Lambs born in harsh temps

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KatahdinMomma

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RuralFarmGirl said:
Loving reading everyone's experiences. I'm definitely falling in love with our animals even if they are going to be meat. At least falling in love with raising them

Our sheep are not as pampered as a lot of sheep I see here. They are currently in a permanent outdoor pen with a 3-sided shelter. We keep adding foraging leaves and twigs raked up from the yard as they finish what's in thier pen. It's good to keep them busy when they aren't eating their daily hay or grain rations. I keep feeling a little bad that they don't have a big cozy barn but then I keep realizing that they are very happy as they are! We went back and forth a lot as we considered lambing options but ultimately came to keeping mom and babies within view of the flock too not cause stress and make their transition go well. We are waiting on lambs currently but when they arrive we'll seperate them and momma into the shelter by a cattle panel for a few days of bonding before giving them full access to the rest. I appreciated the conversation about different farming styles. Sharing a few pictures of my sheep enjoying thier home-wondering who else has a simuliar setup!
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After seeing everyone's post (haven't logged in a while obviously!) ya'll are so kind! Our climate had 3ft min of snow this year, and all winter I've been stressing on the amount of nastiness in the barn. Next year we want a set up like this, 3 sided shelter in the pasture and have the barn for a medical shelter. We only have 14 sheep, including the lambs btw, so dramatically different ad to the large herd! Also, they are meat sheep with an intended purpose to fill our families freezer. Though, I'm new to sheep, and homesteading in general, and am still learning g where my lines cross!
 
Mike CHS

Mike CHS

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We all have different reasons for keeping whatever livestock we have. We do now and will always have some sort of shelter available. Many we know have only an emergency shelter but they lose a number of lambs when the weather is nasty.

Nice to see you posting and more are always welcome.
 
RuralFarmGirl

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Hey guys. Wanted to update you that my first lamb has arrived. It was probably 35* or so the Friday when he was born. Momma cleaned him off and they were both up and moving around when we found him. Everything went great and he is doing splendid!!
 

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K

KatahdinMomma

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RuralFarmGirl said:
Hey guys. Wanted to update you that my first lamb has arrived. It was probably 35* or so the Friday when he was born. Momma cleaned him off and they were both up and moving around when we found him. Everything went great and he is doing splendid!!
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Awwww, precious. Congrats!
 
Sheepshape

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Lovely little face!

The weather here is dire....very low temperatures and sleet/snow with driving winds. It's a real struggle to try to keep the lambs and mums safe.
 
RuralFarmGirl

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Sheepshape said:
Lovely little face!

The weather here is dire....very low temperatures and sleet/snow with driving winds. It's a real struggle to try to keep the lambs and mums safe.
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I'm definitely feeling less stressed about caring for my sheep. I felt like my shelter was less than optimal but she's been doing soo good with the lamb, and he's been thriving. Getting out of the wet is definitely a need though(in my understanding anyhow.) they seem to deal pretty well with everything else!
 
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It's funny... it seems like goats think they'll melt if they get wet, while sheep just don't seem to care... unless it's a torrential downpour... Sheep will just lay down out in the snow and end up with a snow blanket covering them in a storm, while goats many times won't even set hoof in snow... Always the exception to the norm though ;)
 
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