This is What "Nothing" Looks Like!

Wild Rose Farm - "Nothing Happening" Looks Like This!

When one of us comes in after a lambing check and says "nothing happening", this is what it looks like.  A few ewes grazing.  The rest of the flock is sitting up and chewing their cud. Our llama Snow White is cushed and watching, or as in this case, looking at us as if to say, "what are you looking at?".  It looks similar at night, except that a scan of the field returns sets of glowing eyes! 

Wild Rose Farm #136 With Newborn Twins

We had 3 sets of twins born yesterday. The first set was on the previous post, the 2nd set arrived around 2:00pm and the picture above is the 3rd pair born around 8:30pm.  It was a busy day here and all are doing well! 
 

 

Flock Check @ Evening Feeding

Wild Rose Farm - Did You Say Feeding Time?

The ewes are now grazing in the bottom half of the pasture behind that gate and over the hill. Their bottom water tank is just over to the left near that blooming dogwood tree. While their fresh section of grazing is being set up, they come up to the barn for their evening grain ration.

Snow White Says "Meh" ...

The Ewes Keep Coming! 

Once they've reached the barn, they are completely occupied with eating.  I can do a check of everyone to see if there is any chance of a ewe that is close to lambing in the group … nothing tonight, so they all went back down to the fresh break of grazing!

Wild Rose Farm Evening Feeding

We've Been Busy ...

Wild Rose Farm Sunny Pasture Scene Today

We've had several sets of twins born since our last post and today was no exception. The weather has been mostly "decent" and no one has tempted fate by lambing outside in the rain.  Snow White & the ewes can take shelter underneath the pine trees and they do have access to the barn if we expect a heavy rain.

Wild Rose Farm #141 & Her Twins

Around noon today we found one of our crossbred ewes, #141, in the pasture delivering a ewe lamb. She looked like she was going to have another lamb and we moved her up to the barn. Checking on her later around 2PM she hadn't delivered a second lamb, so an investigation was in order. Yep, there was another lamb in there and he was presenting back feet first. It was time to put on gloves and the long OB sleeve to help and pull the lamb. This must be done carefully, but very quickly. Once the umbilical cord breaks, it triggers the sharp intake of breath in the newborn and the head must come out and be cleaned off immediately ... all's well that ends well! That's him on the left after we wiped him off and now the ewe is taking over. It's also a good idea to towel some of the birthing fluids from him onto the first born lamb to make them both smell similar to the ewe.
By now it was around 3PM and it was time to make the daily pasture fence shift ...

Wild Rose Farm #129 & Her Triplets!

I was puttering around in the barn working on getting a couple of the pens ready when I heard a call from outside. Mr.Wild Rose Farm said that there were more lambs & to get a pen ready while he brought them up. Whoa! Our crossbred ewe #129 had delivered and cleaned off a set of triplets sometime after we brought in #141 and I took that banner picture above.
She followed right up to the barn and into the big corner pen that we have reserved (just in case) for triplets.  She has two ewe lambs and one ram lamb and is taking care of all of them. As time goes on, we'll watch them carefully, but for now they're all active and nursing.
Since the whole flock followed the triplets up to the barn, we did some other work with them & replaced a couple of missing ear tags.  Then we sent them back out to pasture for the evening with Snow White.
The temps are dropping overnight with high winds, so we have 2 ewes that look to be very close to lambing up in the barn tonight … you never know!

Two Sets of Twins!

Wild Rose Farm #151 - Twins!

Time to catch up on the lambing season … we had two sets of twins born on the 27th. Our pretty horned crossbred ewe #151 has a ewe lamb & a ram lamb. We just tagged & vaccinated them this afternoon & the ram lamb will have horns too.  Both are doing well!

Wild Rose Farm #144 - Twins Too!

