Lena and her brand newly born girl lambs, two little ewes. The father was a Jacob ram lamb, unrelated. The babies are stirong and healthy and very beautiful.
The little white ewe lamb is very friendly.
The little ewe lamb saying hello to the border collie Robbie. Robbie gave her a few tender licks. He is tender and excelllent with baby animals. When they are in the porch, it is his job to babysit them and he licks them clean, keeps them clean and is so gentle.
Karin Llama is saying hello to the newborn.
Wow, what a surprise, well, two surprises! Two little ewe lambs wrere born to Lena, the Karakul ewe, sometime late this morning. I had been out to check on the porbelly piglet earlier and did not notice the babies. They were mostly cleaned off and dry. Fortunately the weather cooperated and it was 8 degrees and sunny. Lena had her lambs out in the open in the corner of the pen on nice clean hay spilled over from the feeders. She had a choice of the calf shelter, a small old granary or the barn, all of which have nice clean fresh straw in them, but typical of primitive sheep, she chose to be outdoors in the open. The first lamb she had was in January in the middle of winter three years ago and she had it in the snow.
Lena is an excellent mother and had the babies nursing and their tummies full.
It took me quite a while to unravel who the sire is, though. The ram was not put in with the ewes until December 1. That means the earliest lamb to be born full term would be five months later on May 1. These lambs were definitely full term and well developed, strong and healthy. So, then, I tried to remember if any of the rams somehow got in with the ewes and to my recollection none had. So, then what?
The lambs were born in May last year as well, May through June actually. They were separated and weaned from the ewes at five months old, or so, in mid October. The oldest would not have been quite six months and the youngest closer to four months. While it is not unheard of, it is also not that common for a young ram to breed so early. That is the only possible solution for the mystery of the sire for these babies. The Jacob ram lamb was the largest and early born of the boys. He was a single and grew very rapidly with all his mother's milk for himself. His colouring matches the black and white ewe lamb almost exactly. The other trait is the tail. Jacobs have long tails and Icelandics and Finnsheep have naturally short tails, or rat tails. The ewe lambs born this morning have long tails. So, by deductive reasoning, the sire of the lambs was the Jacob ram lamb at five months old. There could be other babies born in the next week or two, but then the timing would be off because the rams lambs were already gone by the next cycle. So, if no more babies come in this week, the next ones would be expected by the Jacob ewe, who was bred a full month earlier than the others, if she took. The ram was sold and left with four Jacob ewe lambs, but she was put in with the Blue Faced Leicester ram. If she has babies in the next two weeks, they are purebred Jacobs and if they come in May, they will be BFL crosses.
I am absolutely thrilled, though not prepared, for these babies. I am going to the store tomorrow to get a lambing kit, nipples and bottles, in case, a tube for tube feeding, also in case, disposable gloves and colostrum, all in case. The tails will be docked tomorrow, if not today, and the lambs will get a vaccination shot. They do not appear to need selenium and vitamin E, which prevents white muscle disease.
Welcome little girls. You are a delight and so precious. I just want to hug you to bits, little ones.
Lena is an excellent mother and had the babies nursing and their tummies full.
It took me quite a while to unravel who the sire is, though. The ram was not put in with the ewes until December 1. That means the earliest lamb to be born full term would be five months later on May 1. These lambs were definitely full term and well developed, strong and healthy. So, then, I tried to remember if any of the rams somehow got in with the ewes and to my recollection none had. So, then what?
The lambs were born in May last year as well, May through June actually. They were separated and weaned from the ewes at five months old, or so, in mid October. The oldest would not have been quite six months and the youngest closer to four months. While it is not unheard of, it is also not that common for a young ram to breed so early. That is the only possible solution for the mystery of the sire for these babies. The Jacob ram lamb was the largest and early born of the boys. He was a single and grew very rapidly with all his mother's milk for himself. His colouring matches the black and white ewe lamb almost exactly. The other trait is the tail. Jacobs have long tails and Icelandics and Finnsheep have naturally short tails, or rat tails. The ewe lambs born this morning have long tails. So, by deductive reasoning, the sire of the lambs was the Jacob ram lamb at five months old. There could be other babies born in the next week or two, but then the timing would be off because the rams lambs were already gone by the next cycle. So, if no more babies come in this week, the next ones would be expected by the Jacob ewe, who was bred a full month earlier than the others, if she took. The ram was sold and left with four Jacob ewe lambs, but she was put in with the Blue Faced Leicester ram. If she has babies in the next two weeks, they are purebred Jacobs and if they come in May, they will be BFL crosses.
I am absolutely thrilled, though not prepared, for these babies. I am going to the store tomorrow to get a lambing kit, nipples and bottles, in case, a tube for tube feeding, also in case, disposable gloves and colostrum, all in case. The tails will be docked tomorrow, if not today, and the lambs will get a vaccination shot. They do not appear to need selenium and vitamin E, which prevents white muscle disease.
Welcome little girls. You are a delight and so precious. I just want to hug you to bits, little ones.
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