The little ram, Friar, was busier than he appeared to be last winter. He was put in with the ewe lambs, and the other Babydoll Southdown ewes. Three of the ewes did conceive but the other did not. One had a lamb that was too large for her and it died being born, but the other two, Anna and Johnston are well and lively. But Little Red, a very tiny Icelandic, Shetland and a little Barbados cross, had a Babydoll lamb, and two of the Jacob ewe lambs also had Babydoll lambs, so there are five of them in total. They are cute, cute, cute! but not as cute as little Anna, the lamb for which I was the midwife and her mother rejected. Maybe I should not take up midwifery if it drives the mothers away? I am planning to continue with the Babydoll Southdowns and Jacobs only and the crosses are amazingly adorable too. Next year, the Jacob ewes will have a new ram if I find one, so they will all be bred Jacob. The Southdowns have extremely fine downy fleece that stays relatively free of vegetative matter because it is so tight. Jacobs have fine fleece as well and I am curious as to what the cross fleece will be like. I guess I will know in the spring next year. In the meantime, I am enjoying those teddy bear lambs immensely, they are so sweet.
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I have fallen in love with Anna, the Babydoll Southdown lamb that I was the midwife for 3 nights ago. She is the sweetest little girl, and amazingly smart. She now knows how to go down stairs, even. Anna likes to follow me and be where I am, since in her mind, I have the milk and must be her mother. She only cries when she is hungry or lonely. During the night, she sleeps from 10 pm to 7 am without making a peep. During the day, I let her tell me when she is hungry. Now she is drinking an 8 ounce bottle every four hours and it is really spectacular how quickly she is growing, though she is a true miniature sheep. The Babydoll Southdown sheep evolved small and they posses the best of all traits in sheep. Babydolls can be kept in an orchard because they won't eat the trees or bark, just the grass and weeds. Due to their small size, they eat way less than a big sheep and have better feed conversion, doing very well on a forage based operation with no grain. Naturally parasite resistant and hardy, they also offer very fine wool in the same quality as cashmere and although I currently cannot imagine eating one, the meat is purportedly delicious. Anna was helping me in the garden today. I was industrious and planted four flower beds at the bed and breakfast house. When Anna got tired, she climbed up the stairs to the door mat and plopped herself down for a nap. She felt safe there. Funny, but that is Harley's (the big Maremma dog) favourite place for a nap too. Anna is sleeping in a cardboard box in the porch currently, but she will soon outgrow that box and be relegated to an outdoor kennel for the night. Anna is worth one thousand dollars in the Babydoll market. She is purebred and out of two registered parents. Babydoll sheep are considered endangered and rare at the current time, hence the high price tag. More and more small holders want sheep, but do not want the commercial types and are looking for miniature Babydolls. Anna will stay on the farm and continue as part of the flock until I retire and decide to sell the critters. In the meantime, she is the most adorable little baby lamb I have ever had the pleasure to know! Anna made a friend today. The little cripple Icelandic ewe, Georgie, has trouble with distances, so I scooped her up and put her in Anna'a day pen. Anna was interested in Georgie and smelled and her and even head butted her a little, I guess to see what her reaction was. Georgie is only about 6 weeks old, not old enough to wean, but she can barely walk. The ewes and lambs went out to the far pasture today. Georgie was crying as she attempted to keep up and I could not bear it, so she spent the day teaching Anna sheepy things, like what grass is. Anna was not interested in grass, being just two days old, but Georgie did not have access to her mother all day, so grass was better than nothing. Georgie has spider leg syndrome, a crippling condition caused by a larger twin crowding her in utero and also usurping the nutrients required for strong bones. Her front legs curve under like a spider's legs and bow out when she puts weight on them. She is alert and has managed to keep up to her mother, but her mother is excellent and waited for her or went back and walked with her when she was slow and left behind. Lately though, Georgie is more and more left on her own. She is lonely and cries and cannot run with the other lambs. Normally Icelandic lambs are so vigorous they cannot be caught except by at least two people who are determined. Georgie does not mind being caught and she does not run from me, plus allows me to stroke her gorgeous chocolate coat and tickle her ears. She very much enjoyed Anna and when it was feeding time for Anna, Georgie cried because she missed her and did not want to stay alone. As soon as they were together again, she was content. It rained incessantly today and the little pen was protected with bits of plywood to shelter the lambs. Georgie showed Anna where to hide from the rain under the protected area and they curled up together and fell asleep. My heart breaks for little Georgie. Her prognosis is not good for a long happy life, but for now, she and Anna are friends, and that was all that mattered. Little Red, an Icelandic/Shetland/Barbados cross miniature sheep, had a baby today. It is a boy and the cutest little tiny thing, maybe not quite 5 pounds. I am not sure she is done having babies, but I think so. She did not lose her placenta when I finally went in for the night, so anything could still happen. She is a new mother, over protective and not quite sure. The baby was trying to nurse and she kept stepping away from him. He is a Southdown Babydoll sired cross and the cutest little