On one night (Tuesday), three ewes delivered a total of 5 lambs. One set of twins were a bit small, so I went out every few hours during the night to check on them, and every time I went out, there were more new lambs. I woke up Wednesday morning realizing that I had 22 sheep. Although I had always thought I wanted 20 sheep, I find that our pastures are better off with about half that number, so I put reran the craigslist ad.
To my surprise, someone called and wanted everything I had to sell. He was driving by at lunch, would someone be home. Yup, I said, and off they went. I didn't have a chance to say good-bye; but all the males and two ewes I wanted to cull were gone. All that was left was 4 ewes and 7 lambs.
When I came home that evening, it seemed so empty. And night chores were so fast and easy!
Unfortunately, we lost one ewe, I am not sure why. We used a sock sweater to graft the ewe lamb on her sister, and we are attempting to supplement with a bottle. We must be the only people unable to bottle feed lambs. I think it is because they already had the real thing for several days, so bottle feeding is quite a struggle - not adorable on countless bottle lamb videos. Sigh. The ewe lamb is doing pretty well between what we can get in her with the bottle and what she can grab from her foster mom. Everyone went out in the big pasture for the first time today. I had to carry three lambs out when they took a wrong turn and their mamas kept going, but when I just went out to check everyone was with a mama at lunch time, they all were. Phew. The orphan is sticking like glue to her adopted family.
When 7 of your 10 sheep are lambs, it doesn't feel like 10 sheep at all. They grow fast, though.
2 comments:
I was wondering if you would pass along your recipe for hamburger buns. I've never made any but every time you mention it I just want to give it a try - Thank You!
Sure - sorry I didn't see this earlier! I am kind of a bake-by-feel person, so recipe might be confusing. I'll make a new blog post.
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