Pixie

Notag's baby.  We named her Pixie because she is so small.  One ewe left to birth.

Moroccan Lamb Patties

The weekend after Thanksgiving we butchered two lambs. Nearly all the meat, save one leg that we had for Christmas dinner, was ground and frozen. Ground lamb is a great replacement for ground beef in spaghetti or meatballs or meatloaf. Personally, I love lamb burgers. But we reserve burgers for the summer. Tonight we made another family favorite.

Moroccan Lamb Patties

Time - 20 min

Servings - 4

1 lb ground lean lamb

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 T paprika

1 T dried parsley

1 t ground cinnamon

1 t ground cumin

1 t garlic salt

1/2 t all spice

1 T olive oil, plus more for frying

Mix all in a bowl. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Form 8 two inch patties and place in hot skillet. Cook for 5 minutes, flip and cook until done through. Serve with couscous or rice. Almost any veggies goes great with this - steamed green beans, carrots, cauliflower. In the summer, when we have tomatoes, I like to roast 4 large beefy tomatoes as a side dish.

A First Time for Everything

We sold our lambs Saturday. All three went with a nice lady to a farm down south. She already has some sheep, so they will have friends. And we are now down to a more reasonably sized flock for our 3 acres of pasture.

What was interesting is how the buyer transported the sheep.

I should preface this with the fact that we have transported animals in odd ways as well. Gladys the cow came from Grandpa Ed's farm riding in the back of the truck pinned in with hay bales and with Jeremy sitting in the back with her. Notag jumped out of the back of the truck while we were trying to tie her down. I ended up riding in the back with her and Lilly. It was after that experience that I bought the large dog crate - the biggest crate sold, it's like for a mastiff. The crate makes transporting sheep, and pigs, much easier.

So today the buyer pulled up in an Acura MDX, no trailer. She opened up the hatch and had lined the back with tarp. She said that when her other sheep were delivered, the man who brought them had the lambs tied around the middle and then to the seat belts. So this was the plan.

Jeremy grabbed the lambs one at a time. We brought each out, tied a rope around its midsection and then tied it to a seat belt in the back. Sue was first and he was very unhappy about it. He jumped and kicked. He fell out the back and was dangling for a few second by the rope. Me holding Notag back from escaping, yelling at Jordan "Grab Sue!" while Jeremy was catching Spot. The buyer came around and put Sue back inside. I went over to stay with Sue, bear-hugging him, until we got Spot loaded. In that process Notag escaped and went into the barn and started eating the left over pig feed. But we got Spot in the Acura with Sue and that made them both settle down. Then we closed the hatch and loaded Bo from the side door.

I grabbed the pig feed and put it up. I hope pig feed doesn't harm sheep - we'll see. We wrangled Notag back into the pole barn, luckily none of the other ewes got loose. And off the lambs went tied up in the back of an Acura. I'm sure it was a noisy ride home.

Morning Exercise

Feeding the sheep this morning, doing the head count, I realized one was missing. Bo, Notag's boy, was not with the group. A scan of the pasture gave me no clues. Then I saw him, two neighbor's pastures away, pacing frantically along the fence. Well, crap!

Question 1) Why does this only happen on weekdays?

Question 2) Why does this only happen when I'm in nice clothes?

Question 3) Why does this only happen when I have a meeting first thing at work and can't be late?

(Those are rhetorical.)

I crossed the our pasture and Eric's and then climbed over the fence to where Bo was. Under normal circumstances Bo is pretty calm and lets us pet him, but he was so freaked out that he wouldn't let me get close enough to grab him. My next thought was to find where he got out, presumably a space under the fence, and just pry it open and push him back through. I looked and looked and couldn't see any such space. (I have no idea how he got out.) By now all the other sheep had realized what was going on and had come over to Eric and Lola's fence to check out the commotion.

