Lambing Season!
April is a very exciting on the Farm. So much new life and this year we are having our first Lambing Season.
Last fall we acquired our small flock of five Shetland sheep. We got 3 ram lambs and 2 ewes lambs. They would be coming into breeding age in the fall, so I began to watch them and get to know their personalities and conformation. I wanted to have lambs for this spring, so I began to look at my options. These are our animals.
Hamish, ram, creme katmoget. With very nice conformation and size. He is the leader of the group. Friendly and outgoing but respectful.
Fergus, ram, black, with bleset markings on face, slightly cow hocked, smaller of the two. Shy but feisty.
Wallace, ram, white katmoget, runty, broken horn and small horn with awkward set, cow hocked. Beautiful fleece. Super friendly, vocal, funny.
Enya, ewe, black with bleset markings on face. nice conformation, nice fleece. Good udder. Boss Ewe, Calm.
Rose, ewe, black with bleset face markings, slightly cow hocked, shy, smaller. Beautiful fine fleece.
Three rams were too many. Wallace was the runt of the bunch, he wouldn’t even make a good freezer lamb, but his fleece was beautiful, fine and crimpy. He was funny and congenial so I decided he would be my ram companion and we called the vet to have him castrated. He was personally affronted to be singled out and has complained ever since. He is the first one to hear me in the morning, and the last one to chap my ass at night. But he is funny and does the best happy dance when I bring them their hay. So, he’s staying...
Hamish was my best ram, so I decided to put him together with my best ewe Enya. Fergus and Rosie being of similar size, and fleece type and color would be my second pairing.
From September to the end of October all five ran with the goats and horses and llama. The flerd established a pecking order and everyone got along fine.
Shetland sheep are a landrace primitive breed. They are seasonal breeders and as the days begin to shorten the females begin to cycle. Because they were young and this was their first estrus, they delay a bit. By the last week of October, I could tell things were heating up. The rams were beginning to follow closely behind the females. After the females would pee, the males will lift their heads and curl back their top lip to pick up the scent of pheromones the ewes emit as they begin to cycle. Many animals exhibit this behavior called “Flehman response”, including horses, goats, buffalo, llamas, and cats. They expose their teeth and then inhale through their mouth to bring the scents to the Jacobsen organ on the roof of the mouth. This organ can sense if the female is nearing estrus. It was time to get the breeding groups together if I would want to have any control on who bred who.
Mom and I worked on fixing up the ram pen and the small shelter that was in that paddock. We fixed the roof and painted it and shored up the inside where some of the boards had rotted. Into this pen, I put Enya, Hamish, and Wallace.
Breeding instincts can be very strong and even though Shetland sheep are small, the rams make up for it with large curly horns and extra drive. They can be very persuasive, and it takes better fences than we have, to keep the groups separate. As the rams begin to sense what is happening, they become very aggressive towards each other. I learned the two groups would not be able to share a fence line, as I watched Hamish and Fergus blast each other headfirst through the woven wire fence.
Fergus and Rose would be housed for the breeding season in the upper ‘lamb’ paddock close to the house with an empty paddock between the two groups. They would use the old goat A-frame shelter for cover. I added a lean-to carport for additional shelter from rain and wind.
The breeding season commenced. I watched intently but never really caught anyone in the act. Eventually as we approached Christmas, it became apparent the Enya was getting considerably larger girth wise. I knew she was pregnant, but I was not so sure about Rose. Hamish was very interested in what was going on up in the upper paddock and tried several times to break out and come to her service. I was not sure Fergus was getting the job done.
It was getting colder and our real winter was bearing down. I knew I would need to have time to reacquaint the groups and be able to give the ewes access to the barn for shelter and a bit more feed in their late pregnancy.
