- Thread starter
- #21
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
New pictures of the surprise babies from last week.
Ewe
Ram
Ewe
Ram
purplequeenvt - Lambs 2017
- Thread starter purplequeenvt
- Start date
norseofcourse
Herd Master
Nice lambs! I like the pic of LuLu looking at the cat... 
- Thread starter
- #23
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
We had the vet out to ultrasound all the ewes today.
We checked 33 ewes - 5 culls that were not supposed to be bred, but there was a chance that they were and 28 ewes that were supposed to be bred.
Results:
27 out of 28 breeding ewes were bred
2 out 5 culls were bred (of course, 1 is 10 with only half an udder and the other prolapsed last year)
This means that we have 29 ewes due between 1/29 and 4/3.
We are expecting lots of twins based on the results of the fall breeding. We are in a selenium deficient area and this is the first year that we have gotten our act together enough to give BoSe shots prior to breeding. Selenium is an important nutrient and a deficiency can greatly affect fertility and the number of lambs conceived. I would not be surprised to see more sets of triplets this year (I'm hoping not though).
We checked 33 ewes - 5 culls that were not supposed to be bred, but there was a chance that they were and 28 ewes that were supposed to be bred.
Results:
27 out of 28 breeding ewes were bred
2 out 5 culls were bred (of course, 1 is 10 with only half an udder and the other prolapsed last year)
This means that we have 29 ewes due between 1/29 and 4/3.
We are expecting lots of twins based on the results of the fall breeding. We are in a selenium deficient area and this is the first year that we have gotten our act together enough to give BoSe shots prior to breeding. Selenium is an important nutrient and a deficiency can greatly affect fertility and the number of lambs conceived. I would not be surprised to see more sets of triplets this year (I'm hoping not though).
- Thread starter
- #24
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
My Shetland girls (minus Freyja who lambed in November and is in with the "big" ewes)
Fae, she was one of the first Shetland lambs born on our farm.
Mandi (L) and Flute (R)
Celeste, she needs a haircut!
Dulci
Little Marimba
Their boyfriend, Simon. He is such a sweet guy. Love his personality! He bred at least Fae, Celeste, and Marimba. The other 3 might be bred to Promethium, a white BL ram lamb that was in with them prior to purchasing Simon.
IT is a bad lamby. He jumps on the backs of the ewes and then jumps out of the pen and spends the day eating out of the back of the feeders. When he's done, he puts himself back.
Bella, a Lincoln with BIG personality. She lambed in July and had just barely weaned her lambs when she was put back with the ram. Still managed to breed back. She was in such good condition that you couldn't tell that she had been raising twins. She originally came from the flock of a good friend of ours that passed away. She was his grandson's show ewe and was sold to a mutual friend who then gave her to us.
Fae, she was one of the first Shetland lambs born on our farm.
Mandi (L) and Flute (R)
Celeste, she needs a haircut!
Dulci
Little Marimba
Their boyfriend, Simon. He is such a sweet guy. Love his personality! He bred at least Fae, Celeste, and Marimba. The other 3 might be bred to Promethium, a white BL ram lamb that was in with them prior to purchasing Simon.
IT is a bad lamby. He jumps on the backs of the ewes and then jumps out of the pen and spends the day eating out of the back of the feeders. When he's done, he puts himself back.
Bella, a Lincoln with BIG personality. She lambed in July and had just barely weaned her lambs when she was put back with the ram. Still managed to breed back. She was in such good condition that you couldn't tell that she had been raising twins. She originally came from the flock of a good friend of ours that passed away. She was his grandson's show ewe and was sold to a mutual friend who then gave her to us.
Last edited:
Bruce
Herd Master
IT is a bad lamby. He just on the backs of the ewes and then jumps out of the pen and spends the day eating out of the back of the feeders. When he's done, he puts himself back.
DD1 and I watched him do that. The ewes just keep on eating from (their side of) the feeder and don't even seem to notice there is a lamb standing on their backs.
smart lamb!
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Lambs are pretty smart. We made a small enclosure to use as a creep feeder and immediately had to mod it. We made the openings 10" and our broad butted pregnant ewes forced their way into it to get the feed. We added a 2x4 to each opening to change it to 8" and only the lambs can get in.
babsbag
Herd Master
I have never owned sheep so I can't speak first hand to their intelligence but this is what I have been told about the difference between sheep and goats.
"I take the same bucket off of my sheep's head everyday and if my goats had opposable thumbs they could beat me at chess."
I am sure we could debate this for days...
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Not with me. I have been around goats enough to know who has the better thought process and it is goats. Sheep are smart in a different way but they are far from dumb.
- Thread starter
- #30
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
I found this on Facebook the other day. I think it is an excellent illustration of our society's detachment from food.
There is a large population of people in my area of VT that are all like "look at me! I'm eating only organic and local foods" and yet they still haven't a clue what actually goes into getting the animal/vegetable/mineral/whatever from the farm and onto their plate.
There is a large population of people in my area of VT that are all like "look at me! I'm eating only organic and local foods" and yet they still haven't a clue what actually goes into getting the animal/vegetable/mineral/whatever from the farm and onto their plate.