Next idea was to walk the all the sheep, along the fence line, down to the road and hope that Bo would follow. Fortunately a sheep's desire to be with the flock is so overwhelming that Bo would go any where the rest went. He came happily down to the road. Why is it good to get him to the road, because from there, Jordan could walk behind him and push him to our driveway and up into our yard. At least in our yard I could trap him. This started to work great, but I quickly realized that if I didn't get the other sheep back to our fence line, Bo would turn back. So I started running, across two pastures, with a thundering heard of sheep following close at my heels, which were 2" black boots and caused me to twist my ankle twice.

But at least everyone was back on our property. The next step was to get Bo close to a gate, open it and let him in. Sure. I got him close to the gate, but when I tried to open it, all the other sheep just wanted to get out. I kneed Notag in the chest trying to prevent her from making a break. Finally after a few attempts, where-by I stoop idly along side the gate pretending not to be watching Bo because he was eying me and twiddling my thumbs while whistling gently, Bo moved to the gate opening. I gently, again keeping my eyes on the sky, cracked the gate and he went in. Ok, off to school and work.

In the car I realized my boots were covered in dirt and grass and poo. Before heading to my meeting, which I was late for, I stopped in the bathroom took off one boot at a time and rinsed them in the sink. Thankfully, only one other person came into the bathroom, looked at me quizzically and decided better not to ask.

I got home early and was headed up the driveway when I saw Bo in the garden. How the hell did he get out again! I parked the car, jumped out and went down. Correction, all the sheep were in the garden. Apparently I did not get the gate locked closed this morning. Thankfully, sheep don't travel far and certainly don't travel onto strange lands if it can be helped. Also thankfully, the whole flock loose is actually much easier to deal with then just one. The whole flock is calm when together and if Notag, the alpha, goes somewhere then all the rest will go there too. All I had to do was open the gate, yell "Oats" (which was a complete lie) and watch them all coming running. I made sure that gate was locked tight!

The garden didn't take too bad a hit either. They munched some broccoli and beet leaves, but no fruit were hurt. They did poo all over the place, so when I got back inside I looked down to see that my boots were again covered in grass and dirt and poo.

A Boy Named Sue

Here are two videos of Sue, Francis's 4 day old lamb, just after we moved them out of the barn.

Holy Cow ... I'm Mean Lamb!

We got Francis last February from a farm in the Gorge. She is a beautiful, huge Sulfolk. The weekend we were bringing her home was the same weekend we were moving Notag and Lilly out of Junior's pasture because they were both pregnant. We decided to put Francis in with Junior for a while to see if she might get pregnant. It was a long shot.

Ewes come into heat once they are with a ram - it's something about the smell or the likes, I don't really know. But I do know that it can take 2-4 weeks after being put with a ram for a ewe to go into heat. Given that Francis was traumatized by a big move to a new farm and that we only left her with Junior for 4 weeks, we didn't think she would get pregnant this year. No big deal, maybe next year.

Notag and Lilly both gave birth around the 4th of July. Shortly after Francis started to act strange. She would separate herself from the herd and sit in the shade most of the day. Jeremy said "I think she could be pregnant." I'd say "No, she wasn't with Junior that long."

Guess who was right?

This morning Jordan and I hoped out of the car on our drive out to do the routine morning oats and scratch. As I approached the pole barn, Francis was standing in the corner and all the others were across the stall staring at her like she was growing a fifth leg. Then I saw it - a little black lamb sitting at Francis's feet. Francis softly bahhed at me as I walked up. My response was "Holy cow!" Then "Jordan, I'm going to need your help."

Since it was just me and Jordan and we had to get Francis and the lamb into the barn, I decided the best tactic would be to let everyone out, separate Francis and lamb to the barn, and then entice the rest back to the pole barn with oats. Simple.

Everyone left the pole barn just fine. I was able to walk right up and grab the lamb. Francis followed nicely as I walk backwards hunched over holding the lamb until we reach the stall in the barn. I was in heals and pearls - yep, pearls - but I'm a professional. Problem was that all the other sheep came into the barn as well. After securing Francis in the stall, I walked around the rest to push them out the door where Jordan was standing. I guess I spooked them a bit because they started to run at Jordan. Two of them jumped, at the same time, on either side of Jordan and at about shoulder height. Jordan threw her hands up in front of her face and let out a very girly scream. With in seconds all the sheep were out of the barn. We both broke out laughter! Once we regained control, we put the sheep in the pole barn and went to work/summer camp.