teddy bear since the Jacob Babydoll ewe lamb ram was born. They do look a little alike and one thing for sure, they will have beautiful fleece. Babydolls can and often do have fleece as soft as cashmere and Shetlands and Icelandics have lovely fleece too. The little ram has the same colouring as the baby ewe born to the Jacob, sired by Friar, a purebred Southdown Babydoll. The Fat Ewe Farm is privileged to have these hardy little beauties. They will be sold as pet sheep, but their fleece will be valuable to a hand spinner too. Welcome baby boy! I woke up early to check on the sheep and goats who are in the midst of having babies. Little Rosey Babydoll Southdown, was not doing well. She was trying to birth a huge lamb, a little coloured girl, but the lamb had died from stress and Rosey was upside down and still straining. The second foot was locked back so I got it out and then pulled the lamb from her. I was shocked at the size, the lamb being twice as big as the Icelandic that was born to a sheep three times Rosey's size. It was sad for the mother sheep. All day she cried for her baby. I was hoping another sheep would give birth to twins and I could graft one on to Rosey, but there were no more today. There was a goat though, who had triplets. I arrived just as she dropped the third, but she was aspirating on amniotic fluid so I turned her upside down and cleared her mouth and nose. A weak little cough and she was gurgling and attempting to breath. She is the only little female goat born so far, but she has problems. She cannot use her back legs. She dragged the tops of them raw, so I made her some splints and gave her a coat. I did help her nurse from her mother and was going to milk the mother, but when I arrived to do so, she had dragged herself on her front legs and was nursing on her own. I have left her with her mother at this point, but the two brothers are much stronger and will likely push her away. I have a bottle ready just in case. Celia had twin boys today too, two little bucklings. All the kids look like miniature Angoras with white coats and the typical round Angora kid head and curly coats. I was hoping for coloured babies, though so far, they have all been white because the colour and coat are so dominant. So, so far, Celia has twin bucklings, Taffy has a single buckling and Sherry has triplets, two boys and a girl, but the girl is crippled. I did give her a vitamin shot and looked for selenium and Vitamin E, but I am out. Tomorrow morning I will go to town early and pick some up, plus some more nipples, just in case. Then Rosey had a little girl but lost her and Leda has twin boys and so does Red. It seems to be a boys year. I hope tomorrow is a better day for the little mothers. Bless you sheepies and goaties! It is a big day tomorrow. The sheep, Angora goats, llamas and alpacas will all be sheared. This time I am trying the Hutterite colony. They are experienced with shearing and have won awards for their wool (not sure where, just that is what they told me), so I am willing to give them a go. I did have to call them because they did not show up the first time booked. Nat, the man in charge, said he lost my number. Anyhow, tomorrow is the big day. I spent a few hours preparing the barn, sweeping the floor, putting down two sheets of plywood, making a holding pen and a release pen with livestock panels and installing power via two long extension cords. I likely will have to come up with a second extension line, because I believe there are two shearers and two helpers. I won't have time to skirt the wool, only to fold and pack it and then tomorrow I can lay it out and take my time cleaning and skirting, which is removing the manure tags and very dirty wool. It is supposed to be just above zero, so it will be cold again. They do not think they will take a whole hour to shear 50 sheep, 3 llamas and 2 alpacas, plus the 6 Angora goats. The cost is $7 per animal, plus so much a kilometer to drive here, calculated at around $130 dollars. All in all, it is estimated to cost $450 or so dollars. I did not ask if they trimmed hooves, but I will when he calls tomorrow to say they are on their way. It is going to be a big day! The little ewe lambs were put in with the big ewe lambs today. Some of the little ones were the daughters of the big ones and sheep can and do recognize one another, even after months apart. The joy in the sheep pen was amazing, but there was sadness too. Two sets of twin ewes called and called for their mothers, but it was those mothers who died in the dead of winter to bloat from bad hay, so they were nowhere to be found. After a while, the little ewes gave up searching for their mothers and looked for food instead. It is only three weeks until the first lambs will be born and the presence of the older ewes may comfort the younger ones who are bred. This also cuts down on one set of chores, so the ewes can be watered and fed together now in one pen, though they have access to all three pens. The little ewe lambs stayed with the adults in their pen and everyone seemed content and relaxed. The two livestock guardian dogs kind of did a double take on the quick increase in numbers, but they know the ewe lambs, though they have not directly lived with them yet. I trust all will be well in the next few weeks as the preparations for lambing begin. The ewes must be sheared or at least crutched, that is the wool removed from their tail and udder areas for ease of birth and so that the silly newborns do not latch onto a chunk of manure covered wool thinking it is the teat instead. Lambs have been known to do that! Excitement is about to begin. The rams have been with their breeding groups for 2 months now. The ewes cycle every 18 days, so they should have cycled at least twice, if not thrice, in the time the rams were with them. I see no evidence of the rams' interest in the ewes anymore, so it is natural to assume they are now bred. The older ewes have two rams with them. It was not