Due dates...

I really know I should get a marker for Elvis and separate him out when needed so I can get an idea of due dates.  At the moment, I have all the sheep together in a "natural flock" but I need to be a bit more organized with my breeding, if only for my own sanity! So far, I have been just watching his behavior with the ewes and when he stops hounding them, I figure they're pregnant.  Not very methodical.  Hair sheep can breed all year around, and generally can lamb 3 times every two years.

I do know when Sally, the Dorper ewe, was bred (January 23), so I have a good idea on her expected lambing, but I am still feeling anxious.  I even had a dream last night.  It's her first lambing and she just seems so small, frame-wise, compared to my other ewes.  I am hoping that everything goes well.  I may have to resort to a baby monitor in the next week or two.  It seems that the ram they use over at Olde Flume Farms doesn't throw twins as often as Elvis, so I may be looking at a single lamb, which would be a bit of a relief, but I am still nervous about her.

Audrey may be farther along than I thought.  I was expecting her to lamb in the middle of September, but she is looking rounder than two months along.

Along those lines, my husband is making a larger sheep shed for all of them, and we will be able to have better lamb jugs rather than the make shift structures we've been making with pallets and plywood to date. The structure has been ready for the roofing, but we were waiting for an opportunity to pick up the recycled roofing that my husband bartered work for.  He and my son were able to pick it up yesterday, but he is feeling as under-the-weather as I am, so it will have to wait a few more days.

A new sheep shed means the horses will both have a stall at feeding time instead of having to share (they are big stalls), which will be good.  Ohia has been having to eat outside in the pasture because Crazy Gib has been crazier than usual.  Ohia is deathly afraid of him at feeding time - they seem to get along at other times.