This afternoon Francis and lamb are doing great. The lamb is a boy, which we are disappointed about - rams are hard to sell. But he is really cute and eating well. Francis is an amazing mom - already protective and giving lots of encouraging kisses to her baby.

Clogged Teat

Not long ago we lived in a typical suburban neighborhood. We had a largish lot, relatively speaking, and a small garden. And we had one cat named Kitty (original, I know). Kitty got an eye infection at one point and we had to administer drops. Holding down a cat, while keeping her eye open and squirting in a few drops is no small task. In fact is a two person tasks and I would recommend long sleeves and gloves. As retribution Kitty would find an innocent piece of clothing left sitting unassumingly on the floor and cover it in urine.

Until we purchased the farm, that was the extent of vet-tech skills. That and taking a stool sample in once or twice - cat stool, just to be clear.

Fast forward a few years and I have delivered multiple lambs, given many shots, pull porcupine quills, felt all manner of body parts for scraps, lumps, bugs, etc., force fed pills. But the other night I had a new one.

Jeremy came up from a routine oat feeding and annoucned that Notag wasn't allowing her lamb Bo to nurse off one teat. Notag was kicking him off the one but letting him nurse the other. She must have a clogged teat. I've heard about that before. And I've heard that sometimes you can work out the clog but milking the teat. So we decided to grab Notag and I'd see if I could work out a blockage.

But I wasn't very excited about squeezing a sore teat while in kicking distance of her hind legs. Notag, thankfully, is the best patient we have ever had. Once she let me pull 30 porcupine quills from her nose. For this unclogging event, Jeremy gave her a bear hug and I went to work.

Her left teat felt normal, but in her right teat I could feel a ball of sorts way up inside of the teat. I tried to move it downward but no luck. Then I tried to get some milk out around it and again no luck. Time to call the vet. I also took a picture to send the vet, but I'll spare you all a shot of Notag's udders.

After explaining the whole thing to Dr. Scot, he said she has a "spider" and that there isn't anything that can be done about it. We just watch to make sure the udder doesn't become infected, which would be unlikely since I couldn't get any milk past the "spider." So watch and wait. Yipee. Fortunately Notag didn't twin this year so Bo could drink off the other side and we wouldn't have to supplement.

I've been trying to learn more about this "spider" blockage, but all I can find online is "spider lamb disorder" which as nothing to do with teats and Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep, normally the go-to for everything, has nothing about this type of teat clog. What I want to know if, after her milk dries up, with this "spider" thinging go away? Or is that teat permanently ruined? If she twins next year will be have to graft the lamb to Lilly or bottle feed it? I suppose another call to Dr. Scott is in order.

Update - No infection in Notag's udder - whew! Stilll wondering about the long term viability of the teat.

Sleepy Lambs

During the warm, summer afternoon, everyone needs a nap - even the week old lambs.

Release the Lambs

We moved the lambs, and moms, from the barn to the pasture. All were very excited to be out in the open and on fresh grass.

Lamb #2

Jeremy and I love our back deck - we can't get enough just standing out there an looking. Sun, rain, snow, day time or night time, we are out there. Last night before we went to bed, midnight-ish, we went out on the deck to look at the stars. There was a lot of bahhing coming from the barn, which unusual for the middle of the night. I went down to investigate.

As I opened the barn door I saw Notag down on her side, panting hard. All I could see of the lamb was one front arm and the head. I had instant flashback from last year, when one of the lambs got her leg caught back in the birth canal. And although we intervened to get her out, she died. So I jumped right in with Notag and felt around for the second leg. It was out too. Whew! Then there was nothing left to do but wait and encourage Notag to push. Not that she understood my words.

Jeremy was moving Jordan from our bed to her's. She had elected to fall asleep in our room. He heard me cheering Notag on and headed down. Just as he arrived to the barn Notag gave her last push and the lamb was out. We stayed down for about an hour watching Notag clean him, yes it's a boy, and to make sure he nursed, which he did vigorously. Then we went to bed it was 1:45am.

