This is one of the twins born as a surprise back in December. He and his brother are the oldest and largest lambs in the flock and are teaching the younger ones to romp and frolic.
The black lamb with white markings on her face and all four feet off the ground up on top of the hill is one of quadruplets. She is the smallest of the three survivors, but is doing well. We have been keeping an eye on her and attempted to supplement with milk for a while. Even through I knew she was hungry from her cries, she had her own opinions on that nasty tasting rubber nipple that did not remind her of mama at all and refused to drink. It takes a while to wait a lamb out and if they are hungry enough they will eventually decide to take the bottle even if it doesn't look or smell like Mom. Warm milk being dribbled down a hungry baby's throat is a pretty convincing tool. This stubborn little girl never did concede to the bottle, so I stopped trying after she was about 3 weeks old. By then she was nibbling hay and I figured she was obviously getting enough grub to get by. Her growth rate did not match her siblings, and she could have been a little plumper, but she wasn't crying like when she was younger, so I stopped putting us both through the tortuous milk dribbling ritual.
And down they go! They love to race down off of this hill, over to the next one, around, and around, over and over, leaping, and jumping.
Oh what a beautiful morning!
This is Daisy's lamb. He is the only one this year who was an only child - no siblings. There are 18 lambs all together, though, so he has plenty of cousins to play with.
Slowing down.
Getting tired.
Nap time. I believe this ewe is the mother of the quadruplets. She still looks pregnant with that big old tummy! She and her sister look quite a lot alike, both are three years old now. One was born to Daisy and the other's mom was Ivy, but we switched ear tags and now I am not sure which one is which. Daisy's daughter was Pansy and Ivy's Holly. I am pretty sure it was Holly who had the quads. Ivy had triplets last year and raised them to maturity without any help at all. She is a very good mom. We have actually culled out all of the ewes who were not good mothers now and have kept all of the good moms and easy lambers. It sure made lambing season go a lot smooher this year.
Until next time, may you find time to frolic and romp in the spring sunshine.
5 comments:
What fun! The lamb in the first picture looks like she is flying.
We had our first calf a few days ago. Old mamma "cream Puff" is the first one with a baby.
What little sweeties! They are so fun to watch and so full of joy. Love the little lamb with all four feet in the air.
What beautiful lambs! I loved the pictures of them. They sure look like they were having fun.
I also wanted to stop by your blog and say thank you for visiting mine and leaving a comment awhile back. I would have done it sooner, but spring time on the farm is busy as you know and I am running behind on everything these days it seems.
Susan,
Love the photos of the lambs. When I was young, our neighbour had sheep and spring time frolic was always fun to watch.
Glad the lambing went well.
Blessings,
Mary
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