My Sheep in June 2015

 I have a new ram ! My husband & I made a day of it and drove to Oregon awhile ago to buy a new ram from Ingrid Painter of Puddleduck Farm. I cannot adequately express what a delightful time we had with Ingrid and her family as we shared a lunch provided by them and talked sheep ! Can I just say it is rare for me to be able to unashamedly talk sheep with people for a bit and I get so excited and inspired when I do. ( I suspect my husband does too but he's more quiet about it ! ) This is Puddleduck Jonas and his sire is a Huntsberger ram, all the more thrilling for me. I am looking forward to next spring's lambs. Jonas has settled in here quite easily and is a fairly mellow ram .YAY !!!!

 This is my 2 year old ewe Teekah. Teekah is a trade for a ram we raised. ( Cedar Pond's Barbarian ) and is his daughter. I am going to sell Teekah because I have too many sheep and with the exception of our 10 year old Buttercup I don't keep 2 horned Jacob sheep in preference for the 4 horned. If I desired more 2 horned sheep she would be a keeper !

 This is Teekah's ewe ( girl) lamb, also 2 horned.

 Two of my older ewes are shown in this picture. The ewe looking straight on in the background is 10 year old Sassafras who had a nice ewe lamb this spring. The ewe in the middle looking at me is Naomi ...

.... who is 14 or 15 years old. She has no more teeth, has not lambed for 2 years , and a month ago I thought she was going to lay down and die. She rallied though and is now going strong. Her fleece is terrible and the only reason I keep her is for sentimental ones. My first sheep are now old, a few have passed away and I am still excited about keeping Jacob sheep. God is so good to me, silly sheep that I am, and He is a good Shepherd. If only I could emulate him a fraction in His good care, but I try !

Sheep Midwifery, Good Friends & Neighbors

~I am holding this little ewe lamb for Hubby to tag her ear and band her tail. She won't like this at all, but as soon as I put her back with her mother she will nurse and in a short while will be as frisky as she ever was. I need to get the new lambs tagged and banded before I take off for the weekend with my sisters. Hubby might need the lambing jugs ( temporary pens for mama and baby sheep for up to 3 days after lambing).I have 2 or 3 more ewes left to lamb and Hubby will probably need to have an empty pen for one or more of them. So as soon as this little ewe settles down after tagging I will release her and her mom out into the general pen, with the other sheep and moms and lambs.
~This morning I looked outside while sipping my coffee and noticed Naomi, one of my older ewes, behaving oddly. She is pushing against the shelter side panel. Hmmm....
~She passed a bit of birth matter and I eagerly awaited the gush of a new lamb ....I waited, and waited. Pretty soon she was laying on the ground and pushing some more. This went on for more than an hour, with intense contractions, grimacing, some baaing, pacing, and then repeating the whole thing again. To no avail. Uh oh.... I am home alone and there is no one to help me hold her, and check her out. But wait !
~ I have the best friends and neighbors....I hope for all of you such friends and neighbors. Dirt's family is wonderful in this kind of pinch! I call and they are home. Even though Lanny is sick, she grabs her girls and rushes right over. Bet and Anna help me corner Naomi, and while I hold her, Bet reaches into Naomi and feels out the situation. The lamb is big, and breech, but Bet is able to carefully manipulate the lamb into a good position and gently ease her out of Naomi. A big ewe lamb!
~Anna suctions the nostrils and inside the mouth, getting out the suffocating mucous, then firmly grabs the lamb and flings her in a circle around her ( Anna's ) head. This helps force the mucous out of the lamb. ( This works for newborn almost suffocatingly dead puppies and baby goats too)The trick to this procedure is to make sure the slippery baby does not fly out of your hands, I usually need to use a towel wrapped around the legs.
~At first, Naomi was tired and did not respond to her lamb. Oh no ! I am going away for the weekend and Hubby will have a bottle baby. I don't want a bottle baby. So we left the lamb and mom for a few minutes. When I came back, Naomi was cleaning her baby off....hip hip hooray!
~The baby was very noisy, baaing a lot, but not up and around. So I gave her some Nutri Drench, which is a nutritional supplement especially for distressed lambs, goats, sheep....and then I stood her up. She wobbled, and wavered, but she remained standing. She is going to be O.K.

~I am so thankful this did not happen while I was gone. I am so thankful my friend and her daughters could be here to help. I am so thankful the lamb and her mama are fine.~

~ I have kept Jacob sheep for about 18 years now and have only had to assist 3 or 4 sheep in all these years. Naomi is one of my favorite ewes and I would have been very, very sad to lose her and any of her lambs. Naomi is the daughter of one of my favorite ewes, Ruth. I will tell of Ruth sometime later. I loved Ruth......and now that Naomi is getting older I want to keep a pretty ewe lamb from her...

"There are numerous breeds of multiple horned sheep throughout the world. Of the eighteen breeds mentioned by A.R. Werner in 'An Enquiry into the Origin of the Piebald or Jacob Sheep", thirteen of them are known to have the polycerate trait ( many horns ). Many of the spotted, horned breeds of Europe had become extinct by the turn of the 20th century." JACOB SHEEP IN AMERICA by Ingrid Painter

Blessings: Good friends, healthy lambs AND their mothers