This morning Jordan and I went down to check on everyone and take some pictures. Both lambs - Spot, Lilly's girl, and Bo, Notag's boy - are doing great.

Friendly Sheep

When we move to the farm, I had the desire to raise heritage breeds. Our animals would be unique, not the standard run-of-the-mill breeds you see at the fair. And I'd feel good that we were helping to preserve a breed that might go away with industrialized agriculture. So the first sheep we got were American Blackbellies.

American Blackbellies are a hair sheep, which means they shed - no sheering. According to information online, they are suppose to be very disease resistant. They twin and sometimes have triplets. And the icing was that you don't have to trim their hooves. The one downside reported was that American Blackbellies are "a little skittish".

We purchased two American Blackbellies from a farm in Oregon. When we got them home, they wouldn't come near us, not even when enticed by oats. For days we tried to help them get acclimated, but they kept a minimum 15 foot distance at all times. Then the older ewe gave birth to triplets, in the pouring rain. That is a whole different story, which is posted as well, but the bottom line is that it took Jeremy, Jordan and our neighbor Lola (I wasn't home) nearly half the day to get the two ewes and two lambs (one lamb was still born) to the barn. And as a result of spending so much time in the cold rain, one of the lambs died. It was awful.

New moms and lambs have to stay in the barn for a week or more before being put on the pasture. And there are things to do with the lamb to make sure it is healthy and getting enough food. Every time I went into the stall to do anything with the lamb, the mother would panic and bolt. Twice she knocked her baby over. Once she nearly jumped the gate. To get them onto the pasture, Jeremy had to catch the mom mid-jump while I tackled the lamb and carry them out of the barn. "A little skittish" huh?!

When we decided to purchase a ram we knew that American Blackbelly would not be the breed. We opted for a mutt with mixed breeds including Suffolk, Tunis and Katahdin. We ended up buying twin brothers - one for breeding and one for eating. The very first afternoon, both came right up and let us pet their noses. They came running for oats. They let us administer medicine without a huge fight. Wow, so much better! We did have to sheer them, but it was no problem because they loved the attention. (In the end, we kept Junior and ate Buddy.)

American Blackbellies, as we experienced, are not disease resistant. We lost two to some unknown disease. After ruling out the usual parasites and other sheep ailments, it would have cost more than $100 to figure out what was wrong. We decided to save our money and buy a different breed.

Next we got Notag and Lilly. Both are mixed breeds with some Suffolk. Notag is amazingly sweet. The only animals on the farm nicer are the cats. And while Lilly doesn't like quite as much pets and loves as Notag, Lilly isn't skittish and pretty easy to work with. Notag shocked us last fall when she got hit by a porccipine and let me remove 30 quills without making a fuss at all. It was a huge relief to work with such friendly animals. And I happy to report that the last two half-breed American Blackbellies, which are almost as skittish as their great grandmas, will be butchered this spring and we'll be done with that breed.

This past weekend, the sun came out and the temperatures went up above 80 F, so Jeremy decided to sheer Notag. We do this by hand, not with a big electric contraption. Notag stood for more than an hour, slowly rotating around, while Jeremy trimmed. Twice I went by the barn and distracted her - she thought I might give her some oats. But as soon as I went to the garden, Notag walked right back over to Jeremy to continue the hair cut. Junior also got a hair cut, but it took a few sessions. We probably should have done Lilly yesterday as well, but we ran out of time and steam. Lilly will have to wait until next weekend. The temperatures are suppose to go back down to the lower 70's, so she won't be too hot. We do need to get to her soon though. Both Notag and Lilly are pregnant. Having less wool will make birthing easier and allow the lambs to find the teats.

So my unsolicited advise to anyone just getting into raising farm animals. Purchase the best temperament goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, you can find. You won't ever regret having animals that are easy to work with.

Lamb Burger

For the second time this spring the weather got up to 70 and the sun blessed us all day! Time to BBQ hamburgers! Big question: What meat to use? We have ground beef, lamb and elk; all three of which make delicious burgers. My favorite is elk burger, mixed with Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, salt and pepper, and topped with the traditional tomato, lettuce, dill pickles, mayo and ketchup. But the rest of the family feels that lamb burgers are the best.

