We are officially 15 days into our first “lambing season”. It has been such a busy two weeks! We are about 1/3 of the way through and have had at least one lamb a day, usually more. 

Everyone on the farm is working hard, learning, and adapting; especially the first time moms! Lambing isn’t always sunshine and rainbows; there are ewes that have trouble, backwards lambs, and moms with no milk. We have had to help pull lambs, force moms to accept their babies, and even bottle feed a lamb whose mom just couldn’t. It can be trying at times but all worth it to see a lamb stand and nurse mom for the first time. 

We try to check the pregnant ewes frequently, even in the middle of the night. Unlike human births, once the water breaks, a lamb should be born within an hour or else there is trouble. 

Once a lamb is born or if we can tell the pregnant ewe is in labor, we bring them into our sheep pen area. The majority of our ewes are first time mothers. This means they can be very confused when they go into labor and when the lamb is born they aren’t always sure what do to at first. They usually stay in the pen for a day while mom and baby figure things out. We process and tag all the lambs with moms number before we let them back out to pasture. 

Can’t wait to update you all when the moms have all birthed to let you know our numbers! But until then, here’s to more long nights, early mornings, and newborn lambs.