Lambs and more lambs! Oh MY!

The neighbors are ALWAYS giving advice!   The Japanese bantams love to hang out in the barn and kibbitz with the girls.  Trifle is not amused by Bert (or is it Harry?) commenting on her physique.  Trifle has about two weeks to go before her babies arrive.  She is probably thinking its going to be a long two weeks with these nosy darn neighbors popping in all the time.  

So far in addition to Charity;  Aileen, Whimsy, Coco and Gale have lambed with a ram and ewe lamb each.   Liam and Calbaut our two herd sires for this lambing have proven their ability be the Prince Charming for their lovely girls.   So far we are seeing luster, curls and terrific structure from all the lambs.  A few will be dark grey, a couple light grey and several  moorits.  

Around the 20th we will have several more girls due along with the long awaited GOTLAND BABIES!  The Gotties are going to be a lovely enhancement to the farm.  Their Moms have all been champs in the show ring and are good producers of stunning lambs.  We'll see what they can do with these handsome Swedish guys that arrived via  New Zealand!

Pepsi is the girl to watch at this point and we have been watching.....a LOT.    Pepsi normally takes her time getting into the mood for lambing.  Making sure they are all 100% finished and ready for their debut.  But really, COME ON PEPSI!!!  There is a limit!  You can't hang on to them forever; not unless Sheepmom can find you a roller skate for your tummy!   

Pepsi had triplets as a first time lamber and that was an eyeopener.  After she produced 18 pounds of lambs from her 85 pound frame it became abundantly clear that she was nothing but skin and bone.  There was no room to eat for four so she donated her share to the three lambs. 

Yesterday she had claimed her lambing space so I built her a jug and in she went.  She was looking weary and I was a bit concerned.  The chickens went in too convinced that a hole in the straw was a perfect nest for egg laying.  She chased them out a number of times before giving up.  The little hen was desperate at this point to lay her egg so she popped it out with Pepsi's nose resting on her head.  I started to move around to the gate to fetch the egg when the hen stepped away but much to my surprise Pepsi POUNCED on it!   She vacuumed it up in a flash and licked the egg yolk off her face and dug around in the straw to see if there was another! Yup! Shell and all. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I thought...DUH!  THAT GIRL IS HUNGRY!  So off I went to get some alfalfa and a high carb snack to sustain her until dinner.  That got vacuumed up just like the egg and polished off with a swig of molasses water. 

 Ok,,,this shepherdess got the message.  Pepsi gets her own room service with occasional forays out and about to take a little exercise.  Hopefully she will get with the delivery process pretty soon.  I don't think there is much stretch left in this girl!

Stay tuned for the arrival announcement which we hope will be SOON!