Lots of Lambs

Hi Guys,

Well, I am almost done with lambing the ewes that are having their lambs early. 3 have already given birth, now I am just waiting for 1 more for sure, and maybe a few others. There is also 1 more goat that still has to have kids, but she is holding out on us. They don't call her 'The Bitch' for nothing! She is enormous, but she still isnt having babies yet! She looks like she is going to drop about 5 at least, but she has a really small bag (udder bag) so that is how we can tell she isnt ready to deliver yet. Once her bag swells up to where it looks like it is going to pop, then we will have to watch her very closely because we know she will go soon after that. But once these last ewes drop their lambs,  I wont have to stay out at the ranch overnight until April 20th! We have it calculated out to where the last ewe that is going to lamb early will have her lambs by April 4th, or else she wont have them until at least April 20th. Due to gestation periods and physical possibilities, we have the dates narrowed down. So that is kind of a relief, because I have been working my butt off and it has been freezing out there- especially overnight! Thats when it gets really icy and snows. I have started building my own little bonfires, and those really up my mood when I have to stay out there at night. Its great that a nice, cheery warm fire can keep me going for a few more days. The dogs seem to like it too; they all curl up around the fire pit and sleep. I make my dinner and go sit out on a bucket next to the fire and eat dinner and listen to music while its pitch black out. I only have the stars and moon and fire for light (and a flashlight) but it is really peaceful and nice. Until I start to hear coyotes howling and then I get to thinking about what else is out there, hahaha, but I know if any animal came onto the property, the dogs would have them in a second so I am never worried. But we have been having a lot of little baby lambs lately! 3 sets of twin lambs within a day of each other. 2 sets are one female, one male, and 1 set (the set I birthed) are twin girls females! That is always really exciting because we need all the females we can get so we can have as many lambs as possible next year to carry on the sheep population. The lambs have been huge too. Normally you aim for a set of lambs to be about 22 pounds, or about 10 pounds each. The first set was about 8 each, but the second set was huge! The female weighed easily 12 or more pounds (AT BIRTH!) and the male was much smaller. She is a big girl, beating up on her brother already! The set of female twins were each about 12 pounds, so they are very big for females. And they are all so tall! They are about half the height of their mothers already, so they have to get really low on their knees just to be able to drink milk because they are too tall! Its really funny to watch them because they are so incredibly stubborn. If you push their head towards the teat or try to force them to drink, they throw a fit. But if you walk away, then they can drink just fine. Its a bit of a headache because you always want to see them drinking to make sure they are getting enough nutrition, but they wont drink when you want them too. Its a little game we like to play I guess.

But we are having more puppies too! Auggie, a border collie, just had 7 puppies, and 5 lived. 4 are male, and 1 is female. And we needed her to have all females to ensure her line of genes can be bred out.... But Auggie is a great herding dog and we will end up keeping her pups anyway. They are border collie- Aussie crosses so they are colored very differently. 3 are just bicolored- black and white or brown and white, and 1 is grey, white and black, and 1 is a red merle. The grey one is such a different color, he is beautiful. They are 1 day old and so cute! And Belle, our blue merle Aussie is due to have her first litter any day now. She is at the end of her gestation period (152 days) so any day they should be here. Belle is the most gorgeous blue merle I have ever seen, so I know her pups will be gorgeous too! And she is the sweetest dog with the most pleasant temperament, so her pups should make great herding/companion dogs as well. Its her first litter so she is really uncomfortable and doesnt quite know what is going on, so she is milking her sorrow for all she can get! She acts so pathetic, just laying around with her head down, or she will come up to me and put her head in my lap and just sit there like she is dying. Its really funny, but I know she will be a great mom when they pups come.

I have been doing a lot more vaccinating of kids and lambs. I am getting better at it, and I learned how to band lamb tails yesterday. Lambs are born with really long, floppy tails, and it makes them undesirable and messy so that is why all sheep that you see dont have tails. We dont dock them, we band them. So that involved a really small, tight rubber band, and you take a special tool that stretches it and you put it around the tail, then release the tool so the band stays on their tail. After a few weeks the tail will just fall off. Now that will be interesting to see! I can just imagine walking out into the pasture and finding little lamb tails on the ground; unless the dogs try to eat them first. Soon we will start castrating the kids and lambs as well. We band their scrotums as well, so there is no actual cutting or anything. Marv told me in the old days of ranching, cowboys would use their teeth to castrate lambs because they were usually by themselves and had no other set of hands to help them...... You can look it up if you really want to know how, but I am really glad we are not cowboys in the old days, that is for sure!

All of the litters of puppies are growing up so fast! There are 2 litters that are about a week apart in age, living together because their moms get along, and the moms actually put them all together, so we just left them that way. It is so cute to watch the bigger pups play with the smaller ones and they all sleep together in 1 big pile! 20 puppies all piled on top of each other. Or they sleep on top of their moms, which is really cute to watch too. They are discovering what dog food is, so they are not far off from being weaned from their moms. Then we can move them into their own pen, and they will grow so fast! And mom can get a break from them, which I know she wants really bad.

Other than that, not much new has been happening. Just getting into a routine and getting comfortable handling animals around here. We did get about 30 new chicks, and they are here at the house warming up and growing before we can put them in their pen. They will be used for eggs, because Marv hates killing animals and cant kill them for food. I like that idea, because I dont like killing animals either. The chicks are so cute! They are so tiny and make the smallest little sounds. He didnt get ducks, but I really wanted him too. They were too big and would overpower all the chicks so we couldnt get them. That is about all, I have the next few days to sleep here at home, so I will let you guys know if anything exciting happens.

Oh, I made bruchetta for Marv and Carrie and Mike, because they had never heard of it! I couldnt believe it, but I made it for them and they loved it! They were so excited about it, and I know they want to make it again too. I am glad they liked it and now they have a new type of food to eat.


Grandma- I got your package! Thanks so much again for all the delicious fruit and snacks.


Love and miss you all,
Sam