One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset #116 & Triplets!

We did have another set of twins late Thursday afternoon and we also noticed that Dorset Ewe #116 was separating herself from the other ewes.   At our 9 PM check, we penned her up alone.   This morning we saw one of the Rambouillet ewes, #406, with a single lamb in the pasture.   Then we saw #116 resting with a nice cleaned off set of triplets!  

We Wait With The Triplets While #116 Grazes ... 

She has 1 ram lamb & 2 ewe lambs - the black lamb is a ewe lamb - check out the eye spots!   I'm already thinking of naming her Patches if we keep her.  Most of our sheep don't get names as you can see from reading this blog.  :~0  

Guess who was hanging around near the pen with these lambs?  It was "U"!  On paper she is due any time now, but she is so slim that you can never tell if she has a single or twins in there.   Maybe she thought this was one of her lambs ...

Tasty Hay & Fresh Straw Bedding In The Barn

Foggy Morning At Wild Rose Farm

Wild Rose Farm Ewe #131 - Following Through The Fog!

It was foggy this morning when we went out to check on the ewes.  We had 2 sets of twin lambs.  This attentive mother, #131, was following right along on the trek up to the barn.  Her lambs were dried off, so they were several hours old.   The team was stepping pretty lively here, so I only got one more close-up shot in before they went past me and I had to hurry in to open the door!

Ewe #131 Watching The Photographer!

We went out later after breakfast and brought in the second set of twins, then did some other clean-up work in the barn.  No more lambs as of 1:30 PM ...  :)

Going In Order ...

Wild Rose Farm #99 With Twins

We had a set of twins on Tuesday and carried them to the barn in the morning after the rain tapered off. Mom & babies are doing well.  Today, we found a newborn set of twins with x-bred ewe #99 in the Loafing Shed.  Here they are pictured above ... the ewe lamb is smaller than the ram lamb, but not nearly as small as she appears all curled up in the picture!
The 2015 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest is approaching fast - May 16th & 17th - so the fiber activity is picking up too.   There will be fleeces to skirt later this week, but for now I've started a dyebath.

"Somerset Sweets" Onion Skins

 Years ago, like 10 years ago, Rick & Rita of Laurel Vista Farm in Somerset County, PA gave me a huge bag of onion skin sweepings from their processing building.  Here's a label to prove it!   I'll finally finish using these skins this summer.  The color starts to soak out very quickly.   I'll probably boil the onion skins & extract the dye tomorrow.

Somerset Sweets - Color After 15 Minutes Of Soaking 

    

Newborn Lambs This Morning!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #404 & Triplets

After 2 days with no new lambs, we found a set of triplets & a set of twins this morning!  The weather was a pleasat 55 degrees or so in the morning & these triplets were already cleaned off and dry at 6:30AM.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #416 & Twins

The twins were big 'uns from Rambouillet Ewe #416 and she was taking excellent care of them ... they were a couple of hours more recent & were still being cleaned off ...

Ewe With Nursing Lamb

Meanwhile, watching the proceedings and maintaining the status quo, #135 nurses her lamb as the sunrise slants through the barn doors ... the strange mark on her hip is from when she jumped as I was painting on her ear tag number ... what the heck, she just has a single ... forget about it!  LOL.

Before The Day Ends ...

Wild Rose Farm - Sunset Shadows On Loafing Shed!

We decided to move the yearling ewe lambs & Snow White out of the barn to join the "grazing group".  The grazing group has been getting smaller they have lambs and we bring them in.  Check out the shadows on the Loafing Shed ... I just happened to notice them & snapped a pic!
We brought the ewes down from the pasture and look what we found ... another set of twins!

Rambouillet Ewe #403 With Newborn Twins!

 That's why the ewes have to be checked up on often.  You need to keep on top of what's going on during lambing season!  Once again, Snow White is fascinated!  :)

Snow White Says "More Lambs?  Yea!"

If Andrew is still following along, WRF #403 is a Schaffer ram daughter ... these are Dorset x Rambouillet crossbred lambs.

Interesting Lambing Story!

Early Morning - Ewe #98 Pacing - Where Are My Lambs?

We started out with a check at the Loafing Shed this morning and found a set of twins and 2 singles ... or did we?   We brought the 2 well taken care of singles and moms over to the barn.  Then when I looked at happy ewe #98, I said "She's as big as a house!  Those aren't her lambs!".  Nope, ol' #98 had stolen 2 lambs from the other younger ewes!    Well, she followed us and the 2 lambs over to the barn and we sorted out who the 2 lambs belonged to ... basically it has to do with seeing which ewe accepts a lamb and/or butts it away. OK, we got that figured out after a little while & made sure that the lambs had full bellies.

Ewe #98 Pawing For Lambs

As the morning went on, #98 kept bleating and looking for lambs.  She was very close to lambing and finally her water broke.  Lambing was underway ...

Snow White Watches The Action!

 At 11:45 AM, we had one lamb born and by 1 PM we had a nice big set of twins out on the grass.  We try to watch from a distance and not crowd the ewe.  No sense creating a problem where there isn't one!  The lambs are usually born with enough time between them to have the 1st one cleaned off before the 2nd one is delivered.

Wild Rose Farm Ewe #98 Delivers Twins ...

What a nice sunny day with temps in the 50's for lambs to be born on pasture.  Once the lambs are cleaned and the afterbirth is passed, we'll move them into a lambing pen for a couple of days.
The disadvantage to lambing this time of year?  I usually miss the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival!

Ewe #98 Cleaning Off 2nd Lamb!

Late Day Lamb

Wild Rose Farm Evening Pasture Scene

Look closely at the picture above ... see anything?  Yes, that's a newborn lamb peeking out of the group. We went out to check the pasture & bring the ewes back to the Loafing Shed for the evening.  As we walked up, we spotted a ewe & lamb headed up to join the main group.   These little lambs can cover some ground following the ewe!

Leading Ewes Back To The Loafing Shed

As the sun was setting, we made it back to the barn where X-bred Ewe #135 is happily munching hay with her ewe lamb ...

Wild Rose Farm #135 & Ewe Lamb

Or, should we say, "sharing her hay" with another ewe poaching through the pen?  :)

Wild Rose Farm Ewes Munching Alfalfa Hay