Late in the evening, and actually a few minutes into the 28th, #144 delivered a set of twin ram lambs. She seemed to be "thinking about" lambing for a couple of days as you've seen.  Here she has them cleaned off ... the one lamb has his head down searching, but he needs to go towards the other end!
Snow White continues her pasture duty with the rest of the flock.  This is the first time I've ever seen her munching on the white pines …

Snow White Snacking on the White Pines

Still Waiting ...

Wild Rose Farm - #144 Thinking & Chewing Her Cud 4-21-2020!

As of this morning, April 24th, none of the other ewes have lambed.  Like we said, our breeding records were  predicting April 20 to April 21 for the start of our lambing season, but our first was on the 16th. Wrong on both accounts so far ...  Stay tuned because we sure are!

2020 Lambing Season Starts!

Wild Rose Farm - Dorset #118 & Twin Ewe Lamb

Once again, the sheep have not consulted the calendar before starting their lambing season!  My schedule said that lambing should start around April 20-21, but our #118 Dorset ewe kicked off the season on April 16th. Here she is nuzzling her ewe lamb after we brought them up to the barn.
As of today, we are waiting for more ewes to join the party. Several pens are ready and you can see that we are doing our nightly pasture checks …  

Lambing, Llama, & Pasture Scenes!

Wild Rose Farm at Dusk - Snow White in Position!

Here are a series of pictures from the last few weeks at Wild Rose Farm during our lambing season. Our llama Snow White is in the pasture with the ewes. The entire group grazes while surrounded by movable electric net fence within our permanent high tensile electric perimeter fencing. You can see in the picture above that Snow White has taken up a position by bedding down in front of the ewes at dusk. They settle in uphill behind her --- sheep usually bed down "uphill".

A Llama & Her Flock!

Wild Rose Farm #152 With Newborn Twins - Snow White Nearby!

One of our crossbred ewes, #152 is shown above with her set of newborn twins. This is her first time lambing and she did a great job! Look who is nearby … Snow White is alert … you can see her tail is held up a bit.

Wild Rose Farm #150 & Twins - 11:30 PM Pasture Check

Snow White is There!

Finally, here's a midnight pasture check & Snow White is there again … even when she's cushed, her swivel head is 3 feet high!  She's too smart to look at the LED light I'm holding, lol!  You can see the eyes of one of the other sheep behind her.

First Lamb of 2018!

Wild Rose Farm #146 With Ram Lamb @ 2:30AM

The 2018 lambing season has started at Wild Rose Farm! Ewe #146 was standing off by herself at 11:30PM & circling. Her water hadn't broken yet, so we set the alarm for 2AM. It's about 34 degrees outside and dry.  We found her with a single ram lamb that was all cleaned off & he has nursed. She was also closely accompanied by a "granny ewe" (one of the older Rambouillets) who really wanted the lamb too. Both of them followed us up to the barn and we had to separate them and shoo the other ewe back to the pasture. Usually when that happens, the second ewe lambs later that day.  We'll see what happens!  Now back to sleep ...

Waiting For Lambs!

Wild Rose Farm 6:30AM - No Lambs Here!

Do you see what I see? That's right, a llama and a flock of ewes grazing this morning at 6:30AM. No lambs and no ewes separated off or looking anxious.  Last year our lambing started on April 28th. We put the rams in 2 calendar days earlier in November, so there was a chance that lambing could start a couple of days earlier too.  Not so, ha!  Anyway, we're nice and close to the barn now after grazing the "Back 40" for a week.  Stay tuned ...

Chores Almost Finished ...

Beautiful Day At Wild Rose Farm!

We're wrapping up the pre-lambing festivities here at the farm.  We had temps in the low 80's this afternoon as we brought the ewes up for their vaccination boosters.  We ease them up in stages through the various fields so there is no rush or overexertion.

Snow White Gets Vaccinated Too ...

I was going to brush out Snow White & even up her clip job, but I ran out of time once we got started giving the ewes their shots.  We'll have plenty of time for that later, I guess.  It was just getting dark as we took the flock back to the Loafing Shed.  Now begins the early morning and late night checks for lambs!

Gathered & Waiting To Move