So far, no lambs on the ground at Third Street Farm (what I like to call our little homestead), but it should be any day now! We are on the lookout for signs of lambing. This year, we put electric fence up so that the pasture will grow without the sheep eating it down and the ewes have to stay closer to the barn. Last year, two of the ewes had their lambs in the back of the field and we had to carry the lambs up to the barn to make their moms follow. We kept the lambs in the barn with their mothers in separate pens for a few days to make sure that they were bonding and thriving.
Last year, our Border Leicester lamb, Patrick was born on March 16, 2011 with the rest following closely after. This was our lambing season last year:
March 16 - Mother: Phyllis (Border Leicester) Lamb: Patrick (ram)
March 21 - Mother: Margaret (Merino) Lambs: Mack (ram) and Maggie (ewe)
March 22 - Mother: Susan (Merino) Lamb: Clive (ram)
March 24 - Mother: Molly (Merino) Lamb: Grace (ewe)
March 26 - Mother: Dorothy (Merino) Lamb: Scarlet (ewe)
We had 6 lambs altogether, 3 boys and 3 girls. The female twin died when she was a couple days old for reasons unknown. The two merino ram lambs were sold a few months ago since we already have Dodge. So we still have Patrick, the Border Leicester ram, and Grace and Scarlet, the two Merino ewe lambs.
We put Dodge in with the four original Merino ewes and Patrick in with the two ewe lambs to keep them out of the way. The four older Merinos all look like they are pregnant this year. We are pretty sure that the two younger Merino ewes are not pregnant because both they and the ram Patrick were less than a year old when they were together in the pasture. But if they do lamb, they will have Border Leicester/Merino crosses. Which could be interesting...any may be something we try for next year.
As I did last year, I will keep you posted on all things lambie!
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| Phyllis and Patrick 3/16/2011 |
Last year, our Border Leicester lamb, Patrick was born on March 16, 2011 with the rest following closely after. This was our lambing season last year:
March 16 - Mother: Phyllis (Border Leicester) Lamb: Patrick (ram)
March 21 - Mother: Margaret (Merino) Lambs: Mack (ram) and Maggie (ewe)
March 22 - Mother: Susan (Merino) Lamb: Clive (ram)
March 24 - Mother: Molly (Merino) Lamb: Grace (ewe)
March 26 - Mother: Dorothy (Merino) Lamb: Scarlet (ewe)
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| Clive 3/22/2011 |
We had 6 lambs altogether, 3 boys and 3 girls. The female twin died when she was a couple days old for reasons unknown. The two merino ram lambs were sold a few months ago since we already have Dodge. So we still have Patrick, the Border Leicester ram, and Grace and Scarlet, the two Merino ewe lambs.
We put Dodge in with the four original Merino ewes and Patrick in with the two ewe lambs to keep them out of the way. The four older Merinos all look like they are pregnant this year. We are pretty sure that the two younger Merino ewes are not pregnant because both they and the ram Patrick were less than a year old when they were together in the pasture. But if they do lamb, they will have Border Leicester/Merino crosses. Which could be interesting...any may be something we try for next year.
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| Merino Lambies Spring 2011 |
As I did last year, I will keep you posted on all things lambie!
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