Lambs - Spring 2010

During the first week of November, 2009, Valerie's good friend Lorna loaned us a young ram with which to breed eight of our ewes. I named him Limpy, he did have another name, mainly because that was what he was doing when he arrived here at Poplar Hill Farm. During his one months stay, I didn't see him show any interest in any of the ewes what so ever and didn't believe that any were impregnated during his stay. We have since found out that he did succeed with several, but aren't really sure how many. We only know that one of the eight, a young and very noisy ewe, is not carrying any lambs
This past April 6 at 1 PM in the afternoon Emma gave birth to a single, wonderful, beautiful healthy ewe lamb. There have though been no new births since. The gestation period of sheep is five months and there are several that certainly look pregnant and have developed udders. One, Dorothy, in particular seems this evening ready to give birth to triplets, mainly because she looks so huge and can hardly walk because of the weight and bulk of the lambs.
Valerie is in Connecticut at a sheep dog trial for the weekend and it is my job to take care of any births that might happen tonight and tomorrow. Unfortunately I broke my right foot this past Tuesday morning and need to walk around in this portable cast. Fortunately I do have a cell phone on me at all times and can call my neighbors Denny & Betsey for assistance when needed.
6:30 PM - Dorothy is definitely going to give birth very soon. I believe she's had triplets before and is a fantastic mother. It requires a tremendous amount of energy on their part to give birth to twins, let alone triplets, and so it really is important to be there to assist in the births, especially to make sure that nothing goes wrong. One thing for sure is that I will limp to the barn on the hour, every hour from now on until she has given birth to all three probably quite large lambs and is comfortably settled safely in her private stall with her offspring. I also hope that all three lambs will be accepted by her.