SheepGirl's 2012 Lambing Thread

[Southdown]

Southdown that avatar sheep is just so darn cute Me and my GF keep saying how cute it is.

Thanks.
The picture is "Mow" my oldest wether. He poses better than the others. I need a faster shutter speed on my camera because they usually move.

 

[SheepGirl]

Weighed the babies today and they turned four weeks old.

Lady Gaga - 14.0 lbs (Week ADG: 0.429 lbs, 2-week ADG: 0.321)
Katy Perry - 18.0 lbs (Week ADG: 0.071 lbs, 2-week ADG: 0.286)

I can't believe Katy Perry gained a half pound in a week! I had my mom help me weigh them so maybe there was an error (I would hand her a lamb from inside the pen and then she would weigh it). Especially since the creep feed is out for them and they are eating hay, I thought she would gain some more weight than just a measly 1/2 pound. I'll weigh her again tomorrow and see what she weighs. Buttt I hope there isn't an error for Lady Gaga! She is catching up to her sister and her week ADG is looking a lot better than last week's.

I just calculated their two-week ADG and I am really shocked. I hope my mom messed up on her math! (Then again, she's an accountant so maybe not.) I really need to reweigh them tomorrow. I am just so surprised at what they weighed in at.

 

[Southdown]

How come you are concerned about their weights? Are you selling them to market for meat?

 

[SheepGirl]

No, but I really want to get them to 90ish lbs by December so I can breed them.

 

[SheepGirl]

Okay so I weighed the babies again tonight, unfortunately my scale only weighs to the nearest 1/2 lb so it's hard to get 'actual' weights. But Lady Gaga's still hovering right around 14 lbs but Katy Perry is 20 lbs. Two pound difference between 9 pm last night and 6 pm tonight! I don't think she gained that much in 21 hrs so I'm thinking my mother may have messed up on her weight.

Sooo let's just assume she was 19.5 yesterday, which means her week ADG would be 0.286 and her two-week ADG would be 0.393. I would've liked to see her gain more weight, but it was in the high 90s for a couple days earlier this week and heat is an appetite suppressor. So that may explain her decreased performance from last week to this week, even though I did start to provide her creep feed.

---

So I put out fresh creep feed for the lambs today and they're chowing down so I go over and feed my ewes and next thing I know Katy Perry is running around the pen hacking and throwing saliva all over the place and she was making gurgly noises. First thing I thought of was bloat since she was foaming at the mouth due to her saliva, but I wasn't sure bloat would come on so fast. (She also didn't look bloated.) So I had to chase her around the pen to catch her and I felt a lump in her throat so I assumed she was choking and so I tried to massage it out. Not working, I wiped the saliva off her face and then I held her by her back legs and swung her a bit. I set her down and she was still all gurgly. I did it again and set her down and the gurgling stopped. She then started panting like a storm and she went over and started eating minerals. Her panting subsided to 'regular' breathing (she still had a fast respiration rate, like all the other sheep, due to the heat) and she went to go lay down. I stayed outside for about 1.5 hrs watching her and the other sheep and she was all fine and acting normal, so I think her 'issue' is now gone. I'll be sure to watch how she eats in the future!

 

[Southdown]

Gosh, maybe she was choking? Glad she's ok now.

 

[bonbean01]

We've had this before and it is downright scarey!!!! Noticed our new feed pellets had too much fine stuff in it and they choked on it. When I think there is some fine stuff in it now, I wet it down with water and that took care of that. It's an awful thing to see that happen and yes, ours that did choke also had foam that came flying out when they shook their heads to clear it.

 

[SheepGirl]

Weighed the babies yesterday.

Lady Gaga - 15.5 lbs (Week ADG: 0.214 lbs, 3-week ADG: 0.286)
Katy Perry - 20.5 lbs (Week ADG: 0.143 lbs, 3-week ADG: 0.310)

Katy Perry seems to be slowing down in terms of growth rate whereas Lady Gaga is speeding up. I need to get some new pictures of them--I haven't taken any pics since the 14th I think.

 

[SheepGirl]

Finally got some new pics

My ewe was sticking her tongue out at me. Can you believe that?! How rude...

Katy Perry - you can tell by the wool around her eyes that she won't be wool blind. For the longest time, it was looking like she would be.

Look at the frame size and muscling difference between these two sisters. Katy Perry is on the left and Lady Gaga is on the right. (If you look all the way to the right, you can see my ewe's teats have gotten back down to normal size )

Katy Perry standing under the stairs/in front of the tarp.

Three ewes

Lady Gaga always looks at me with her head cocked to the side. It's the cutest thing

(warning: sheep butt picture below )






And for those of you who were following her fly strike ordeal, here is a picture of her bum all nicely healed up

 

[autumnprairie]

lady GAGA is adorable and so is Katy