I think we are done.

Well, it has been a lovely lambing season.  We have 33 new babies on the ground and thriving with this beautiful if not slightly unusual spring.

I have been asked how we come up with our names for the lambs every year.  Naming is certainly part of the fun and it keeps my older daughter Maggie in the loop.  Since she went away to college and then Korea and now Seattle, she is not home in the spring to see the little ones.  One great way we stay in touch is for me to announce the lambs as they are born.  Whether it is day or night, I email her the mom who has just started her new family and how many babies she has had.  I let her know color, size and gender and she takes it from there.

Every year we have a theme.  I think the first year we moved up here we had designer names.  It seemed like a nice transition for moving from near Madison to the remote island home we now share with the sheep.  We had many twins that year so names materialized such as Dolce and Dior, Armani and Hermes, Klein and Lauren, Levi and Wrangler.  Now many of those girls are having their own babies and adding to the flock.  I think we have more than four generations here.

A few other themes we had have had are dances with monikers such as Tango, Polka, Jazz, Jitterbug, Rhumba, Foxtrot, Jive, and many other lilting tunes.

One of my personal favorites, maybe it is the weaver in me, was the fabric name year.  Great girls are still here with Twill, Tweed, Tattersall, Tapestry, Pendleton, and Chambray. 

This year we are back to literary names.  I will give you a selection. Please comment back with their associated titles. Some are characters and some are Authors.   We have Isolde, Oberon, Matilda, Earnest, Oscar, Evans and Elliott, Corrigan, Minerva, Eloise, Ferdinand, Ashima, Lyra and Pan, Piaf, Albus and Aberforth, Reuben, Eliza, Cecily, Eponina, and Scout.  Thank you for participating.

A Reminder of this January.  I wrote this story during a cold snowy day and thought it might be nice to share.

So this afternoon Emma was out doing chores.  On Sundays, she actually has a bit of extra time and can spend it out in the barn tidying and playing with the horses. At sixteen there are so many other distractions, I am grateful that she still likes the farm and the barn and all of our creatures.  If you are dressed in enough layers, the January air doesn’t seem so bad. There isn’t much wind and that makes a great difference in all of the animals  and humans comfort level. 

 The music is on and the cats hang around waiting for treats.  She cleans waterers and moves lambs around that need it.  The stalls get an extra cleaning and lots of fresh fragrant shavings.  The barn gets a thorough sweep and the blankets get aired and hung neatly ready for their next use. The horses get their feet cleaned and a nice brush.  They contentedly munch on a bit of extra hay.

The sheep have had their grain and all are pretty content for sheep that  always seem to be starving.  It is  cold today around 8 above so I thought  I would join her and help a bit.  All of the animals don’t have electric water heaters yet.  My goal is to add a few each year.  We did get two new heaters this year but another one gave up after many years of service.  I can go out an fill them again and empty ice out of the ones that need it. 

 Anyway, I go out and Emma comes running back to me.  “Mom, there is a surprise in the barn!”  Why do I recognize that tone in her voice?  It is so so early and cold, it just can’t be.  But there she is , a nice Moorit ewe standing in the corner cleaning off a lovely black lamb, oh and another one has appeared since Emma first noticed, a white lamb still struggling in its blanket of placenta.  They are both steaming, the cold air wants to suck the little bit of heat  that these lambs can produce.  They are not preemies, they are full size, but they still don’t have much body fat to produce the heat they need to stay warm while mom tries to dry them off as fast as she knows how. 

Her rough tongue keeps moving over the lamb, cleaning and drying at the same time.  The first one is already standing and looking ok but the second one is questionable.  I climb over the hog panel fence and see him shaking his head.  A good sign, he is breathing.  If it was April or May I might just leave her alone but not today.  They are wet and towels are going to be needed and probably a heat lamp. 

We know what to do now.  Emma automatically hands me two loose hog panels to fit into a jug in the corner of the barn where the ewe dropped her babies.  She has picked a perfect spot so why fight it.

I enclose her in  the square pen and Emma hands me a stack of about five flakes of fresh straw to bed the new family down in.  There is a layer building on the floor of the barn already in preparation for this time of year but they need more insulation from the cold floor that also wants to rob them of their precious heat.   Next some water for the ewe.  It is thirsty business for her to give birth to twins.  I know she is hungry too but I want her instincts to remind her of her job first.  Keep cleaning those babies, get them on their feet and get them to her udder.  I have already interfered by toweling the babies a bit.  Their ears and tails can freeze pretty quick and they are shivering.  She doesn’t seem to mind so I keep working on one and then trading with her.  I want her to take care of both, I know she will take care of the first one but the second is always a challenge when you have to interfere.  The white baby is trying to stand now which is amazing.  Less than 15 minutes after being born he already knows what he needs.  Food.  A full stomach does more to fight off the cold than anything else.  The black one seems  to have it all worked out and is quietly nosing around mom.  I finish toweling her and concentrate on the boy.  Yes, I have taken note of a black ewe lamb and a white ram lamb. 

