The Games Continue with No Winner Yet!

The girls are getting bigger and bigger and have all been going to the beauty shop for their annual haircut, but no babies yet!

In the past, the rams have lived with the girls and I didn't know exactly when things happened, so due dates were hard to estimate. I thought I'd be smart this year and separate the ram out in August and put him back in at the end of November. Lambs are due April 21. That was easy enough. 

Apparently, our ram took his sweet time getting to everyone though. Peridot looks to go any moment now; seriously, I don't think she'll make it to tomorrow without babies. June seems to be about a week or so out. EmmyLou, Rose and Buttercup all seem to be even with smaller bags starting to develop--two weeks? Sparkles, though huge, doesn't have a bag at all! All that said, bagging up isn't an exact science, so they could be fooling me. But Sparkles is usually engorged just before she delivers. 

I'm throwing my hands up in the air in defeat . . . . it seems I have no idea when they're coming, and we'll be in lamb-watch mode for the next two weeks at least.

Here's an update of the "business" end of things:

The rump in the middle is Sparkles, with no udder at all, but she may be the widest ewe at the moment.

Here's June getting started. This is about where Peridot was 7 days ago.

EmmyLou is starting to "show." Side note: she was the easiest to shear; can you tell?!

Rose is hard to see because of her coloring, but by feel, she and EmmyLou are close. The part hanging down that you want to think is an udder is really just her belly.

And I've saved the best for last:

THAT's what a ready-to-deliver ewe should look like! Full bag, swollen girly bits and indentations on either side of her tail as the babies move into position. Any moment now, Peridot!

Buttercup is also due around the same time, but without a haircut yet, you really can't see anything. She's about equal to EmmyLou right now.

Violet and Lily were held back for another month before breeding, so they really don't have anything to show. They're due around May 18.

Lamb-Watch 2013 begins

I'm not all that great with surprises. I love them, but my anxiety levels increase and I become a little obsessive. When I was little, I always went looking for my Christmas presents; OK, even now I do it! Mike has to hide things at his parent's house if he really wants to surprise me. 

That being said, lambing season is agony for me! When will the ewes go into labor? Will they have singles or twins? Will they be boys or girls? 

And don't get me started on the colors and markings predictions!

In my Ravelry group, everyone is making predictions about when the ladies will lamb. It's a lot of fun, but it has be staring at the lamb cam all the time.

When I check in on the animals today via the lamb cam, I actually noticed something different about Emerald that I don't think is my imagination! As labor gets closer, the lambs will drop and the ewes will show a hollow beneath their tailbones.

Here was Emerald yesterday:

And today:

Of course, maybe she just hadn't had breakfast yet, but I'd like to take it as a sign of impending labor!!

The Wonder of Birth

Warning: the following pictures are graphic images of a sheep giving birth!

Our last ewe to lamb, Emerald, cooperated with us last Saturday, April 28, by giving birth at a reasonable hour--9pm! I had noticed her nesting and acting very about-to-give-birth-y, so I grabbed my camera and declared, "I'm sitting in the barn until this lamb comes!"

That was at 7 pm, so I didn't have too long to sit in the cold. She began having contractions around 8, and then things went pretty fast. Morgan, Mike and my mom-in-law, Jude were all present. Morgan is only 7 and handled things very well. She quietly asked questions as things progressed and wasn't phased at all.

Contractions

Bag of water emerging.Hooves and nose emerging through the bag of water in the "diver" position.

The bag of water breaks and things get slipperier (hooves and nose again).

 

Head emerging.Shoulders emerging.Body emerging

Body mostly out. At this point, the sack came off the lamb's face and she started breathing. If Emerald had given birth standing, gravity would have helped finish up.Emerald was finished pushing, and the little lamb more or less kicked her way into the world.

Welcome to the world EmmyLou!

Gooey but alert.Up and searching. She was a little confused about which end had milk for a while. She finally got it.This was the best entertainment in the barn!

Starr (the llama on the far left) had a hard time containing herself; she wanted to help lick Emmylou clean. She kept sticking her nose between the slats of the birthing pen until Emerald finally gave her a strong head butt.

Lick, lick, lickingThe next morning, all clean and fluffy.

Out in the pasture on a foggy Wednesday morning (4 days old).

Beginner's Mistakes

I'm reading the books, scanning the blogs and staring at my sheep a lot, but still, it seems I have much to learn.

It was January, we were in the midst of winter, yet many shepherd are talking of lambing. I chalked it up to warmer climates, most of them being in the South or West, but that made me wonder . . . "when will my lambs be here?"

My brilliant idea was to check on Whispering Pines' blog to see when  their lambs started arriving last year. Logic told me that since these sheep came from them, they'll continue to follow close to the same schedule. After a quick look, I started planning for the beginning of April. Mike and I decided to build lambing pens and give shots about the middle of March.

THEN, a few weeks later, barely into February, a local friend of mine asked if I had lambs yet. What? Lambs in February? No . . . we're planning for April. 

And as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I realized the fault in my logic. Sheltering Pines actually plans their breedings. We've just allowed Knox to enjoy his harem at will. I have no idea when the ewes became pregnant.

Panic quickly set it, and Mike and I cleared our schedules one weekend last month and built lambing pens.

We now have two nice-sized pens for ewes and lambies.

And then we had to figure out what to do about shearing. It was too cold to shear last month, but I really couldn't tell what was going on back there. So my friend Sue (she owns The Critter Ranch AND provided me with the llamas) came over and we crotched the girls.

Crotching is when you shear just the back-end and udder areas so that birthing is cleaner and lambs can easily find their milk supply. The ladies were so humiliated.

After getting through that day, though, I was more relieved about the imminent birthing process. Mainly, because none of the girls had really started bagging up too much, and bellies weren't quite as big as they look with all that wool on them.

We're now half-way through March, and we're ready whenever they decide to come. I've been watching udders fill, but nobody is huge. However, I've read over and over that bagging up isn't a reliable way to predict due date. It's still fun to see the progress though.

This was Sparkles two days ago. Today, when I checked, Peridot is in the lead. I'll keep everyone posted!