SheepGirl's 2013 Lambing Thread - Update - July 2013

[SheepGirl]

Yep they are I'm so happy.

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Well I think I will be using Hank just one more year for lambs. I already have someone extremely interested in acquiring him come November/December. It will be good, I won't have to pay for his feed over winter And it gives me time to try to find a new ram without worrying about finding/building another pen for the new guy.

 

[SheepGirl]

Today I was out feeding the boys in my ram pen and I noticed that Emmett was looking a little potbellied: he had a big belly even though it looks like he's lost some weight. Kind of funny he started looking like this just now--about 2 weeks after being dry lotted. So I caught him and turned out his eyelids were super pale also. I gave him 6cc of Cydectin. I will be catching him tomorrow to take a photo of his eyelids so you guys can see how pale he is. Also I will be taking a photo of him to show what a potbellied lamb looks like.

Everyone else looked fine.

 

[SheepGirl]

Well Emmett's eyelids have definitely pinked up. So they aren't as white as they looked yesterday. Same with his gums. His gums yesterday were white, today they had some color.

And here's photos of what a potbellied lamb looks like:

See how thin he is, despite his big belly.

And here's some general photos of my sheep...

Edward has such expressive eyes.

He's such a good looking lil guy

Oh hey there

Can you tell he's 1/4 southdown?

I'm seriously in love with his ears. I wish all my sheep had ears like him.

My ewe flock -- 2 mature ewes, 2 yearling ewes, 2 ewe lambs -- grazing under one of the two willow trees.

Bella attracts a bunch of burrs. Notice her neck -- I cut off probably 30-40 burrs. She was great about it. I didn't even have to hold her. She just calmly stood there while I chopped away at her wool for about 10 minutes.

Mature ewes -- Ciqala (2006 ewe), front; Ali (2009 ewe), back (Ciqala is Ali's dam)

Yearling ewes -- Katy Perry, left; Lady Gaga, right (twins to each other)

Ewe lambs -- Rosie, left; Bella, right (paternal half siblings/aunt-neice; Rosie's out of Ali and Bella's out of Ciqala)

4 out of 6: Lady Gaga, Rosie, Ali, Ciqala. Rosie will be 5 months old on 8/1 and she's already bigger than her mom!

I love Ciqala's eye in this photo. She looks a little freaked out/annoyed haha.

Lady Gaga. Her face still looks the same as it did when she was a lamb.

The ewe flock. Left to right: Lady Gaga (14 months), Ciqala (7 years), Katy Perry (14 months), Ali (4 years), Rosie (5 months), Bella (4.5 months).

 

[autumnprairie]

I didn't think I would see lady gaga bigger that Kate perry

 

[SheepGirl]

Sheep are good. Got weights on the March lambs two days ago, I haven't weighed them in forever.

Rosie - grass only
Weighs 91.6 lbs
Post-weaning ADG: 0.367
Lifetime ADG: 0.462

Bella - grass only
Weighs 72.8 lbs
Post-weaning ADG: 0.395
Lifetime ADG: 0.393

Edward - raised on grass only; was moved to a dry lot about one month ago & fed grass hay only. started 1/2 lb of grain per day earlier this week
Weighs 64.4 lbs
Post-weaning ADG: 0.213
Lifetime ADG: 0.337

Honestly I think Edward is about 20 lbs underweight. He is about a 2-2.5 on the BCS scale. He could easily weigh 80-85 lbs now if I didn't get lazy and fed him grain like I should have. I didn't want to deal with Hank pushing him out of the way, but now I'm just feeding both of them grain to make things easier. But I think once he gets started well on this grain he will fill out like he's supposed to and he will turn out to be a big, tall ram. I think he will be as tall as his mother. I can't wait to see what he looks like in a month. I have decided to keep him a ram and I am going to wether Emmett. Or I will probably keep Emmett a ram and just take him to auction.

I also got a bunch of new photos, check them out:

So last winter I fed some pumpkins to my sheep...just a couple, whatever we had leftover from fall decorations. Well I guess my sheep didn't eat the seeds and now I have three pumpkin plants growing in the field I already got one pumpkin off one plant. It's sitting in the kitchen window sill right now lol.

And here are a couple of pumpkins...

Rosie and Bella - look at all the burrs on their faces. I've cut out most of Bella's, and when Rosie is acting friendly I pick hers out, but she walks away. She has a lot less than what she did before, though.

Bella definitely has her momma's face.

Bella <3

She is so pretty.

All of my sheep. LTR: Ali, Rosie, Bella, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Emmett, Ciqala....in the back is Edward and Hank.

Ciqala

The ewe flock. I've given up on trying to keep Emmett in the ram pen. He can stay in there until October when I move Hank in. Then Emmett and Edward will be together. After that, Hank will be moved back in with Edward and Emmett will go to auction. Then Hank will be sold and Edward will be left by himself. But I want to grow him out to a yearling to see how he fills out.

And this is how they get burrs in their wool. They eat them and then walk through what's left.

Maternal half sisters - Rosie (almost 6 months) vs Katy Perry (15 months)

Ali, dam to the two ewes above, and Lady Gaga (below)

Here she is again

Rosie with Bella in the back

My dog, Maggie. She loves helping me with the sheep. And I can herd them and she won't even try to chase them while they're running. She just walks with me. And she gives the lambs lots of love when they're born, licking them and laying down with them. She loves any size sheep through the fence, but when she's on the same side of the fence, if a big sheep walks up to her she runs behind me because Katy Perry rammed into her a couple months ago when she just had her baby and it has scarred poor Maggie. But anyway, she still loves to help me come out and feed the sheep every morning.

Lady Gaga

The ewes, trying to shove themselves all in this sliver of shade. I don't know why they do this. There are larger areas of shade they can all be laying down in. And Rosie is too big to be cuddling up with her mom like she used to when she was smaller

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

You have such beautiful sheep!!!!
Poor Maggie!! She looks almost like a sheep herself!!!

 

[autumnprairie]

the pics

 

[Ruus]

LOL at your sheep all crammed together in the shade! My girls have one particular shady spot they all fight over, too. I guess all shade is not created equal, haha.

 

[SheepGirl]

You have such beautiful sheep!!!!
Poor Maggie!! She looks almost like a sheep herself!!!

Hahahaha yeahh her last haircut was I think Memorial Day weekend? Maybe not. I can't remember.

the pics

Thanks!

LOL at your sheep all crammed together in the shade! My girls have one particular shady spot they all fight over, too. I guess all shade is not created equal, haha.

Haha guess not! These crazy sheep are always cramming themselves into the smallest chunks of shade, or inside the sheep shack where it's all muddy. Personally I prefer the shade where it's grassy and covered with trees, down where the willow trees are. But I guess the sheep don't like that spot, for whatever reason. But it's not muddy so I guess they like laying in the mud (can you tell with the dirty spots on the side of their rear legs? lol).

 

[BrownSheep]

I think the dirt must be cooler because our ewes do the same.