The V girls

Our yearling ewe Lydia somehow acquired a side abdominal hernia during her pregnancy, making her whole side sag down low to the ground and causing her to have difficulty walking.
This means she needed help delivering her lambs, but all things considered, it was a success, giving us two lovely ewe lambs. The first one was the long legged black mouflon girl, and after checking for another lamb, we thought she was the only one. We went into the house, changed out of dirty lambing clothes, and relaxed with a glass of wine, happy to have a healthy lamb, and the tense time over with. Mark checked on the pair a half hour later and shouted to me Lydia's got another one! The little white girl with the black mask was on her way, and after some more adjustments we found her front leg and got her out.
If you have seen the movie The Incredibles, the daughter Violet, has super powers giving her the abilty to dissapear, and she wears a black mask. We thought this little girl, who seemed to be invisible when we first looked for her, should be named Violet as well, and her sister is now called Veronica, for no apparant reason (but I do have one named Betty) .

A Long Hard Journey

Saturday afternoon, first time mom, Eva, went into her labor about 1 PM. I had been waiting anxiously for her to lamb, praying that all would go smoothly for her first venture into motherhood.
She labored for about an hour, with nothing much happening, so I went in for a check to see if there was a tangled up baby or two. What I found was a very large lamb, in the right position to be born, but the ewes cervix opening was so small she could not make any progress.
Mark and I work on her for what seemed like forever, with much pulling, and what we hoped were soothing and encouraging words for a distressed mom. I called a fellow shepherd for advice, and with those words of wisdom and a little more work, we finally got her out into the world!
Mom and baby are both doing fine.
She is a gorgeous black, badger face, 10lb ewe. We will call her Athena, for the goddess of wisdom, who is also described as "bright eyed, or with gleaming eyes". I think it suits her well!

New Babies are arriving!

Well, the first lambs arrived Tuesday 3/31, and they are triplets! What a treat to discover! All gorgeous in their own special colors. ! A black gray ewe, a black mouflon ewe and a beautiful black mouflon spotted ram. He has big white legs, reminding us of a Clydesdale, so he has been nicknamed Clyde.
This picture is not good, more to come...
We also had 2 nice big twin ram lambs on Thursday night, then Saturday morning brought another set of twins, a white ewe and black ram.
8 more girls to go!

Meet the new girl

She arrived on the morning of February 26, a sweet blue eyed girl, the same lovely black color as mom Aiona, and her sister Kiera. Her name is Aiteag (pronounced eye tee ah) a Scottish word meaning "shy girl". It describes her well, as she is lively and adventurous, that is, until a human appears, then she runs for the cover of mom's large body and horns for protection. We have a video link of the complete birth on our website home page.
This is Aiona's third calf, and she has done a great job every time. A new calf is always a big event, and so much fun to watch as they grow and play.
I have discovered that calves and baby lambs all play the same games, the daily run around the pasture while mom eats. We usually feed the animals hay in the late afternoon, until the grass has grown enough for grazing. When this happens, the calf decides mom's busy so it's play time! She will run at a full gallop in great circles, jumping over rocks and logs like a pack of wolves is on her heels, all the time looking very joyful for the ability to stretch those little legs.
When the lambs arrive the same thing will take place on a larger group scale, and it is a hilarious and life affirming sight! We look forward to 3 more calves this year, and will post pictures as they arrive. Happy Spring!

Mid Winter's Waiting

This year winter seems much longer somehow. Probably because we are not doing any skiing, due to tightening of the budget. But also, the house is always cold, and that gets tiring after a while. Trying to thaw out frozen water pipes, hauling firewood, shoveling walkways and barn door tracks.
God, I sound like an old person. I really do love winter, I think you are foolish to live in Maine if you don't. But this year, I am anxious for spring. In a few weeks the greenhouses will be running, with the smell of warm soil, and later fragrant flowers. The annual joy of new lambs and calves is hard to compare.
The ewes are growing larger, weekly, and seem also to be waiting patiently. Next month they will start to get uncomfortable with their bellies distended, and I will try in vain to guess who is carrying a single lamb, twins, or triplets. They will surprise me, and I will be thrilled no matter what. This year we have the possibility of 20 lambs, and I will pray for easy births and healthy babies, although I know with the larger number, the greater chance of problems, and I will not get much sleep during lambing season. My husband is the same when calves are expected.
It is always a privilege to be a witness to the start of a new life, and certainly sweeps away the winter 's chill, with the optimism and hope of good things to come.

Love is in the Air

Well, it's breeding season again for the sheep. We have some excellent matches this year and I am almost as excited as when it is lambing season! I am probably not as excited as the rams though.
Everyone is in separate love nests, a ram with one or two ewes, for a period of 3 to 4 weeks depending on when the business gets done. I make checks on them a few times a day to see if the ewes have finally stopped running from the ram to settle down, and I can record the date for the upcoming blessed event.
Then in December it starts all over again with the ewe lambs, who will not be ready until then.
If all goes as planned, lambs will start arriving about April 1st, and the last ones will come in May, hopefully mid May, before it gets too hot.
We have posted all the pairs on the Our Flock page, so you can imagine how the new lamb crop will turn out! Stay tuned!

Shearing Day!

Well, shearing day went off with no problems, everyone is naked and funny looking, getting
reaquainted with each other and their new extreme makeover looks.
I have bags of unskirted fleece calling out to me and I will spend many hours picking out tiny pieces of hay and vegetation. But, it will all be worth it to have that lovely, silky, shiny, soft and warm yarn to play with and offer to our customers later on this winter!
This picture is Elaine, our ewe lamb who was shivering on the first cold morning without her natural blanket of warmth, so I took pity on her and loaned her my vest!