So this morning it became final ... The OE Southdown Ewe Lambing season is over. Yup, you guessed it Yuchi finally had her a single baby boy.
That means we spent the morning settling everyone into the barn. The Quads are now back in the pen with the flock full time. So how are we doing it? Well, we are still new to all this and we are still learning. So our plan goes kind of like this...
We have one pen in the chicken show pen that can be divided in two and it works great for Shetlands, but we had to use it for Lakota and it worked okay for her single birth. We also have one stall in the middle barn and the one in the hay barn. The one in the hay barn also divides into two but not when the large cotswold have multiples. So in addition to the five pens in the barn we also use one of the stalls in the ewe pen for the Mommas and babies to help them adapt to being in with the flock.
Here is how we work it. We make sure the Moms and lambs stay in the barn for the first week of life. A little longer if the lambs that need extra TLC or that aren't gaining weight like we think they should. When the babies are healthy and the weather is nice the Mommas and lambs are allowed to go join the flock for the day but return to their stalls at night. The next step is that we take the Mommas with healthy, strong babies that are over a week to ten days old and let them start staying in the flock shed for the night penned up. When they get settled in the ewe pen and each baby learns to come in to the shed at night (This takes just a few days as the heat lamp is on the the shed at night for extra heat and warmth for them) then we just let them be and let Momma keep track of them full time.
The other thing we do to keep track of their progress is that we take their weight everyday until they are over 15 lbs. Right now that means we have 8 we are weighing each day. So then you add in the time we take to make bottles, suppliment, weigh, move and check the little lambs, You have a pretty full day. (Did I mention that we still do the chores for the other animals, Dad and Mom still go to work, And I still have school, 4-H, and Rodeo ... I don't think we do enough these days)
So what ewes are left to Lamb? Well, Skittles was sick the first part of breeding season so she will not be due for a few more weeks. Then we have the two Colored Shetlands, Pipper and Poppy. And if we are lucky a few Goats will be thrown in just for fun.
Well, enough of this talking Let's get to our daily dose of Lambie cuteness
We have one pen in the chicken show pen that can be divided in two and it works great for Shetlands, but we had to use it for Lakota and it worked okay for her single birth. We also have one stall in the middle barn and the one in the hay barn. The one in the hay barn also divides into two but not when the large cotswold have multiples. So in addition to the five pens in the barn we also use one of the stalls in the ewe pen for the Mommas and babies to help them adapt to being in with the flock.
Here is how we work it. We make sure the Moms and lambs stay in the barn for the first week of life. A little longer if the lambs that need extra TLC or that aren't gaining weight like we think they should. When the babies are healthy and the weather is nice the Mommas and lambs are allowed to go join the flock for the day but return to their stalls at night. The next step is that we take the Mommas with healthy, strong babies that are over a week to ten days old and let them start staying in the flock shed for the night penned up. When they get settled in the ewe pen and each baby learns to come in to the shed at night (This takes just a few days as the heat lamp is on the the shed at night for extra heat and warmth for them) then we just let them be and let Momma keep track of them full time.
The other thing we do to keep track of their progress is that we take their weight everyday until they are over 15 lbs. Right now that means we have 8 we are weighing each day. So then you add in the time we take to make bottles, suppliment, weigh, move and check the little lambs, You have a pretty full day. (Did I mention that we still do the chores for the other animals, Dad and Mom still go to work, And I still have school, 4-H, and Rodeo ... I don't think we do enough these days)
So what ewes are left to Lamb? Well, Skittles was sick the first part of breeding season so she will not be due for a few more weeks. Then we have the two Colored Shetlands, Pipper and Poppy. And if we are lucky a few Goats will be thrown in just for fun.
Well, enough of this talking Let's get to our daily dose of Lambie cuteness
Mom is in love with this picture! She says there is just something in that face that you have to love...
This is getting to be a common site around here ... Babies all mixed up and with the wrong Mommas and just confussion I tell ya!!!
And for those of you who are in on our Carrie Clothes ... Check out all that sock yarn growing right there on Carrie!
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