Out like a lamb
Our first lamb - Zinnia's ewe born 3/31/10
After weeks of preparation, and what felt like eons of waiting, our first lamb arrived on March 31, 2010, in the wee small hours of the morning. We knew the lambs could be born anytime after March 25, but weren’t sure exactly when they would show up. Zinnia, one of our four “first-timers” delivered all by herself and her strong, healthy ewe lamb was dry, up and walking when we found them early in the morning. A few days passed, Zinnia and her baby bonded in the jug, and we kept trying to predict when the next ewe would go for it.
Aretha with her twin ewe lambs
Turns out, it was a family affair, with Aretha and Nina (a mother and her daughter from 2008) both delivering early this morning. Aretha gave birth to twin ewe lambs, a yin-yang pair in black and white. Nina had a single ram lamb, our first ram so far.
Mother and daughter are in their jugs with their lambs, bonding and resting after what must have been an exhausting morning. Tomorrow morning we’ll band the tails and put ear tags on these lambs and within another day or so they will rejoin the flock.
Nina with her ram lamb
It’s been interesting to note the color patterns that we’re seeing so far. Our flock sire this year is predominantly cream with a few spots of light brown. Three out of four of his offspring have been black with white spots on their heads and white tail tips. The double white spot is a fairly common marking in the Navajo-Churro breed, called “two gray hills”. The fourth lamb is the opposite, a solid white ewe. I’m hoping to cultivate some browns in our flock, and it’s possible that some of these black lambs will turn brown eventually, or they could go gray or silver. It is rare that a black lamb will stay solid jet black for more than a year; their fleece tends to bleach to a lighter color in the sun.
Meanwhile, we have three more pregnant ewes still waiting to deliver. I just hope all of their births are as easy as the others have been this year.
Spring Shearing 2010
Caramel gets a haircut
With lambing around the corner, we had our shearer out last weekend. Spring is the most common time to shear, for several reasons. The sheep are less likely to suffer from overheating in summer, and for pregnant ewes its convenient to shear them before birth to keep the fleece clean.
As a long-wool breed, Navajo-Churro sheep grow their wool about one inch per month. With this rapid rate, we shear twice per year so that the fiber can be commercially processed into roving and yarn. A 6-inch staple length is about the maximum that most carding and spinning machines can handle, and its a length that also works for hand spinners.
Many visitors to the farm ask what we do with the wool. Last year, we took our clip and combined it with wool from a neighbor who also raises Navajo-Churros. We sent off two batches to Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, VT to be processed into beautiful yarns for weaving and knitting. This year we decided to send the fall and spring clips to Boulder Meadow Farm to be processed into roving (washed and carded fiber ready for spinning or felting). We expect to have this fiber available for sale sometime in May. Meanwhile, check out more photos of spring shearing.
Lambing Preparations: Part 2
A toolbox keeps supplies clean and organized.
In anticipation of our first yeaning (birthing season) I purchased some lambing supplies which arrived a few days ago. With an “unimproved” or heritage breed such as the Navajo-Churro, lambing should be easy with no assistance required from the shepherds. A good ewe will give birth on her own and clean and claim her lambs immediately, making sure that they find the udder and learn to nurse within their first hour of life.
That said, it is always a good idea to be prepared for unexpected birthing difficulties, weak lambs, or a first-time mom that rejects her lambs. It is also a good time of year to stock up on vaccination supplies, which will be needed at shearing time (for the adult sheep), plus two weeks and again four weeks after the lambs are born.
