LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures– and maybe a few confronting ones too.
#lambspam
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LambMetrics – 9th September 2022
LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures– and maybe a few confronting ones too.
Rain and rain yesterday so didn’t get any pictures taken.
Lost 2 new MerinoX lambs overnight. The weather was pretty awful and the ewes didn’t park under any of the (numerous) trees or other shelter options. Lamb losses have been minimal this year and haven’t lost any to “the environment” before now. But that’s nature for you. :/
Today was mild and there was quite a bit of sunshine which was great for the lambs after the deluge last night.
Paris decided to show off her newest fashion accessory…..
One Merino ewe needed some help. Lamb was perfectly presented but probably “overcooked” a little as it was huge and got a bit stuck. Decided to assist to make sure it wasn’t choked as it was stuck at a bad part of the process. Despite being a maiden the ewe was eager to be a good mumma so he is all cleaned up now (and looking like he is 2 weeks old already!)
(The blood is from the ewe, not the lamb!)
And now for some pet #lambspam!
Only about 6 ewes to lamb now….. A bit more tag checking tomorrow (weather permitting). Am looking forward to the final lot of stats. 🙂
LambMetrics – 6th September 2022
LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures – and maybe a few confronting ones too.
#LAMBMETRICS for the day
Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks (incl. Black flock)
Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 96
Drysdale lambs (live total):
Drysdale X lambs (live total):
English Leicester lambs (live total):
English Leicester X lambs (live total):
Total Sets of Twins born: 22
Total Sets of Triplets born: 2
Total ewe lambs: 60
Total ram lambs: 36
Ewes lambed /86: 71 (82.5 %)
Lamb % : 132.4 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 2 [lamb]; 1 [ewe]
Castledale & Merino Flocks
Born today:
Total Lambs Born: 116
MerinoX lambs (live total): 25
Castledale lambs (live total): 72
Total Sets of Twins born: 28
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /98: 73 (74.5 %)
Lamb % : 154.7% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 7
Losses: 3 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]
NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:
Another lovely day for the lambs today.
Have managed to get some figures crunched, finally. Not finalised at this point but I did break out a spreadsheet to try and wrest control of the Merino/Castledale figures.
Interestingly, the Merino & Castledale ewes lambing in the last few days are much calmer than the first batch. They must be getting the idea…. At this rate I may even stay on top of the numbers rather than playing catch-up all the time.
One startling stat this year is the number of ewe lambs. Normally I’d expect 50/50 or towards 60/40 but it’s actually trending better than the 60/40 in the English Leicester/Drysdale mob and close to 60/40 in the Merino/Castledale. ‘Tis the season as they say…
Okay, so much has been happening. Am forgetting what I did yesterday. LOL But I do know there are lambs everywhere…!
Had a young, pregant English Leicester ewe from the stud flock drop dead yesterday evening. Not exactly sure why and my rudimentary post-mortem didn’t show any super obvious reason. Certainly not lambing related per se. Not ruling out a rupture of something?? Don’t know.
The lambs have been doing very well this year but I noticed one young Drysdale lamb poorly yesterday afternoon. So she and her mum were housed overnight and the lamb treated with antibiotics. Wasn’t sure if I had caught it in time (things can go downhill very fast with lambs) but so far so good and she was looking improved and drinking off her mum today. Fingers crossed.
LambMetrics – 5th September 2022
LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures– and maybe a few confronting ones too.
Glorious sunshine, a few more lambs and the odd hiccup.
Yesterday we gained another lamb for the Bottle Gang. Which makes 4 – better than last year.
Am nearly totally up to date with the stats but they keep popping out more! And I normally can’t tag the Merino and Castledale lambs immediately like the Drysdales and English Leicesters so they end up a day behind. Shepherdess problems … LOL
Had some other work that needed doing today but all going well tomorrow we will have a stats update. So far there are nearly 100 lambs in the English Leicester/Drysdale group and nearly 100 in the Merino/Castledale group. I have a sneaking suspicion I ordered the wrong number of tags and will run out … ooops.
LambMetrics – 3rd September 2022
LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures– and maybe a few confronting ones too.
Had to go out today, told the girls to cross their legs…. (They started popping them out when I got home..!)
Aiming to have a night “off” tonight so I can make a birthday cake for family member’s birthday tomorrow.
Meanwhile…..
LambMetrics – 2nd September 2022
LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures – and maybe a few confronting ones too.
Beautiful sunshine today. Cold wind though.
Managed to get through my backlog of tagging lambs. Still have to put it all on paper/computer to add up but hopefully there will be stats tomorrow night. Which will be good since there are only about 40 ewes left to lamb?!
First thing this morning though – TRIPLETS! 🙂
Dear Mona had these lovely little lambs (definitely not as big as Hermione’s!) which was 2 black lambs and 1 white. Mona’s mother, Mopsy, is a black/silver so it’s good to carry on the coloured English Leicester genes. 🙂
Mona is 4 years old this year and I was going to link to a blog post about her birth – since her mum was not well and so Mona was hand-raised – but I discovered I didn’t do LambMetrics in 2018… oops. oh well, here’s a baby pic of Mona and her sister instead!
Despite the sunny weather and lots of lambs I basically forgot to take photos. Ooops. That’s the trouble when running about after them all and trying to make sure all the twins are together and being recorded correctly.