meant to be that way. I can only hope that Walter did his job and the ewes cycled before the fence got busted and Eric joined him. There is a little Southdown Babydoll ram with the ewe lambs. The Babydolls are old enough to breed this year, and a few of the earlier born larger ewes may have also been bred. The Blue Faced Leicesters joined the ewe lamb pen a little while ago, and the ram was interested in some of the larger ewes that the Babydoll ram would have had trouble mounting, since they were twice his size. As long as the Babydolls were bred Babydoll, the rest is just a bonus. The two bucks in with the goats will stay there now and actually the buckling from last year will join them until the does give birth. The goats do better with other goats, rather than sheep, but it is difficult to keep them apart entirely on their own, so they live with the boy sheep. For the next three months, they will get to live with the goats instead and enjoy the like company. The rams will return to the ram pen. Walter was just wormed so he is ready to go back now. His babies from last year were wonderful, especially the E'st a Laine Merinos. Unfortunately, not all the offspring can be kept, so there will be a huge sale this year, with ewes and ewes lambs and lambs from this breeding all being sold. Now that I have experience with some of the different breeds of sheep and have discovered more about the actual market for them, the three breeds being kept will be the Jacobs, Blue Faced Leicesters and the Southdown Babydolls. As much as I love the others, I do not need fifty sheep! So, the rams can go back to retirement and the ewes will continue on with their pregnancies. The grass hay has been set for the rams and the does and ewes and ewe lambs will get the premium dairy hay with alfalfa to support their additional nutritional needs. Farming is a delight when all is well, it really is. This is day three of minus 30 weather and the animals are starting to feel it. One of the Blue Faced Leicester lambs that just arrived has pneumonia and is shivering. I know what it is like to have a fever and feel cold, but when it is minus 30, it must be awful. I gave her a shot of antibiotics today and will give her another tomorrow. Hopefully she will recover without too much discomfort and the other two with her won't get it. The little ewe lambs are faring quite well. They have never been fed grain except a few kernels as a treat for training purposes, so the grass hay is managing to keep them warm, that and their wool of course. The two Cotswold ewes do not have the same thick wool coats and they feel the cold much more. All of the ewe lambs have been spending more time in their shelter to stay warm. The two baby goats in the ram lamb pen have their own little shelter and they do use it, but today, one of the Icelandic lambs was inside. He was shivering a little too. Once he lays down and gets warm, he will be fine. Icelandics have a long wool and a short downy wool to keep them warm. The llamas are shivering too, and have only come out to eat a little, then retreat to their shelter. It is hard to stay warm when there is no reprieve in the frigid temperature. The weak succumb and simply cannot continue. So far, only Captain Morgan, the chicken whose feet froze last winter, has died. The other chickens are able to roost and they put their downy bellies over their feet. Numbers together also help them stay warm, but I did notice a few spots of frostbite on one of the little rooster's combs. He will be fine though, as it was very little. The ducks and geese are possibly they least cold, with their down covering under the feathers, but even they are tucking their feet up under their wings and sleeping more. After the chores today, even though I had more layers on than usual, I could not warm up. It felt as though the cold had permeated my being, but when I was outside working, I did not feel cold. It took several hours to feel normal again. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as cold. I am thankful we do not have to deal with this weather all winter long and that it only comes for a few days and then it is much warmer. Brrrr. Snowy duck, this Muscovy has had a bath and instantly the water froze to her feathers. She will spend quite a bit of time preening now and that will help spread the oil from her glands through her feathers, which in turn helps to keep the ducks warm. The Muscovy ducks are from South America and do not do as well as the North American ducks in winter.
It is the season to send the rams to the breeding ewes. They do not know it yet, because they are relatively isolated from the rest of the farm, but I see that a few of them are becoming interested in each other, so the hormones are running high. The little Babydoll ram, the white one, will be put in with the ewe lambs. There are four Babydoll ewe lambs, ready to breed and two or three others that likely will take, but the rest are a bit young. The advantage of using the tiny ram is, of course, tiny babies. On the other hand, Walter, the Cotswold ram, is the largest boy on the farm after Winston, the Suffolk who used to be a boy. Steven, the two horned Jacob will breed the single Jacob ewe and two others and Eric will have the privilege of breeding the two Icelandic ewes and the new ewe Icelandic ewe lamb. Then Walter will just have to do all the others, poor guy. That will leave him about ten ladies, all to himself. Walter is a good natured, good looking purebred Cotswold ram that is positive for colour, though he is white. If he breeds a ewe positive for colour, then coloured babies may result. Last year's lambs were vigorous, healthy and strong, sired by Walter, Eric and Steven. I am hoping for another excellent healthy crop this year. Here's to you, boys! |
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AuthorFluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. Archives
October 2020
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