I’ve been writing this blog for 3 years now and each year of lambing in the Spring I have a tendency to post more cute photos and not necessarily the everyday and sometimes ugly sides of lambing. But what blogger wants to write about all of the bad things that happen and the mistakes made? I do need to post the realities of farming though, and sometimes they are not cheery.

The ewe that I mentioned in the previous post has a broken pre-pubic ligament and will always have trouble lambing from now on. Her belly drags and it would be taking a big risk in keeping her to lamb again. She is the most gentle ewe and she loves to be scratched and hugged. I am assuming she was a bottle fed lamb because she is so tame. The reality is is that we can’t keep her. She will need to be culled. Culled ewes sell for about $40/ewe and are often made into dog food. It’s a sad reality. Why can’t I keep her? Because she eats a lot. If I do not receive any lambs out of her, I do not make my return on the investment of food I feed her.

Today, a ewe gave birth to triplets early in the morning. Johnny found one still in the sack, dead. It suffocated. Usually the lambs have enough strength to shake it off as their mother licks it off, but this last triplet was weaker I think. We as shepherds feel really bad we weren’t there to help, but we cannot be in the barn all of the time. As the spring planting takes off, it will be even less time to spend in the barn.

We are currently bottle feeding 4 lambs, all from sets of triplets. Some people say you only want twins, they are easier to manage. Others say, triplets are great and the added labor of supplementing them is worth it. Lamb prices today are very good, so every lamb we lose gives me a belly ache.

We have 15 more ewes to lamb, we are half way there. We just have to keep calm, and do the best we can. What I am really surprised with every year is how resilient those little guys and gals are! They could be nearing death and you see them curled up shivering, not eating, their mouth is cold…them you get them warmed up, give them a little electrolyte fluid and bam, they are up and crying for milk. It’s amazing to watch the resiliency and that need to survive. It’s in all of us.