Ta-Da..

Ending the last post with a count of 7 ewes and 14 rams and 2 ewes left to lamb, it didn’t seem likely we were going to balance out the ratio this year.

Marabelle helped with her presentation of a ewe lamb by Boyd on April 6.

Patchwork Mia is a pretty blue eyed, 4 horned “baby Belle”. She is slated to remain here, continuing the line started here by her great granddam, Craft’s Ruby’s Belle in 1995.  I’ll always miss RubyBelle, but continue to find joy in seeing her qualities in her descendents.

Patchwork Sarah really hung in there, not delivering until April 15. Sarah was one of the last ewes to be introduced to a ram.

Patchwork Charming (and she is!) sired by Boyd.

The 2012 lambing season started on a sad note with the discovery of Macaroon’s dead ram lamb.  Lambing is not always easy or effortless or without moments of sadness and frustration.

Badger presented a breech lamb. He was out to his hips on his own and required only a tug (a hard tug, but no repositioning) to be successfully born.

Lucinda, as usual, refused to let her lamb nurse – going so far as to toss her – until Lorelei met Lucinda’s stringent cleanliness requirements. Once Lucinda is satisfied that her lambs are clean it’s dinner time. Not a minute sooner. It’s rather unsettling to watch

The three first time mothers came through with flying colors.  Quinn spent a few minutes wondering what she’d done before giving her boy a sniff, a cleaning, and a feeding. Stacia delivered and tended her twins with the aplomb of a seasoned mother.  I confess that I slept through Sarah’s delivery.  Ginger braying and the sound of coyotes howling woke me. A barn check found a cleaned and fed ewe lamb – and no coyotes. 

We ended the season with:
23 live lambs from 15 excellent mothering ewes.  9 ewes, 14 rams. Not all perfect, but all healthy and vigorous at birth.
One unopened lamb tubing kit
One unused BO-SE vial (I’ve never used BO-SE, but thought it might be handy just in case).
Unused emergency supply of colostrum that the dogs will get
The partial bag of lamb replacer that has been in the freezer for over a year leftover from a bottle lamb that was given to me. It’s still in the freezer.
An abiding appreciation for our primitive, hardy Jacobs.

It was a good year.

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