lambs

LambMetrics – September 3rd, 2019

September 3, 2019 by Wendy Beer

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born 30/8 – today: 8
Total Lambs Born: 42
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 23
English Leicester lambs (live total): 19
Total Sets of Twins born: 9
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 18
Total ram lambs: 24
Ewes lambed /68: 33 (48.5 %)
Lamb % : 127 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

Just about halfway now and they’re starting to come in a bit of a rush again!

The Drysdale ewes are quietly just popping them out (mostly single-births). The odd one has needed just a little assistance to get the lamb out (thankfully, all the positions have been right) but all have mothered up with no issues and are milking well.

I won’t name names but some of the English Leicesters are letting the side down. A bunch of older ewes (that weren’t bred here) and all have lovely big udders that are NOT brimming full of milk. Alas. Those girls all had twins too….! As of tonight we’re now supplementing FOUR sets of twins on the bottle. A tiny bit Less Than Impressed!!

The good news is that the rest of them are doing their job admirably and have bouncy, growing lambs to show for it. Including, our only black superfine merino ewe who had a lovely little ram lamb yesterday, sired by the English Leicester stud ram. Hanging around the English Leicesters has at least paid off for her in terms of temperament – she followed her lamb into the shed for the night and was able to enjoy all the associated Room Service amenities. Good girl, Panda!

LambMetrics – August 22nd, 2019

August 22, 2019 by Wendy Beer

The last few years I’ve kept track of the lambing statistics in the Drysdale & English Leicester flocks). I call these “LambMetrics”.
Hopefully, they provide a little insight into the real-life “goings-on” here.

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 3
Total Lambs Born: 3
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 2
English Leicester lambs (live total): 1
Total Sets of Twins born: 1
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 1
Total ram lambs: 2
Ewes lambed /68: 2 (2.9 %)
Lamb % : 150 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

This year lambing is (deliberately) a little later than usual. The season was very “ordinary” earlier in the year so the decision was made to not join the commercial flocks of Merino and Castledale and only the stud flocks (English Leicester & Drysdale) would be joined.

Better late than never though! The official “due date” is from tomorrow – but two girls decided they just couldn’t wait any longer.

So, our first English Leicester is a lovely little ewe lamb to one of the experienced ewes.

English Leicester ewe, “Lacey”, with her new ewe lamb, “Charly”!

And there was a very calm Drysdale ewe who had twin boys. This year the Drysdale ewes were put to White Suffolk rams rather than Drysdale. This means that if the season looks to be poor at the end of the year the lambs can be sold on which reduces the grazing pressure on the farm over the dry summer months.

Drysdale ewe with White Suffolk X lambs. (Lambs are less than 12hrs old)

However….. the Drysdale ewe was not alone! There was a younger ewe hovering around the lambs and getting a bit keen that she should “have one too”! The strong maternal instinct is a wonderful thing in the Drysdales but it can manifest in some dedicated “lambnappers”!! So, to remove the extra ewe from the scene the lambs had to be carried to the paddock gate and then the ewes could be sorted – leaving the new mum and her bubs free from interference as they bonded. Luckily, most Drysdale ewes can count!

Having quiet ewes is really important as each morning and evening the ewes are calmly shifted between a day paddock and a night paddock. (Hopefully, some of you were able to see the live Facebook video we did when moving the sheep recently?) It enables us to drift off the pregnant ewes from the new mothers and lessens the lambnapping incidents.

As an example of how quiet the ewes can be – when a lamb has been born we check them out and tag them (another important tactic to match the right lamb with the right mother!) The ewes don’t run away as they are very used to us. The ewes will also follow us when we carry the lambs up the paddock to change paddocks.

Lacey hovering over her lamb as Charly’s eartag is applied.

So, that is it for today! The new bubs are tucked into the shed tonight as -3 is forecast overnight. The DrysdaleX lambs don’t need extra shelter (so much wool already!) but I’ll sleep better knowing the English Leicester is in the shed.

Charly having a good drink. (Not wearing a coat now because her mum was a bit upset by it)

Hopefully, we will have more lambs tomorrow!

Last Drysdale shearing for 2017

December 15, 2017 by Wendy Beer

“Better late than never”

Beersheba Gilbert – enjoying his post-shearing snack

Mostly true….

Finally (finally!) have all the Drysdales shorn which means they are fly-safe, grass seed-safe and happy campers in general!

It’s been a challenge to get my shearer – have been trying for 2 months – but we’re all good now.

A good shearer is a thing to cherish. There are more good shearers around than some “interest groups” would like you to believe. The handful of “bad apples” wouldn’t last long here that’s for sure.

So, back to the fluff! This was the first shearing for the Drysdale lambs (born Aug-Sept). There aren’t many breeds of sheep that can produce 15-20cm (4-6″) of wool growth in their first 4 months! Give a Drysdale protein and it just pumps out the wool.

