SheepGirl's 2015 Lambing Thread - Lambs are here!

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Yep! They are May 2012 babies. They are still so cute and they are nice and quiet, very reserved little ladies. As a lamb Katy Perry was quite obnoxious however she doesn't have a mouth on her anymore, lol. She keeps to herself mostly. She does walk up to me every now and then wanting to be pet, Lady Gaga isn't as friendly and tends to keep her distance unless I have treats or grain.


And I forgot to update this in my last reply, but I tried milking ciqala out again and she has milk! Baby was able to nurse with help. I always say ciqalas has goat teats because they are as long as my hand and they are pretty wide. Plus her udder hangs low so lambs have a hard time looking down below for her teats. After 2 to 3 days they figure it out. She had a good udder as a first timer and then when she had Billy and Ali in 2009 she got these monster teats. Fortunately none of her daughters inherited this trait. It would be okay if they are dairy sheep, but they are expected to raise their own lambs and it's hard when you have to help the lambs nurse until they figure it out. It would be a nightmare if I had to help every ewe with their lambs because of poor teats! It gets physically exhausting trying to restrain a ewe and getting a lamb to grasp onto a teat when they just want to nibble on your fingers. Probably wouldn't be bad if one had a headgate, but still. Not a fun thing to do!
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Lady Gaga and Katy Perry both lambed March 2. LG had twin ewe lambs. She doesn't really want them, KP seems to have claimed them. KP had a single ram, but he was born without an anus. Unfortunately he will be euthanized. Kind of works out okay since LG doesn't want her babies.

Hopefully soon for Ali!
 

BrownSheep

Lost in the flock
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
2,011
Reaction score
450
Points
203
That's a bummer about the ram lamb. Interesting, but sad all the same.
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Alis vulva is pink and swollen... maybe she will lamb in a day or two.

and here are all my babies so far...
20150304_155328.jpg


and here is a new baby...
20150304_155335.jpg


and the other one
20150304_155713.jpg
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
I am now starting to doubt who gave birth to who, lol. When I went to the barn the other night, Lady Gaga still had blood on her rear end, however, all the babies were cleaned off. One baby was all yellow (one of the ewe lambs) and the other two babies were whiter. One baby (the ram) was apparently well-fed, as his abdomen was really wide and he was already getting backed up. But then Katy Perry wasn't wide enough to have two babies, so I think just one baby was hers, and Lady Gaga had twins. But I would think both white babies were together, rather than a white and yellow? I can't really remember if I've had yellow and white babies born to the same mom or not. However, if the white babies are twins to each other, then that means they couldn't have been Lady Gaga's because she had just lambed recently in comparison to Katy Perry whose back end was all cleared up.

My original thought was the ram lamb was born to Katy Perry and the twin ewe lambs were born to Lady Gaga. Katy Perry was taking care of all three. Lady Gaga calls to only one of the ewe lambs, but she doesn't let any lamb nurse unless I hold her. Katy Perry feeds the two ewe lambs. Any ideas from anybody else? I kind of want to do a paternity test, but I'm not sure it would be worth it, or if it would be conclusive as KP and LG are twin sisters out of a twin sibling mating, so their genes are very close as it is and then the lambs all have the same sire.
 

purplequeenvt

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Messages
2,500
Reaction score
4,656
Points
373
Location
Rineyville, KY
I've had one pure white and one bright yellow out of the same ewe. Actually, now that I think about it, it's rare that they are both bright yellow. It's usually one of each or neither are yellow.
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Well thats good, I couldnt remember from previous lambings!

And Ali lambed Thursday night after it got done snowing. We ended up with 9 inches of snow!! I went out around 4 or 5, came inside, and went back out a little after 9. I saw Ali with a baby by her side and a placenta hanging out so I knew she was done, but I was like, just one?! You were huge, girl! And itwas a tiny ewe lamb at that. So I walked around the barn looking for new babies, none. I walked in the path I shoveled for them to get to their water, no babies. Then I looked around the barn, and there he was! A big ram lamb, head first in the snow with his front legs stuck.

My guess is Ali had him, and she started having the other and he started walking awaytrying to find his mom but his mom was too busy giving birth so he walked around and ended up right outside the door. The path of snow he was in was too small for an adult sheep so I think he walked that far by himself. And there was no discolored snow so I doubt he was born outside in the snow.

So I rushed him inside to try to warm him. He was limp and unconscious, but had a full belly as though ge had eaten already. Poor lil guy. Temp couldnt be read on thermometer as it was too low. Keep in mind he was still wet from birthing fluids surrounded by 9 inches of snow around his abdomen and head and the low at night was 4 degrees. He was frozen but I thought he was still alive because he was limp and my mom and I both thought we felt a heartbeat. Unfortunately after 3 hours I felt his eyes and they were like jello and they were unresponsive and he started to bloat so I knew he was gone. :( Shortly after he tensed up from rigor mortis. I gotta say, he was definitely the cutest baby we had born! Big, fluffy ears, a soft fluffy face, a blocky head, and black nose (instead of the ugly pink haha). Plus he had a little brown on his nose and legs as he was 3/8 Babydoll.

So next we have Phoibe and Elektra in the next week or two. And Emily is coming to shear March 19.
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
So that leaves the count to 9 lambs out of 6 ewes... 3 sets of twins and 3 singles. I was only expecting one single out of this group (Ciqala), Katy Perry and Rosie surprised me when they had only 1. KP looked small enough for a single but Rosie looked big enough for twins, though she ended up having a big single. Unfortunately I lost two lambs (birth defect and hypothermia from exposure) and they were both my boys. So now I have 7 ewe lambs and im expecting two more babies out of my ewe lambs.

Oh and this is unrelated, but just as exciting... I asked my general manager if I could leave since I was done my shift and he called me in the office and he said next paycheck, you will see a small bump in your pay. He said dont tell anyone, so im guessing im one of the only ones who got a raise. And that small raise was 6.25%!! This is only about a week after I had been out for a week and a half and I came in late several days. You know they missed me and value my work then, haha. I was going to ask for a raise but I was thinking I should wait because I was out and everything and the next day my boss told me that! I was soo happy. Oh and my mom got a 6% raise too at her job! My dad was like, my girls are rockinnn.
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Here are all seven babies so far... Phoibe and Elektra are due the 15th and 16th for day 143. Though this year my sheep held their babies in to 148 days or close to it, so it could be the 15th to 21st.

As you can see, Rosie's baby is the biggest so far (second from right). The five in the barn from left to right are #29 (Bella), #33 (Lady Gaga), #34 (Lady Gaga), #30 (Rosie), and #36 (Ali). In the back, from left to right are #28 (Bella) and #31 (Ciqala). I'm still thinking of names, but I think I will go with a flower theme with all of these girls!
20150311_140133.jpg


Also, I was thinking about the pink noses vs dark noses. Four of the nine lambs had the pink nose from their daddy and five of the nine lambs had the dark nose like their mommies. I think one of the pink nose babies (Ciqala's) will darken with age, as hers is a mixture of pink and black. Time will tell.
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
We have another baby! Phoibe had a single this morning... and yep, its another girl!
 
Top