Well I haven't posted any lamb photos because I don't have any yet! Ugh.
I was told by several shepherds that have been 'in the biz' longer than I that they can go earlier than their due date. One even moved the due date up two days for me. So since last Sunday I've been sleeping the barn in preparation for early lambs, lambing problems, detached placentas (yes I'm Debbie Downer all doom and gloom) but its better to be prepared than go out and find a dead ewe with a stuck lamb!
The wireless security camera doesn't work for my parents house or mine. We have a one hundred year old solid stone barn whose walls are a good foot thick. Add to that a few silos in the way of the signal and big metal doors and you can see why the camera doesn't work. My house is a good 300-400 feet from the far side of the barn where the ewes are currently at, so I was not expecting this security camera to work. I thought about a cable one but stringing 400 feet of cable across three farm roads where our huge tractors drive over the constantly freezing and thawing roads just didn't seem feasible. So sleeping in the barn works. I think I'll make our last horse stall into a 'waiting room' for me and get a small table and futon in there wtih a plug in heater. I saw at someone's farm they had an 'office' out in their barn with huge windows to watch the sheep out of from a warm(er) room.
Online gestation calculators tell me my sheep are due SUNDAY and not TODAY. I have so many girls with tails sticking out, constantly looking back at their sides, pawing, nesting, panting, waddling. I've never been such a nervous wreck, especially since they are AI lambs out of some of the last straws of these rams....it makes me more nervous. I'm sure everything will be fine, but I am done! Those ewes are too selfish and holding in all those lambs. I'm going in to town for coffee :)
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3 comments:
Poor G! You know..."A watched pot..." so I'm sure it's the same with ewes. Hang in there and I'm sure you will be up to your kneecaps in lambs in the near future. Good luck!
Hugs!
S
I'm glad you posted, I was wondering if your lambing had started yet. I'm with you on the worrying part. Sorry to hear the camera didn't work out for you -- good idea to make yourself a comfortable area in the barn. I'm sure you'll be seeing LOTS of action soon.
According the my lamb calculator, a breeding date of Oct. 25 would give you a due date of Mar. 19, but I always just count ahead 21 weeks (147 days) from the breeding date and mark the calendar for that. Of course my girls usually have plans of their own. LOL.
I have one ewe that I swear is in labor and as soon as she sees me she stops it! I think she is doing it on purpose because I watched her deliver last year. I am glad you took a coffee break. Try not to worry too much you will have lambs up to your eyeballs very soon. My rams were put in on Oct. 22nd and only one ewe has lambed so far.
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