We butcher our lamb at one year old, meaning that it is lean, not "mutton-y" and tender. It has a lamb-taste but it's not overwhelming. I add salt, pepper and garlic powder to the ground before forming the patties. Toppings include fresh basil leaves, instead of lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo. That's what we are making tonight. Since the lamb and elk is a fan-favorite, the beef ground usually get's relegated to pasta and casserole dishes.

As a side dish I'm starting to crave potato salad, but I'm going to wait to make that. Potato salad is a summertime dish (in my opinion) and therefore we should wait until summer to make it. Just like pumpkin pie is only to be eaten in the fall. So since potato salad is out, we'll make Jo-Jo's - potato wedges tossed with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and roasted at 425 until soft and a little golden.

Delicious!

Chasing Tail

Yesterday was a good day for Junior. We put the ladies with him for some baby-making.

The timing of breeding is based on when we want to have lambs born. We learned the first year that having lambs born in the rain is a bad, bad thing. We decided that from then on lambs should be born in June, then the grass is growing, the days are warm(er) and the chance of rain is much lower. Since the gestation time for a sheep is 5 months that means February is a happy month for Junior.

First, Junior had to be moved over to Eric and Lola's pasture (our neighbors) so we could open the gate on the driveway where the ewes would walk through. Then we had to move the girls over. Simple, right?

Of the lambs born last year, two didn't sell. They are Juniors off-spring, which put a wrinkle in the plan. Usually we just bring Junior over to the ladies' pasture and call it good. This time we had to separate Notag and Lilly from the lambs. I went into the pasture and closed the gate so that all four were confined to the pole barn. Then Jeremy opened the gate that leads to the driveway. Notag and Lilly came right over to Jeremy (humans equal oats) but so did the lambs. Jeremy let Notag and Lilly pass then attempted to close the gate and physically block the lambs. One lamb ran by his leg and he grabbed her. The other lamb attempted to jump over Jeremy and he caught her, one handed, in mid air. I ran over, took the jumper and put her back in the pole barn at the same time Jeremy pushed the other one in. I hopped out and slammed the gate.

At this point Notag and Lilly were just milling about. Jeremy walked over to Junior's gate and they followed obediently right onto the pasture. Next Jeremy crossed the pasture and opened the gate between Eric and Lola's and our's. In came Junior.

He promptly when to Notag and gave her a good sniff. Notag was not thrilled about this and started walking away. Junior followed, still sniffing. Notag started to run and so did Junior. He chased her all around the pasture. At one point they circled a tree about 15 times. Finally both where exhausted and Junior gave up on Notag for a bit. Lilly's turn. Below is a short video of the courtship between Junior and Lilly. Don't worry, it is not graphic. Now we just wait and in a about 2 weeks both ladies should be pregnant.

Black Sheep

Finally, Buttercup had her baby! Five lambs in all this season!

Jeremy was down digging footings for what will be our bridge across the creek and noticed Buttercup off alone. Upon closer examination (aka squinting), her saw "stuff" and jogged up to the house to let me and Jordan know a baby was on the way. I was prepping strawberries for freezing and Jordan was playing "Littlest Pet Shop" in the living room. We left everything midstream and headed down to the pasture.

We watched Buttercup labor for a 30 minutes before giving birth. This is the first non-assisted birth we've got to witness. It was really cool! Below is a video of the baby being born. I warn you that it is raw, but it isn't gross - fine for kids to watch. Also, the baby is OK - he doesn't move for a few seconds, which seems scary, but he starts to shake is head. The second video is of his first steps, approximately 10 minutes after being born.

Once Buttercup had cleaned him a bit and he had nursed, we brought them into the pole barn. The process goes like this: I slowly walk up to the sheep and lamb. They walk away. I walk up. They walk away. Repeat. Eventually the baby stumbles and I catch it. This makes mom really angry. I walk backward, hunched over, holding baby about 4 inches off the ground to the barn. (My hamstrings and back are killing me!) The whole time baby is yelling for mom and kicking; and mom is yelling for baby and following frantically. But it works for getting everyone into a warm, dry, secure location. Both mom and lamb are doing great.

