issues getting bred before. Turns out, those 2 ARE bred. Their udders are growing.
So that's 18 out of 20 that are bred.
3 of those I'm trying to sell. I am cutting back on the Shetlands. We are stretched too thin between my dad's job, my job, my youngest sister in school (especially since the car accident back in December - my mom is still not back on her feet) and we need to refocus the farm. I'm keeping 4 of my favorite Shetlands (one is bred) and selling the rest.
luvmypets
Herd Master
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So exciting, can't wait to follow this thread! 
Baymule
Herd Master
You and your family farm is an inspiration to me. I learn so much from your postings. I love all the lamb pictures you post, the ups and downs of lambing, bottle feeding and the joys of baby lambs. Looking forward to lamb pics!
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Sad to have to cut back but it is important to keep the workload in hand. At least the 2 that didn't get bred make it easier to cull, unless they are important bloodlines for your herd.
Sorry to hear about your mom, I hope she recovers soon.
We have just one on the ground so far, a ewe lamb. This would be cause for much rejoicing but we switched out rams last year and since getting our LGD 2 years ago we have had no predator problems. (Rika works hard and we are getting her some back up in the form of a male Anatolian puppy this spring or summer since the cougars are back.) We replaced 3 of the killed ewes last year so this is their first season. We have buyers for all our freezer lambs this year so we are sure that this year all our lambs will be really nice ewes! LOL We had mostly ram lambs from our old ram for the past 3 years when we wanted to build our flock. Isn't that just the way of life? Our lambs were due 3 weeks ago according to the marking harness BUT he was probably shooting blanks since he was locked away from the ewes for a month and then marked all of them in 2 days after being turned in with his girls. Naturally I was overjoyed, but now I think he was just VERY HAPPY to see them again and I have readjusted my lambing calendar forward.
I don't envy you having to lamb in the cold back there. We had a lot of rain (El Nino) and then temperatures in the 90's with Santa Ana winds. Real earthquake weather. it should go back to normal soon. Lambing in freezing weather sucks, but hot weather brings flies.
Good luck on lambing safely this year. Hope your mom feels better soon.
Sorry to hear about your mom, I hope she recovers soon.
We have just one on the ground so far, a ewe lamb. This would be cause for much rejoicing but we switched out rams last year and since getting our LGD 2 years ago we have had no predator problems. (Rika works hard and we are getting her some back up in the form of a male Anatolian puppy this spring or summer since the cougars are back.) We replaced 3 of the killed ewes last year so this is their first season. We have buyers for all our freezer lambs this year so we are sure that this year all our lambs will be really nice ewes! LOL We had mostly ram lambs from our old ram for the past 3 years when we wanted to build our flock. Isn't that just the way of life? Our lambs were due 3 weeks ago according to the marking harness BUT he was probably shooting blanks since he was locked away from the ewes for a month and then marked all of them in 2 days after being turned in with his girls. Naturally I was overjoyed, but now I think he was just VERY HAPPY to see them again and I have readjusted my lambing calendar forward.
I don't envy you having to lamb in the cold back there. We had a lot of rain (El Nino) and then temperatures in the 90's with Santa Ana winds. Real earthquake weather. it should go back to normal soon. Lambing in freezing weather sucks, but hot weather brings flies.
Good luck on lambing safely this year. Hope your mom feels better soon.
Sorry your mom hasn't completely recovered. Hope she does soon. Too bad you have to scale back, but you have to do what's best for all involved. Wishing all the best for your upcoming lambing 
. Look fwd to pics (as always).
. Look fwd to pics (as always).- Thread starter
- #138
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
The two open ewes actually won't get culled. One of them is a Shetland that I'm keeping, pregnant or not. She is wicked friendly and goes to events where I need friendly farm ambassadors. I also think that the ram was at fault with her not getting breed. He's not the brightest sheep in the world. The other ewe belongs to my sister and is only a first time ewe. She will be given a 2nd chance in the fall or we might try to breed her for fall lambs.
We've actually had a very mild winter. Today was one of the first really cold days all winter. With the last 2 nasty winters, we are prepared with heat lamps and jackets if needed.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
It is saying a lot that the ram is even stupider than other sheep! LOL Definitely give her a second chance! If she is super friendly and can go to events she should definitely be a keeper. We have had sheep for years and any one of them that is really a "people" sheep is rare and super valuable for me in a small flock. Our previous sheep were 4H sheep and my kids halter trained them which made it so much easier to shear, doctor them etc. None of them were as tame as our dairy goats but that is because we bottle fed the goats and milked 2x daily for 10 months. The sheep we have now have not been trained (our kids are grown) and I have to hire a pro shearer who can wrestle them. I am not physically able to do it any more. Warning: don't get old!!! I am waiting for the day when my grandchildren will be old enough to halter break our keeper ewe lambs. Unfortunately, when they go back into the flock they seem to forget we are their friends. You would think that they would worship (or at least appreciate) the bringers of hay and grain - but no.
- Thread starter
- #140
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
Lambing has started!
I rushed home from work yesterday and got there just in time to pull a goat kid that had it's head turned back. My sister's goat had just one (really surprised at that given that she was as big as when she had triplets last year) doeling.
"Addie"
In the middle of the kidding, we looked over and saw that Izzy was in labor. Izzy is a Border Leicester Romney cross. She was bred to a Southdown. She is one of the ewes that the vet didn't see babies when he did the ultrasound. She was also re-marked when we put the cleanup ram in so we didn't think she was due for another couple weeks. Surprise!!
She also had a single girl. A 14.5 lb girl!
"Iodine" AKA Dina
There are 2 more ewes that should go at any moment, but there are a few other ewes that might have been bred first round like Izzy that might go. It could be a busy weekend.
I rushed home from work yesterday and got there just in time to pull a goat kid that had it's head turned back. My sister's goat had just one (really surprised at that given that she was as big as when she had triplets last year) doeling.
"Addie"
In the middle of the kidding, we looked over and saw that Izzy was in labor. Izzy is a Border Leicester Romney cross. She was bred to a Southdown. She is one of the ewes that the vet didn't see babies when he did the ultrasound. She was also re-marked when we put the cleanup ram in so we didn't think she was due for another couple weeks. Surprise!!
She also had a single girl. A 14.5 lb girl!
"Iodine" AKA Dina
There are 2 more ewes that should go at any moment, but there are a few other ewes that might have been bred first round like Izzy that might go. It could be a busy weekend.
