Wordless Wednesday, August 22, 2012

June peeking around our willow.

Getting Big

Our llama, Confetti, was due to have her cria on May 1, 2012. It is now May 21, 2012. She's a bit over-due, and getting pretty big! 

However, for having been pregnant for over a year now, she seems to be taking it well. 

Everyone else is getting big as well. Here are some fun lamb shots to make you smile!

Waylon--by far our best ram. He may replace Knox in our program.Willie--twin to Waylon, and also really hard to photograph! Emmylou is in the background.Emmylou--she is simply stunning. I'm so excited about her structure and her fleece. My fingers are crossed that she doesn't fade too much.

Johnny--he's got the absolute wrong type of fleece except that he's black. Jet black! He's staying with us, but as a wethered pet.

And, of course there's Princess June! Can you tell who's the darling of the barnyard?

June.June and meKat and JuneGlutton for scratches

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).

Twins (Again!)

Peridot had a beautiful set of rams this morning. Mike checked the lambcam at 5:45--nothing. I checked at 6:50--lambs!

The second lamb wasn't up and moving yet when I got out there, so he was only minutes old.And here they are in their own pen.

Of course, I'll have many, many more photos to come!

It's Killing Me!

The waiting, that is!

Sparkles' lambs will be a week old tomorrow (tonight at 3 am, actually, but who's counting?) and Emerald and Peridot are still pregnant.

Peridot this morning

Emerald this morning.The plan was:

All lambs would come within 3-4 days of one another. All ewes and lambs would be in the barn for a week and a half. Then ALL the sheep could be turned loose on the fields at the same time.

Someone didn't get the memo. And now the ewes are going stir-crazy, and the lambs need to run free.

So today, I had to do some very complicated maneuvering. The main problem: the barn doesn't have a door (because we'll be expanding it again once the weather warms up), so we have a giant piece of plywood screwed-in to block the entrance. This would be fine if everyone had adhered to THE PLAN.

Never fear! I came up with a solution.

I moved Knox into the chicken coup (the chickens were not very happy with this situation).

The llamas were released into their temporary grazing area consisting of only two strands of electric wire that's not actually turned on. It's really just a suggestion to them, and if they wanted out, it would be pretty easy. I usually put them in there for an hour or two while I'm out doing chores in order to keep an eye on them. The sheep get to use it occasionally, but Knox has been banned due to his blatant disrespect of the non-threatening wires. This is what it looked like the day we set it up.

I then went into the barn, scooped up the lambs and had Sparkles follow me (well, the lambs) out the front door of the barn, around a set of pine trees, through the pasture gate and into the field. Luckily, she's the queen bee, and Emerald and Peridot followed her.

Once they were secured in the field, I pulled Knox (good thing he has horns and is still pretty small) out of the coup and into the secure barn.

Everyone is happy for the day, but tonight I'll have to do all this again in reverse. 

The ewes need to lamb!