Sheep

#LAMBMETRICS for the last 2 days

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 19
Total Lambs Born: 78
Drysdale lambs (live total): 43
English Leicester lambs (live total): 18
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 10
Total Sets of Twins born: 27
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 39
Total ram lambs: 38
Ewes lambed /70: 49  (70 %)
Lamb % : 145 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 6 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 16
Total Lambs Born: 56
MerinoX lambs (live total): 7
Castledale lambs (live total): 44
Total Sets of Twins born: 26
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 32  (51.6 %)
Lamb % : 159% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 5 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Lambs everywhere at the moment. Obviously “peak lamb” !!! And absolute chaos!

Unfortunately, all the lambs that needed a colostrum supplement were all born the same day! Yesterday ended up supplementing 4 sets of twins. Just one of those things.

And today there was a TINY lamb born and then another that was a WHOPPER (his mother still isn’t walking properly..!)

And that’s it for today – I need to get back to check the ewes as the fox has been back and causing trouble.

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 12
Total Lambs Born: 53
Drysdale lambs (live total): 31
English Leicester lambs (live total): 13
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 6
Total Sets of Twins born: 17
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 26
Total ram lambs: 27
Ewes lambed /70: 35  (50 %)
Lamb % : 143 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 3
Losses: 3 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 40
MerinoX lambs (live total): 3
Castledale lambs (live total): 30
Total Sets of Twins born: 18
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 22  (35.5 %)
Lamb % : 155% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

A continuation of the “lamsplosion” today! 10 ewes lambing before nightfall – which is one way to get the job done.

The Drysdales/English Leicesters are now at 50% done. Woohoo! The Merino and Castledale ewes dragging out the process.

One of our ex-ShowGirl personalities – Paris – had twin ewe lambs today. A mighty fine effort considering she only pregnacy scanned with 1 onboard ! (And yes, they really were both hers!)

And just to show that sisters really can synchronise — her older (full) sister, Minty, also had a lamb today. 🙂 A nice, sturdy ewe lamb. Paris and Minty are full sisters of our (in)famous Gilbert stud ram.

In the English Leicester department – young Charly had her first lamb today! She needed a little bit of a helping hand but not much. A big ewe lamb for her.

And then, to round out a busy day – one of the handful of black ewes had a lovely set of twin ewes. Sired by the silver English Leicester.

All going well I will get some photos of the lambs on the bottle tomorrow!

We are still having a running battle with foxes this year. Am finding a few lambs where the fox has grabbed their heads and wounded them but not “finished them off”. Possibly having being chased off by the mother or the alpacas. Said fox didn’t want to be found today when the fox hunter came. Grrr

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 7
Total Lambs Born: 40
Drysdale lambs (live total): 25
English Leicester lambs (live total): 10
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 2
Total Sets of Twins born: 13
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 18
Total ram lambs: 22
Ewes lambed /70: 27  (38.5 %)
Lamb % : 137 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 3 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 36
MerinoX lambs (live total): 1
Castledale lambs (live total): 30
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 20  (31.1 %)
Lamb % : 155% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Today was just a whole big collection of Little Things that added up to keeping busy all day.

There was the Castledale ewe with ginormous teats that were too big for her lambs to suckle on.

The lambs are happily suckling now though. 🙂

And there was the Hermione Situation.

Yes, she was trying to steal a set of twins this morning. (She’s so predictable!) She ended up being separated by way of spending the day in the garden until her babies were delivered. This time around she need a bit of basic help. Both lambs are a good size. 🙂