Reacquainting 2 rams is an interesting proposition. I learned you need to lock them up really tight for 2-3 days so they can reacquaint themselves without killing each other. They were NOT happy to see each other and it took 3 days of constantly body checking each other in a 3x3 ft area til they calmed down or at least got bruised and tired. They did a number on one of my lambing jugs but within a week I was able to send all the boys packing out to the ram paddock to duke it out there. They soon remembered they were buddies and things became peaceful in the barn for the rest of the winter.
RAMS REUNITE FOR REST OF WINTER
They will join other animals when we return to grazing
As it came closer to March 23, which seemed the earliest date we might have a lamb, I got more and more nervous. Looking at Enya I was convinced she had twins, so I thought she might go early. I made up a lambing kit and kept it at the ready. I went and checked on the ewes multiple times a day and every time found them chewing their cud contentedly. One night after dinner we all placed bets on when the lamb might come. The gestation period for sheep is around 147 days. I guessed March 21 Granny chose March 31 Ed, Dad and Angus all guessed the first week of April.
Granny won. She was a day off. On March 30 everything was as normal, I checked the girls before I went for my Covid shot. I headed out at noon to do a few egg deliveries and on my way into the health department my phone went off. I could not answer but it was Granny. I thought she was wishing me luck. She wasn’t, she was calling in a panic because there were 2 baby lambs outside the horse run-in shed with ALL the other animals milling about, and one very concerned mama Enya. Mom thought quickly and got all the big animals out of the area and gated off the paddock and then watched as Enya and Aunt Rose tended the newborns. She called Ed at work and he came home. When I arrived, Enya had cleaned them both off and was busy getting to know them and they her. We had 2 ewe lambs one all black and one light katmoget. Amazing - we had doubled our ewe flock in an hour. Enya delivered all by herself, no help needed and both lambs were up on their feet and feeding. We got them into the barn to their own lambing jug to bond and be protected from the cool night air. Next day they were healthy bouncing lambs firmly bonded to Enya who was patient and attentive. I named them Ghrian and Ghealach, the Gaelic words for Sun and Moon. They are precious and so much fun to watch.
WITHIN A HALF HOUR OF BIRTH
Lambs are up being cleaned and feeding
Now we wait for Rose. I do think she is pregnant, but probably with only a single, but one never knows for sure. I check her bag regularly and she is content to be with Enya and the twins during the day in the lambing paddock close to the house. She is familiar with that paddock as it was her breeding paddock for the fall.
At night they all follow me into the barn where they bed down together, but separate from the goats and llama, til the lambs get bigger.
Last fall Ed and I fenced in another little paddock right next to the house and adjacent to the lambing paddock. As the grass grows more and the lambs grow, we will open that paddock up to the ewes and lambs for a good part of the early summer. Then they will go out with the others in rotation.
I am so pleased with my little flock so far. They are sweet and curious and tough little sheep. Perfect for a beginning shepherd. Soon Ed Jaeger, my shearer, will be here to shear them and the process of grading and processing their fleeces will start.
Everyone enjoying the spring grass beginning to grow
This year will be a big one for us. We have our first electric netting to subdivide our pastures and a solar energizer. So far, all the animals have experienced the ‘zipper’ and everyone respects it and no one has had a traumatic experience. Even Ryder our Chesapeake Retriever has had a ‘zipper’ experience. He WAS traumatized, but he’s OK now.
not dead just passed out in the sun
New electric netting on the right, letting the grass grow longer on the other side!
By using it to make the pastures smaller we can rest some areas to let the grass grow longer and rotate the animals through to build the root systems and build up the diversity on our pastures. By grouping them more densely we spread the fertilizer around and let them trample grass and organic matter into the soil. Then we move them off that area and let it rest and regrow before letting them back into it to re graze. It has taken so much work to get to this point, but we are making headway and that feels good. This spring we will be installing some deep-water lines to have year-round water for the animals and water to reach the far fields.
Now we wait for dear Rose and our next addition! Any ideas for names? Any guesses on a date? Or what the sex will be? I would love to know your thoughts. Whoever guesses the date, gets to name the new lamb(s)!!