Lilly and Lion

Thankfully we no more lambs born yesterday or last night.   Poppy and Petunia seem to be doing well.  We moved Giovanna and her two girls out to share a pen with 64 and her twin boys.  They adjusted well.  We moved 39, our next due up to the Giovanna's pen in the barn by the house.  67 has been acting strange all day and while we were worrying about her, 51 started labor right in front of us.

She delivered twins within 15 minutes - a boy and a girl.  Despite planning not to name boys, this one got the name Lion to go with Lilly his twin sister.  They were born at about 1 pm this afternoon and have had a slightly rocky day.  At first it seemed that neither were nursing but then the boy had a good long suckle while we pinned his mother against the wall.  After that he seemed to nurse on his own several more times.   

Lilly would not nurse so we pinned Mama again so I could pump a little colostrum.  Our handy Udderly EZ milker wasn't so handy so I had to hand express the milk.  Luckily I could aim it right into the bottle.  Lilly was thrilled with the bottle and drank all three ounces that I milked from her mom.  Since then, she got her strength and has been nursing all afternoon.  

Now her brother seems a little weak and won't nurse in front of us.  He also won't take a bottle but he seems warm and OK so we are waiting to see how he is.  

67 has been acting strange all day and shows little interest in food so she may be next.  54 was seen pawing the ground but then seems fine so we shall see who goes next.    It is nearly impossible to guess.

51 looking up at me with Lion and Lilly sleeping on top of each other

4 lambs in 12 hours

By the time I had posted my prepping to lamb post, the lambs were here.

Last night, (at least one day earlier than expected) our first due ewe, Giovanna delivered twin girls.  We saw she was in labor and moved her into a private lambing pen.  We thought we'd leave her alone for half an hour and then see how she was progressing but 10 minutes later, we heard the bleating of a lamb.  I went out to check and sure enough there were not one but two tiny lambs.  Rosie is black like her mother with the same little white mark on her forehead and Posie is white.  Rosie is the smallest (and perhaps the cutest) lamb born at Aries Crossing yet.  She was only 6lbs 5 oz at birth!

Friday morning, we went to check on the new lambs and then my daughter went to check on the rest of lambs.  She came running back to tell me that one of the sheep had something handing from its rear end.

Sure enough 64 had delivered one and had another on the way in the main barn.  Thankfully the other sheep had left her alone in the barn while they went outside so we were able to focus on her.   She had two healthy ram lambs weighing in at over 12 lbs each.  They were a little slow to prove they were nursing but all is well.