Spring is a flurry of activity on the farm right now! We LOVE this time of year - so very rewarding, and total uninhibited joy. 9 days ago our ewes started lambing. At this point 27 ewes have had 44 lambs. We have a total of 56 ewes, so we are expecting around 80 or 90 lambs. Here is a fast, crash course on lambs: The gestation period is 5 months for a sheep. Under ideal circumstances the first time ewe will have a single lamb. (She is not experienced enough to nurture more than that.) Older ewes will have twins, or in some cases triplets. During the lambing season Bill and I go out to the pasture to "check" for newborns about 4-5 times a day; 6 am, 3 pm, 5 pm, and evening. More if needed. We try to "catch" the lambs before they are around 2 hours old, because after that it is a real challenge to run fast enough to catch them. (Well, it's a challenge for Bill because he does the running, it's quite entertaining for me because I watch him!) We do a few basic care maintenance items to the newborn lambs; we tag the ear with a number so we know which lamb(s) go with which ewe, we iodine the naval cord, we immunize them with CD & T (fights enterotoxemia and T = tetanus) and BO-SE (has vitamin E. Selenium, and prevents white muscle disease.) There you have it - the very basics. Spring has Sprung!
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