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Monday, April 12, 2010

More lamb-o-liciousness.

I am a little tired...a little....somehow 2 1/2 hours of sleep is just not cutting it...I don't understand.

OK, so my flock has grown since we last chatted. Friday night, Mira, my black gulmoget ewe (for my non-sheepy friends-that means she has markings like a doberman pincher), started acting like she was thinking about going into labor. Usually if the girls are getting close to being in labor before I go to bed I put them in a lambing jug, that way I don't have to try to herd them into it during the middle of the night-while fighting off worried llamas that think that I am chasing pregnant sheep for no good reason. Mira is a first-time mom so I wanted to make sure that she was in the jug overnight-just in case she started active labor while I wasn't out there. I got the rest of the girls out of the barn and ushered Mira toward the pen. She thought about whether or not she liked this arrangement and she opted for-not so much. I had her nearly in the pen when she decided to go for broke, rushing past me and jumping, yes jumping a 3 1/2 foot fence, clearing it, pregnant belly and all.....which ironically is how she got herself into this mess in the first place. If you recall, she was the ewe that I never intended to breed last fall because she was so little. During breeding season last fall I successfully placed the little darling into a pen to protect her virtue from the ram, but she saw things differently and let her hormones get the best of her, scaled two fences-on two separate occasions to rendezvous with said ram, hence the now-pregnant belly. After her repeat performance of her high-flying acrobatic stunt on Friday night I decided that rather than risking her jumping again and injuring herself-or the unborn lamb-I left her out with the rest of the flock.....while I worried. I got up 3 times at night to check her. Her udder was huge and she was digging a hole to China, but no actual labor yet. I reminded her that she should probably think about producing the offspring by morning since I was signed up for a craft show in Iowa City that I would have to leave for at 7am. Complicating matters, when I told my dear husband that he may have to play midwife while I was away, he got the old 'deer in the headlights' look and exclaimed, "I don't know nothin' bout birthin' no babies!" Oddly enough he volunteered to go to the craft show in my stead with my sister, Marie, if it came down to that....the lesser of two evils?
After trying to sleep between barn checks all night I got up at 5am to see what my poor husband's fate would be for the day and discovered that Mira was starting actual labor. She delivered her beautiful black gulmoget ewe lamb at 6:45. I checked her bag....not like at the airport-I don't charge...I should say that I made sure her colostrum was flowing. I made sure the baby nursing, headed for the shower and only missed my targeted departure time by a few minutes....as I left I reminded my husband that he was off the hook on both counts, for now, but there were 3 other ewes that were looking a little suspicious....again I got the deer in the headlights look.


Mira's baby girl. "Woo Hoo, it's good to stretch these legs!"
So, Marie and I went off to the craft show in Iowa City and finished up there at 4 o'clock.
Upon my arrival home my husband was happy to report that none of the other girls had any signs of labor in my absence, but I still checked them all and none looked close....yet.
At 9 pm (my pre-bedtime barn check) Edrea started dig, dig, circle, figure 8, circle.....lay down for a while and chew some cud, circle, circle. Hmm, I thought, I might as well just hang out here in the barn and wait for her to lamb rather than get in and out of bed all night. So wait I did.....and I waited....and waited while I watched repeat performances of the dig/circle/figure 8 show. FINALLY at 1:45 there was pushing, and by 2:40 a gorgeous katmoget ewe lamb with incredible fleece was born.

Drool on this, my fiber addicted friends!

Oh, yeah, this little girl is staying right here.
Nice straight legs for a newborn!
" I just don't see what all the fuss is about those girls!"

Awww, you boys are still very handsome.
For those keeping track-2 rams, 2 ewes. 6 more ewes left to lamb.....I think, I better go out and check what's going on out there! Also names are coming soon, I am going with a Cape Cod theme since that is where my people came from.....and you thought that I was from a galaxy far far away, didn't you?

13 comments:

lisa said...

must visit darling Lovey soon...and return your cake pan. i assume you'll be close to home most of the week??

Michelle said...

Oooh, TWO pretty-patterned ewe lambs; congratulations!!! I WANT that katmoget girl; I WANT, I WANT, I WANT!

tbsomeday said...

ooooh!!
they are BEAUTIFUL!!
(and thank you for the doberman marking tip...that was helpful...though doubtful if i'll remember next year :)

sounds like not enough sleep to me
uck
we had a baby chick hatch this weekend (and my husband left me a message--another today)
that's as exciting as it gets here--so i can't imagine the joy if we has such cute little lambies!

do you hope for ewes?
how many left to go?

Laura said...

NICE lambs! Their birth coats look very even. I guess I'm lazy-I only get up once in the night and check again in the early morning, but i still get very tired after about a month of it. :)

Donna said...

Your little katmoget girl is luscious!!

Miss Effie said...

Michelle -- if you saw the katmoget girl --- you would never leave Iowa.
That fleece is crazy crimpy beautiful! Drool! Drool! Drool! I've already tried to call dibs on a skein of yarn from her next year.

But ditto for the 2 boys!
Sheepie Neighbor found her girls a really nice boy!!!!

Shula said...

That's 2 very nice ewe lambs (and the boys look great too) congratulations on them. I'd take both of them lol.

Mac said...

Very Cute!!! Will you sell the gul? or maybe we could do a trade for a nice spotty from me?

Rayna said...

All great looking lambs!

Mom L said...

Wow, I love lamb season! This is the only way I get to see them....such beautiful babies!!!

Nancy (sheepless in Iowa)

Kara said...

Beautiful lambs and great photos. :)

Becky Utecht said...

Beautiful lambs!

The Dream... said...

Hi,

I have been in and out of your posts recently but I don't think that I mentioned that I would like to pass on a blog award to you (its on today's post on my blog). Just a way for me to say thatnks for all the amazing stories and photos, particularly the latest lamblings! I really love these "doberman pincher" style lambs, they really are handsome!!

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