We are pretty well
through our lambing and kidding season.
There is one more goat who looks like she may be pregnant but for all
practical purposes we have finished the baby season. We currently have two new goat kids and
fourteen new lambs. They all have
attentive enough mothers so that we only have to check on them throughout the
day and enjoy watching them play. That
is a bit of a change now compared to when we were in the thick of lambing and
kidding.
Breeding takes place
in the fall. Our only intact buck is
aging and we are cutting back on goats so we were not disappointed that only
three does were pregnant. The gestation
period for a sheep or goat is five months.
It is easier to spot a pregnant goat early on in her pregnancy than it
is a pregnant sheep. They tend to show a
swelling udder sooner, there is a special feel to their tail and they take on
that pregnant lady waddle. One gal
delivered a stillborn kid but the other two had healthy kids that hopped right
up and got busy being goats. The little
buckling and doe were born a week apart and are fast friends who have
discovered that there are a few fences they can slip through without being
followed by their larger mothers. They
are the ones who have taste tested all the newly planted pastures that are
supposed to be off limits. They zip
around much of the day but frequently return to their mothers for a quick snack
and a little affection. I’ve noticed just
this week that they plop down and nap wherever it is convenient rather than
seeking out their mothers for a nice snuggle.
They do sleep curled up with their mothers each night, though.
Our lambing has been
spread out over two months. We begin
looking for signs of coming babies at the end of February. We feed a little more grain than usual each
night and, as the gals are busy eating, we give everyone a good looking
over. There are many little things that
we watch for that indicates birthing is close.
We watch the pastures throughout the day for any animal that separates
itself from the flock. Sometimes ewes
that are nearing labor spend a lot of time getting up and down and rubbing
against fencing or rolling on the ground.
Others just become very quiet and stoic.
Some of our sheep have
much woollier bellies than others so I always ask Al to shear around their
udders if I am not certain the lambs will be able to find their teats. That seems like a silly idea except that I
have laid on the ground in the stable and tried desperately to help a lamb find
a teat rather than exert all of its energy sucking on a few ringlets of
wool. Lambs can be persistent little
things but with no nutrition they quickly stall out and can be in trouble
without a good nursing early on.
We do have a good
number of simple births. Many times we
find a newborn lamb with a filled little belly standing happily in the pasture
with mother. We always bring them into a
stall so that mother can have lots of fresh water, grain and hay to herself as
she quietly bonds with her baby. We
always check her udder to be sure that the wax plugs that protect her teats are
out and that milk is flowing well. And
we make sure that mama is taking to her baby.
It is not uncommon for a first time mother to refuse to let her lamb
near her. I imagine it makes sense to be
a little nervous after spending a few hours in pain and suddenly find this
little alien thing who insists on chasing you around and poking up under your
belly. Fortunately after the lamb has
nursed a few times all the mother hormone things usually kick in and even the
less maternal sheep get the hang of it.
Our funniest lambs
this season belong to the Shetland sheep.
Shetland sheep are small and their lambs can be simply tiny. We have had rabbits larger than some of the
current Shetland lambs. We’ve separated
the Shetland ewes and lambs into their own pasture. All five of the lambs have discovered that
they can slip through the fencing and venture out into the adjoining pasture
without the oversight of their mothers.
At first the sight of their lambs popping out of the four inch by six
inch holes in the woven wire fencing upset the mothers. Now that the lambs are a little older the
ewes seem fine with the peace and quiet.
The lambs graze a bit and then return to nurse a bit.
The Shetland lambs
often encounter the two goat kids in the pasture. The teeny tiny ram lambs love to challenge
the kids who are easily three times their size.
The bitty rams drop their heads and run up on the kids who stare at
them, step aside or even rise up on their hind legs to try to butt them
back. It is so comical to watch as lambs
and kids are all just gently playing. No
one really gets rammed hard but they do push each other around in play. This little game can go on for several
minutes until another lamb begins to run and everyone suddenly plays
chase. They run large loops around the
pasture with the leader often turning suddenly and running back into the line
behind him as everyone scrambles to turn.
After a good play the lambs all shove through the fence again and return
to their mothers for a little snack and snuggle.
One little ram lamb is
quite the adventurer. He is a handsome
brown Shetland with a small white patch on the top of his head. He loves to slip through the fence and spend
time in the backyard. He gets to see the
geese, visit the trio of larger sheep that have backyard privileges and also
watches the house dogs who pass through the backyard to follow me to the stable
every time I go outside. This little ram
grazes happily but seems to keep one eye on all that is going on around
him. If the house dogs start to chase
each other he will quickly walk back to the fence as if trying not to draw
attention to himself. He will then graze
near the hole he likes to go through just in case the dog wrestling gets too
close for comfort. He will let us walk
up on him. If we pick him up he enjoys a
good cuddle and does not struggle to be put down but he will not stand by us to
be petted.
The tiniest ram lamb
is spotted brown and white. He will
wander far from everyone, graze contentedly and then suddenly lift his head and
look around. It seems to dawn on him
that he is on his own and then he will begin to bawl. He is Jezebelle’s little man and he has a
loud and grating bawl much like his mother’s.
She is one of our oldest Shetlands and has always been the most vocal
and demanding. We can pick out any of
her past lambs simply by their persistent bawl when they want something. And this little man is no exception. When he starts to holler for mother she
begins to bawl back. She simply answers
him to call him home. Sometimes he talks
to him without even lifting her head from her grazing. After a moment to orient himself he always shoots
back though the fence and to her side. I
imagine that, at her age, this will be her last lambing so I hope she is
enjoying it. But I believe I told myself
the same thing last year and she surprised us by lambing again this year!
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