Beersheba Gilbert -in (more than) full wool. 11 months growth

As you will know (from reading the info on our Drysdale page…) the Drysdale fleece is a primitive type of fleece with medullated outer coat and soft, fine undercoat. In lambs this is less defined as the undercoat is typically the same length as the outercoat at this stage.

This means they need shearing 2-3 times a year, on average, to keep the fleece to a “commercial” length.

This was the first time for the lambs in the shearing shed (they will see a bit of it over their lives….) and it was a warm day today. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised as to just how ZEN the lambs were this time.

Lambs aren’t supposed to be this quiet… they are supposed to be stark-raving loonies, terrified by the world and trying to kill each other in the process. Ooops. Drysdales didn’t get that memo! 😆 😆

Waiting for their chance to get closer to the shearer

I said zen…. ahem….

And even afterwards the calm continues:

Heck, some of them even had a nap in the “going out chute”. 😆 Unheard of!

Extra trivia: when you wear 40 micron wool it’s great to get it off and have a good scratch!

A quick pause for lamb pics…

September 1, 2017 by Wendy Beer

A little bit of a “pause” happening here – no new lambs for several days. I figure there are only 10 ewes left to lamb (not including the small handful that appear not to be pregnant).

In the meantime, the lambs are growing!

LambMetrics – Drysdale/English Leicester lambing, Aug 11th

August 11, 2017 by Wendy Beer

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 3
Total Lambs Born: 12
Drysdale lambs (live total): 7
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 5
English Leicester lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 3
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 5
Total ram lambs: 7
Ewes lambed /73: 9 (12.3 %)
Lamb % : 133% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 1
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

Today would have been pretty uneventful if it hadn’t have been for “Madame Thief” striking again. At this rate she will be rivaling Her Imperial Highness Kimmy for the Grand Thief award! The odd thing is that this ewe doesn’t appear to be imminently due to lamb. Hmmmm. So, current tactic is to keep her away from the ewes that haven’t lambed yet..!

This was her – acting distraught when I took “her” lamb away from her. (Thankfully, we seem to have convinced the actual mother to take back the lamb)

LambMetrics – Drysdale/English Leicester lambing, Aug 10th

August 10, 2017 by Wendy Beer

The last few years I’ve kept track of the lambing statistics in the Drysdale flock (& now English Leicester flock too). I call these “LambMetrics”.
Hopefully, they provide a little insight into the real-life “goings-on” here.

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 6
Total Lambs Born: 9
Drysdale lambs (live total): 4
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 5
English Leicester lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 6
Ewes lambed /73: 7 (9.5 %)
Lamb % : 100 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 1
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

Yesterday was straightforward with 3 single lambs being born.
Today started with a set of twins, a dystocia, an attempted “thieving” and basically spiralled from that…!
Each morning the ewes are shifted from the night paddock into the day paddock. This helps to drift off the newborn lambs and mothers. It also helps to deal with a certain number of “thieving mothers” who, when starting to feel the first stirrings of birthing hormones, start to see every newborn lamb as “theirs”. It’s not so much of an issue when the lambs are singles but when there are twins it is all too easy for a ewe to sneak one off while the real mother is attending to the other lamb. In the big scheme of things I don’t care who feeds the lambs – as long as they are fed – but with a stud setup I need to keep accurate records on who is the mother of who!
So, this morning, I noted there was a new set of twins born and by the time I had shifted all the other ewes out of the paddock and came back there was a labouring ewe who was trying to claim one of the twins.
One good thing about my Drysdales is that they are so quiet they will essentially follow me – like alpaca do – when I pick the the lamb and move off. So, I moved the twins and then came back to give the attempted thief a little bit of a hand to get her lamb out so that she was fully satisfied with her lot.
Then, it was onto checking the last handful of commercial ewes who haven’t lambed. And found one upside down and “stuck”. Helped her (unfortunately, too late for her lamb) back up on her feet again and then there was another maiden ewe who looked suspiciously like she needed help. Sure enough, her lamb was large and stuck fast. It didn’t take much to get out though. Being concerned about her lack of “mothering” towards the lamb I collected her with the tractor and she spent a good portion of the day in the shed adjusting to “motherhood”.

Meanwhile, another Drysdale ewe had lambed (twins) in the day paddock and, again, there was a starry-eyed ewe trying to pinch a lamb. Grabbed the lambs and got ewe and offspring safely into a different paddock.

And that was just the morning.

The afternoon was quite chaotic with badly behaved maiden ewes and a new set of triplets (all in the commercials) as well as juggling newborn Drysdales around into the shed for the night.

Most of the lambs are sired by the same Drysdale ram so far. However, today, Gilbert finally had his first offspring born. 🙂

lambs

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Notable Midwifery tales:

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