Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Here Come the Lambs!

On Sunday afternoon, one child came bursting into the house with the exciting news that there were lambs in the pasture. And not only lambs, but triplets.


One, two, three, all in a line.

This is the first time in fifteen years of lambing that we have ever had a ewe have triplets. While exciting, we didn't really expect all three to make it. Sheep have a hard time keeping track of and nursing that many lambs, and we don't bottle feed lambs. 

However, as of yesterday night, all three seemed healthy, so maybe they will all make it.

A set of twins was born Sunday night, as well.


Babies everywhere.

They seemed healthy, too. 

Thankfully, we're in a stretch of notably warm weather, which is what we want for lambing. Even a healthy lamb has a hard time if it's 15 degrees with wind, but in this weather, they don't have any trouble.

We're off to a great start so far with the lambing. There are four more older ewes that should lamb in short order, which means there will be lambs popping all over the pasture in a couple of weeks.

Spring is coming, and so are the lambs.

Update: Two of the triplets were dead this morning, for no particular reason except that they apparently didn't follow their mother overnight, and she didn't go find them. So now we have three live lambs. And that's the way it goes.

9 comments:

  1. Lambs!!! Very cute.
    How much do you help a lamb if it's not getting enough food/attention from its mother? Or do you let nature take its course?

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  2. mbmom11: We will warm lambs if it's so cold when they're born that they can't get warm on their own. We will bring them to their mothers if they wander off. We will check the mother for plugged milk ducts and milk her out if we need to so she can nurse her lambs. But if she abandons the lambs, or they are too weak to stand up or nurse, we don't bottle feed them.

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  3. I miss my sheep. Lambing season was always my favorite.

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  4. I'm sorry about the lambs. Mother nature is rough at times.

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  5. We've never raised sheep but have good friends who raised sheep for decades. They've always sworn that lambs are born looking for excuses to die as soon as possible. Any excuse will do.
    --Karen.'s sister

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  6. Would be tempting to build a jugg for the first few days.

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  7. Karen.'s sister: Honestly, given how fragile lambs seem when they're born, their survival rate is pretty astonishing.

    Anonymous: They were all penned together the first night. The mother just doesn't seem very attentive. Which means she will be sold this year. A ewe who can't raise her lambs isn't much use.

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  8. We used to have Babydoll Southdowns, miniature lambs. I miss lambing, well actually not the lambing but seeing them jumping around the yard like jack rabbits.

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  9. Mable: Oh my goodness, I cannot imagine the cuteness of mini lambs popping around all over the place. The popping--for those who don't know, they'll spring almost straight up into the air when they're older and playing--is the best part of lambs, for sure.

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