a spotted gray katmoget ewe lamb out of Minwawe RedBud and FirthofFifth Barish.
On Sunday my dad texted me to tell me a 'brown' ewe had a lamb. I immediately asked for photos and it turns out that it was Minwawe Redbud who is SHAELA but has the sun faded tips that make her fleece appear 'brown' to the untrained eye. She had a darling gray katmoget who has wild body spots. She could be modified as she is not jet black. Last year this same breeding produced an emsket ram lamb.
This morning i went to open the door to the girls paddock and noticed a black krunet ram lamb that appeared to have died in utero about a week or so ago. Detached placenta? I don't know. Was it another ewe? I couldn't find one that appeared to have lambed, and RedBud's girl is on the smaller side....and Redbud WAS carrying a small fishhouse inside her belly...so I'm saying for now that it was redbuds. He was fully formed but just smaller. Dad didn't see him as he leaves each day at 530am and returns around 8pm so doesn't have much time to check a dark pasture or its shelters.
I was unloading my vehicle today and playing with the dogs in the house......I thought I'd better go check the sheep as there are several Shetlands walking around slowly in the paddock, with tails out and not chewing cud. I heard a lamb screaming and went running to the pen. I didn't see one in the SHETLAND pen, but I did see a lamb wandering around the BFL pen!!! I didn't see Kershope, but she was laying down in the shed...where I thought she was throwing out a second lamb (but no luck yet). As is typical of first time moms in the BFLs....that i've been following is she rejected the lamb and bit it and flung it across the jug after I moved them inside the barn.
I haltered her and stripped out her milk and the little lamb just latched on and started nursing. It appears to see be hungry so left her tied up so the baby can find it on its own. If it won't, I"ll help again in an hour or so.
Oh yes...photos...
Here SHE is! WOHOO! A beautiful natural colored EWE lamb! She is 57.82% UK
Isn't she just a cutie pie? She is out of Sheltering Pines Burma (NC) and Beechtree Kershope.
Mom seems content enough to let her lay down with her. Perhaps now that she has nursed the 'mom' gene has clicked.
For as big as Kershope was, you'd think she'd have twins, especially since she's a 2 year old. Hopefully BFLs tend to twin more so than single!
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6 comments:
So your BFL rejected her lamb? That is common in BFLs? Cute Shetland lamb!
Welcome back Garrett!
Well, after an overload of doggies, I see you're quickly change gears to lambs again.
You hoped that BFL's would twin more than have singles?
So far here this year I've had 8 sets of triplets, 14 sets of twins, and 8 singles. The last 3 ewes will lamb this week, 1 will at least be twins, 1 that will single, and one ewe that has such a large frame that I cannot tell what her lamb count will be.
Typically if on 1st lambing momma if you give them some time for the 'hormones' to kick in they get the idea that, that little 4 legged thing under foot belongs there and she will settle down. Also, if you didn't see the birth, was it difficult, is she a big lamb (13-17 lbs?) I get more of a problem in the mixed colored litters, where one lamb is different and it is the opposite color of the mom and the other lambs.
Congratulations Garrett! Woo-hoo, a BFL EWE lamb! She's a doll too.
I'm sure Kershope will come around to being an excellent mother as the hours go by. My two first timers last year took a while to get used to their lambs. Since I wasn't home when Rhyn lambed, I was just happy to see her talking to her little guy even though she didn't want to let him nurse until her bag got fuller. Keep up posted.
Hey Garrett, I am all worried about the little one now. Has momma accepted her yet. She is a cutie.
She is a cutie, G, grats! Gimme a holler in the morning again and give me an update :)
She's BEAUTIFUL, Garrett!
This is NOT normal behavior in first time BFL mothers. My ewe lambs are normally devoted mothers, touching and licking and talking to their lambs and reluctant to leave them even long enough to eat a bite of grain. I get such a kick out of watching them take the lamb out into the pasture for the first time; take two steps, stop and turn around, touch baby, take 3 steps, whirl around to look for baby again. Stop, nurse baby, you get the picture..... :^)
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