Lambing Tales 2017

Things have been busy here at the farm. We are up to 129 lambs. This year, The Farmer decided to try lambing in February instead of January. He's getting older and the cold of January can be brutal. He's in charge - I just offer moral support and some help. And what happened in January? No snow and warm temperatures.

Lambing began in earnest the beginning of February. The ewes have been doing a good job although there are a few who aren't interested in being moms. That leads to a lot of bottle feeding, time, and expense of buying milk replacer. Bottle lambs never grow as quickly as those that are raised on mother's milk.

As usual there's been a lamb in the kitchen/bathroom for about three weeks now. The first was Boris who was on death's doorstep. His Mom rejected him - he was one of twins - and so he came to the kitchen. After a couple of days in front of the heating grate, he started to be alive. It got very cold and then we had two massive snowstorms. So he stayed here in the bathroom. No one had the heart to send him out into the real world of barns and snow and giant sheep. Yesterday it was time for him to go back to the barns. He is thriving and hass been running up and down through the kitchen, living room and library whenever he figured out how to open the bathroom door.  I hope he will do alright. He will continue to be bottle fed and will hopefully discover he is a sheep and not a cat, dog or human. 

As Boris left, Horace arrived. (Julia is having fun naming the lambs.) He is also on death's doorstep and we will see if we can help him get going. It's always something when you are farming and raising animals. 

Here are some photos of the sheep at the barns and the little lambs. I'll try to add some more in the next couple days. Enjoy everyone.