I know the ewe must have gotten in with Luke early, they have his floppy ears and coloring but when I don’t know. I suppose she could have come into heart immediately and taken the very first day he was turned in with her .  The other ewes are not due for quite a while.    It happens and it is kind of fun but throws off the schedule a bit. Especially the sleep schedule.  Well, farming is all about adjusting to weather and circumstances isn’t it.  It could be another month before anyone else is born.  Nightly barn checks are going to have to start a bit early this season. 

So now that we have their little bedroom arrangement set up we can do the next task.  Clip, dip and strip.  First I set the lamb on its back on my lap.  I clip the umbilical cord with a clean scissor in one quick clip.  Then I pour a tablespoon of Iodine on the cord to dry it up and close it off from any infection and bacteria.  I check the lamb’s eyes and nose to see that they are clear.  Then give the baby back to mom. 

The ewe doesn’t like this next part.  I play dairy farmer for a minute and make sure that her nipples are open and her bag is full but not hard.  I milk her gently on both sides to make sure she has milk and it is nice a solid white and running freely.  There is a bit of a wrestling hold keeping her still with one knee and arm and milking her with the other free hand.  I gather a bit of the milk for it’s precious colostrums in case I need it for other emergencies.  It only lasts a few days and is the life protecting magic formula needed by all baby creatures. 

Michael finds a heat lamp and has the electrical cord already run to the jug.  A bit of baling twine secures it in place.  Not too low so as to make hot spots and not too high. Clean baling twine has a million and one uses in the barn.  Not on the floor mixed with open bales of hay, but for tying jugs, waterers, lamps, etc.  I only like the natural jute, not the synthetic orange stuff used so much now a days.   Normally I never use the lamps but this is a special circumstance.  Now one more step to help fight the ravages of the bitter night ahead.  Little plastic coats.  They are just squares of orange plastic bag material.  They have slits for four legs and a head.  They fit loosely so that a warm inch of air insulates the babies body from the cold outside air.  For such  a simple and inexpensive device to do so much, I am grateful.  The shivers are already disappearing.  As the lambs move around and mom cleans them off, they are starting to dry nicely.  I take my hand out of my mitten and hold their ears and tails so make sure they are thawing.  I felt the black ones ears feel pretty icy for a bit.

So I always enjoy the first morning barn check as I said yesterday but if I had to choose a favorite overall time to check on the moms and babies, it would have to be the 2 AM check.  Call me crazy but if the night is crisp and clear and often quite cold, the stars are at their peak.  On the way to the barn I am usually in a bit of a hurry and anxious to check on what is happening.  The dogs often wake up and come along for the the brief walk.  Such great companions and they know that it is their job to make sure the farm is secure.  If I hadn't named Fly for the dog in Babe, I should have named her Tomtem.

Every pen or jug is checked to see that the lambs are sleeping quietly and softly breathing.  The ones that are up and usually crawling on mom to get her to stand up for a post midnight snack.  Sometimes a little play time is happening with a few next door to one another.  If I am worried about one, I pick it up to see if it stands and stretches, our health sign.

If no one is in the process of lambing, then we are done and we can walk back through the night air and pause to find our favorite constellations.  Living on an island has its advantages and disadvantages.  One of the big pluses is that we have virtually no light pollution.  If you don't turn any lights on there are none on for miles.  It is a gift that I hope won't change for a very long while.

April Lambing

Good Morning, I just went out for the first barn check of the day. Of course, there are lamb checks every two to three hours during the height of lambing season and the days and nights just sort of blend together.

This morning every one was still sleepy, all tucked up against their moms and curled up with their brothers and sisters. It is my favorite time of day.  Everyone is still quiet and it is a good time to make sure the youngest ones are getting up and stretching.  This generally means that they are warm and fed.  One never likes to see a lamb standing in a corner with a cold arched back looking very hungry.  I think this is the first season I have had without and bottle lambs.  Ok, I kind of miss it but it does make a shepherd's job a bit easier.  It never ceases to amaze me how great these mothers can be.  Now most of the moms and babies are loose in a large pasture connected to the barn  With just a single nicker a mom can call a baby from anywhere in the pasture and they come running back tor reassurance and a quick drink of milk.