Lamb Fun

One of the really frustrating things about lambs is their propensity for escaping.

Escape #1: On Sunday, when we were getting prepped for the coming week, Jeremy took a shower and opened the window to let the steam out. He heard a lot of bahhhing; a sure sign something is up. He went out the back deck and saw Mr. Speckles on the opposite side of the pasture and on the wrong side of the fence. The others, including his mom, had headed back to the pole barn and Mr. Speckles was frantic. It was easy enough to get him cornered between the two of us, pounce on him and put him back over the fence.

Escape #2: This morning, I had just gotten out of the shower and, like Jeremy, heard lots of bahhhing. But this time Jeremy was already gone to work and Jordan wasn't up yet. So I quickly threw on jeans and a flannel and headed out. As I opened the door there was a women, in a bright orange vest, standing at the door ready to knock. Turns out her and a friend were out for their morning walk and saw Mr. Speckles (aka "a white and black lamb") on the wrong side of the fence. I went down with her to the end of the driveway. Her friend had a small dog and Mr. Speckles kept thinking the dog was another sheep and heading over to him. But we pushed him towards the stream, I cheetah-pounced, tackled him into the stream and set him, nicely, back over the fence. Glad I wasn't already dressed for work yet - I don't need more adventures in heels and a skirt.

Escape #3: I came home today to Lilly alone on the back pasture and the gate separating that pasture from the front one, which all the others were grazing on, was closed. Lilly was clam but trying to figure out how to get back to the correct side. I'm not sure how she got there, but getting her back was as simple as opening the gate - she walked right back in. After Jordan's swim class there was a message from Lola, our neighbor. Apparently, around 3pm she heard lots of bahhhing (seeing a theme) and when down. Fawn, the 2nd born light brown lamb, was in the back pasture and freaking out. She was ramming into the gate. Lola opened the gate and Fawn went through, but Lilly, for some unexplained reason, went the opposite way to the back pasture and started eating the lush grass (it has been growing, unmunched, for a few months). Lola had no idea how to get her back, so she left Lilly there.

Tonight I moved Patches and Cookie out to the pasture. So now we have another lamb who will probably escape. Then Notag and little Tag, or Bubby, will move out. I'll be spending all my time cornering, pouncing and putting lamb back over the fence.

Bubby

Finally, after 4 weeks of being stuck in the barn getting bigger and bigger, Notag gave birth to a little boy this morning at 9am. It was a long hard labor to get this lamb out, so Notag is very tired. But she is doing well. She is our best mamma, very calm, and let's us get in the stall to visit. Hopefully after a good night's sleep, she'll be back to her normal (loud) self.

Here is a video of Bubby (aka Little Tag). In the video he is only two hours old. In the past lambing season, we have never seen a lamb get all jumpy in the first few hours. Usually, they don't get all crazy until day two or three. Considering he spent an extra few weeks in the whomb, he seems just ready to move.

A Time for Every Purpose

Last night was rough, no doubt. But today is so much better.

Jordan and I got home from swim class and Jeremy was standing in front of the barn with a look on his face. I rolled down the window and said "Who had a baby?" He said "Patches."

Patches was the one we weren't sure was even pregnant. She hadn't gotten bigger or rounder. Her utters hadn't dropped. She just seemed not pregnant. This morning there were no early signs likes isolating herself from the group, scratching the ground, sniffing the ground. But sure enough, Jeremy came home to her giving birth.

Fortunately she was already under the pole barn, not the pasture. Jeremy let Daffy out of the barn (she is doing fine after her loss yesterday). Then he went in and grabbed the lamb, freshly delivered. He walked backward, holding the lamb near the ground. Patches followed the lamb right into the barn and stall next to Notag (who hasn't given birth!). That's when Jordan and I rolled up. We didn't even go in the house, just straight down to the barn. The lamb was up and moving around. Patches, being a first time mom, was not understanding nursing. After 10 minutes or so, she calmed down and the lamb got in some sucks. You can tell when a lamb is nursing because her little tail starts a wagging. It's nice to have a good night to offset the last.

