we got about 9" of snow (and still falling over the past 12 hours and lost our elder ewe to age and cold. my sweet angelica, the one who had coriander last year died.
and, with sorrow comes joy, peppermint lambed twins first thing this morning, a boy and a girl. we brought the boy in to warm him up because he's not nursing so great and was shivering. i milked out some colostrom and spoon fed him.
honeysuckle
horehound
moondog loves the snow (doing snow angel doggies in the snow...)
more snowy pictures
6 comments:
I'm always amazed at our propencity for "stupidity" (this is about me, you just happen to have sparked it...)
Deer, elk, big horned sheep, mountian goats, etc. all give birth in June. Because that is when the grass is best and they have the best chance of survival. When we follow this season with our animals we have very few problems. When we don't, we struggle. I know, I've a calf named Eve (born on new years eve...) and all my kids are due in Feb. STUPID. I think we have selected nature out of our domestic anmals.
Glad your lambs are doing well.
Sorry for the rant. Just venting my own stupidity.
i have to agree with you. and yeah, i intentionally breed my goats early so i get milk early. but the sheep are left to their own devices because we don't have the set up to do it properly.
and, it seems they always lamb/kid on the coldest, nastiest days of the year, go figure.
I guess the downfall is ours, as "managers". If we let nature take it's course, animals would be nutritionally stressed at this time and less likely to successfully give birth. Those that did would probably die from lack of feed. The ones that seems starved now fill out in the early spring and are ready to breed in sept/oct which lets them kid/lamb on grass. Nature is unforgiving to those who step out of the rules (humaity will be reaping that whirlwind soon...)
Oh they are beautiful!
Awww, sweet! When I had sheep mine also seemed to go on the coldest night. The past couple of winters were really hard and I finally gave up after one of my ewes died giving birth in the middle of the night (found her with lamb stuck and it broke my heart to think of her suffering). Ours were in together and so birthing was not planned. Horrible lessons to learn.
Yours look healthly and beautiful!
And what is with all this blessed snow? We are under winter warning here (I moved south to get away!!)
The lambs are precious and I am sorry for your loss. Enjoy the beauty of your snow!
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