Buttercup's New Lamb ~

Buttercup had her lamb yesterday. A Sunday afternoon lamb.Here is the new baby fresh out of the womb.

It's a girl! A baby girl lamb is called a ewe lamb. 'Ewe' means female sheep.A lamb is a baby sheep.Ewe lamb !

Momma and baby are doing very well. The lamb was up and bouncing before she was dried off from birth. She was suckling her mother within the hour. What a miracle, what a blessing ! I love lambing season here on Cedar Pond. ( The lamb is the daughter of Cedar Pond's Goth and Bide-a-wee Buttercup. )

First Lamb of 2013 & My Sister Helped !

The first lamb of this new year has been born.Naomi, my oldest and favorite ewe has given birth to a healthy ram lamb.The sire of this ram lamb is Goth.

As I was handing out soda crackers tonight, one of my sheep's favorite snacks, Naomi, who will push her way through the flock to be first for her crackers, stood apart. Oh-oh, when Naomi won't approach me for her soda crackers something is up. Sure enough, I saw she had pawed the bedding and earth to make a hollowed out area, and was in a cramped-looking postiton. I left her for awhile to let nature take it's course.

Half hour later I saw a head poking out of her rear area , hmmm, I hope this little lamb comes soon.

I checked on her in another half hour and the head was still hanging out but there seemed no progress. Oh dear. I ran into the house and  got my youngest sister to help out. I had her hold onto Naomi's horns while I soaped up my hands and carefully slipped them into Naomi to see what was going on. I could feel the lamb had broad shoulders and it was not going to be born without assistance, and without assistance Naomi would die too.  I did not want to lose either.

It took some doing, but my sister held firmly onto Naomi's horns while I worked at the other end, and after a LOT of pulling, slowly, carefully, but firmly, the big lamb slid out. Poor Naomi. I will begin giving her  penicillin shots tomorrow to prevent any infections from taking hold because I had to insert my hands into her and manipulate the lamb, and pull, pull, pull.

The lamb is big for a Jacob sheep lamb, his horns are already protruding from his head.I was surprised all the pulling on his head, shoulders, and sometimes even his neck did not cause him to be strangled or suffocated. Happy beginning, a new little ram lamb is now suckling milk from his very old mother who is tending him like the very good mother sheep she has always been. The first lamb of this year, my youngest sister helped, and all is well for now. God is good, praise Him !

Welcome to the world little one.

I went outside tonight to see how my ewes were doing. Tilda,an almost 1 year old ewe, has been spending a lot of time digging , digging, and digging. I only see this behavior when my ewes are close to lambing. I was not expecting such a young and small ewe to lamb , so this will be interesting. I hope she is not really going to lamb, but as I observe the rest of my flock, I see most of them doing the same thing. Digging, digging, digging.Of course it is only a matter of time. Most of my ewes will give birth to lambs, and soon.We'll see.

Jacob Sheep Rams ~ Ramming!

First Snow Of The Season ~ Jacob Sheep

Our first real snow of the season.The sheep were licking the snow, but otherwise, it did not seem to phase them. And why should it? They are wearing their wool coats, bring on the snow !

My Sheep, Drawn by Bugs

My oldest grandson drew a picture of 2 of my sheep,Bide-a-wee Buttercup and her son, Cedar Pond's Barbarian.I am going to frame this drawing and hang it up on my wall. Thank-you Bugs !

Bluebonnet Vickie & Her Mom

Bide-A-Wee Buttercup ( left ) and her lamb I have named 'Cedar Pond's Bluebonnet Vickie'. Bluebonnet Vickie is the daughter of Cedar Pond's Goth too.The lambs from Buttercup have all been large, grown quickly, and pleased me.I am keeping Vickie, and hope to continue many generations from Buttercup, a ewe from a Huntsberger ram.