Here is a short (1:35 min) video of the new lamb. In the video the lamb is about a half-hour old. You can see Patches fidgeting about nursing and picking her leg up. At first the lamb is confused about the front and back ends. Then they settle down. The loud bahhing the background is Notag being upset that I'm not paying attention to her.

Loss

There are many wonderful things on the farm. We get to witness the full life cycle and participate in every step. 95% of the time it is wonderful, but some times it is very hard.

Tonight we came home and fed the sheep like normal. Daffy (short for Daffodil) came over to eat oats, but then backed up and took a strong whack at little Mr. Speckles. I watched her eyeing Mr. Speckles and realized she was starting to go into labor. It was remarkably easy to separate her from the others, except Norman who just follows me everywhere, and get her into the barn. We left her alone for half-an-hour while we all had some dinner.

We came back down to watch the birth. Usually, the sheep give birth in the middle of the night or early morning and we miss it. I wanted Jordan to get to see the full thing. When we got into the barn we saw that the head was already out, so we sat and watched. Daffy laid down and had really big contractions. Then got up, walked a bit, laid back down and had more contractions. This went on for a little while and then one hoof came out. But after another 20 minutes no progress was made and Jordan was getting bored and cold. Jeremy took her up to the house and consulted the book (Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep).

The book says that first year ewes can labor up to 3 hours and in most cases you should just let it progress. But if the lamb's position is wrong, then it's time to assist. With the head and one leg out, we needed to reposition and get the other leg out. Thankfully the book gives blow-by-blow directions.

Here is what we did: Jeremy grabbed Daffy and, as carefully as possible, laid her down so that the out-leg of the lamb was down. We put a shoelace around the lamb's head and Jeremy held the ends of the lace. I pushed the lamb back in enough so that I could reach my hand inside Daffy and find the other leg. I pulled the leg forward and the lamb came right out. We took the shoelace off (it was there to make sure the lamb head didn't go back into the pelvis) and backed up so that Daffy could do her mom-thing. But the lamb wasn't moving.

When the lamb comes out the umbilical cord breaks. This makes the lamb respond by taking a deep breath. There was no sign of breathing. We had read before that if the lamb's nose if full of mucus, then you can do a gravity swing to loosen the mucus. I took the lamb, head down, and gently swung her back and forth. I laid her back down. Nothing. Jordan started crying. I took the lamb again and swung. I wiped her nose and it was cold. She was dead.

We left her with Daffy for a bit so that Daffy could clean her up and do other instinctual things. Then Jeremy buried her.

We think what happened was that during all the pushing, which last a little over an hour, the umbilical cord broke. But since the lamb was still mostly inside Daffy, she couldn't breath and suffocated. In retrospect, the minute we saw only one leg we should have intervened. Lesson learned.

Later, after I finished reading a chapter of Judy Blume to Jordan and turned off her light, she said "I feel bad for Daffy." I agreed. She said "I hope that doesn't happen to me when I'm a mom." I reminded her that humans have hospitals and can monitor the baby and mom. That is how the doctors knew that her heart stopped when I was giving birth and we were able to do a c-section immediately. Jordan nodded. I'm not sure there are many 7 year olds who know so much about birth and death.

Pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures of the two new lambs. We have at least 2 more pregnant ewes to give birth, so more pictures will follow.

Here is Mr. Speckles, born to Lilly -

And here is Blacky's baby - born this morning around 10am

Mr. Speckles

Lilly had her lamb on Thursday. A little boy who looks just like her. He was born sometime in the middle of the night with no complications I suppose because at 7:45am there he was. Both are doing great. Here is a short film - it's not very exciting but he is just so darn cute it's worth the watch. We've nicknamed him Mr. Speckles because of his speckled face and legs. The plan is to sell him, along with the other lambs, in the fall. We also want to sell two of the ewes. If you know anyone who wants to start a little herd, send them my way.