Standard Lambing Supplies
- Nutritional gel supplement
- Digital scale & sling (for weighing newborn lambs)
- Heat lamp, bulb, & thermostatic plug (for lambs born on cold days)
- Notebook & pencil (for tracking birth weight, color, sire/dam, ear tag numbers, and potential names)
- Ear tags & applicator (both farm ID tags and official USDA tags)
- Ring expander & O Rings (for docking tails)
- Sharp scissors (for cutting umbilical cords)
- 7% Iodine solution (for sterilizing umbilical cords)
- Latex gloves
- Old bath towels
- Molasses (nutritional supplement for ewes)
- High-sided water bucket (tall to prevent lambs from climbing or falling in)
Emergency Lambing Supplies
- Digital thermometer
- Antiseptic lubricant (for easing stuck lambs)
- Shoulder-length gloves (for obstetric work)
- Powdered colostrum (instant first-milk for newborn lambs)
- Large syringe & rubber stomach tube (for force-feeding weak or cold lambs)
- Powdered sheep’s milk formula, bottle, & rubber teat (for rejected lambs)
- Prolapse harness & retainer (for treating uterine prolapse)
- Rectal ring (for treating anal prolapse)
Vaccination Supplies
- Chalk (for marking lambs after vaccination)
- Dewormer
- CD/T vaccine serum
- Rabies vaccine serum
- Disposable syringes and needles
In addition to the supplies listed here, there is one more item that should be purchased or built. A lambing “jug” is a small, private pen that you put the ewe and newborn lambs into. This gives the mom a chance to bond with her lambs, and gives the lambs easy access to her udder in the critical hours after birth. For large farms, it may be easiest to purchase jug panels from a supplier, however for a small farm such as ours, this is expensive and unnecessary. My next post will show you how to build your own lambing jugs.
Lambing Preparations: Part 1
Caution: Wide Load!
(shepherd shown for scale)
Lambing has been on my mind a lot lately as we prepare for the next phase of our shepherding adventure. Keeping adolescent and adult sheep has, thus far, been easy and fun. Even locating, selecting, and bringing in a breeding ram has been a relatively straightforward experience. We anticipate that raising our own lambs from birth will also be a lot of fun, and of course challenging and exhausting. So we’ve been doing our best to get ready. Although the ewes aren’t due until the end of March, there are details to attend to now.
Diet
We’ve been feeding a high-quality hay during the fall and early winter, and will continue this through the remainder of the ewe’s pregnancies. It’s important to provide enough calories and nutrition without letting the ewes get too fat, as tubby sheep tend to be more susceptible to stuck lambs.
Shearing
I’ve just called our shearer to set up an appointment. Spring is the busiest time for shearing, so it’s important to make arrangements early. Shearing two or three weeks before the ewes are due is important for several reasons. First, it allows us to be able to get a clear view of the sheep’s body, to determine whether they are, in fact, pregnant. Sheep are interesting in that they keep their fetus(es) small until just before birth. Combine this tendency with a winter coat, and it can be difficult to tell who is pregnant, and who is just fuzzy.
Second, shearing before birth keeps the fleece cleaner, and at the same time, provides a clear view of the action during labor and birth. Ewes are also more likely to choose a sheltered location to give birth if they are without their thick sweater. Lastly, shearing provides the added benefit of ease for…
Vaccinations
It’s easiest to administer subcutaneous injections when the sheep are freshly shorn and already restrained during shearing. In the Spring, we administer a CD/T (clostridium types C & D and tetanus) vaccine to all adult sheep. This acts as a booster shot and also ensures some protection for newborn lambs who will get the antibodies from their mother’s milk, before receiving the standard course of inoculations.
There are more details to address before the lambs arrive, so stay tuned for information on supplies and the construction of lambing pens.
Wham, bam, thank you ram!
Blaze strikes a pose for his registration photo.
“Blaze” is a two year old Navajo-Churro ram that we purchased from Orion Rising Farm in South Royalton, VT. When we were first looking for eligible bachelors for our ewes, he caught our eye with his beautiful and well-balanced rack. After the sheep were shorn in October, we were able to get our hands into the fleece, which contains soft, lofty wool and the correct proportion of wool undercoat and hair topcoat.
After he was shorn we could also see that Blaze had a nice solid shape and good body conformation. He was a perfect gentlemen with our flock, and has an easy temperament when being handled. This is an important trait, as offspring will often inherit the disposition traits of their parents. Nasty sheep don’t get to stick around; they matriculate to the freezer.
I wanted to pay tribute to this beautiful ram, who today went to his new home at a small farm in New Hampshire. Though it’s difficult to tell for certain without resorting to expensive ultrasound testing, the ewes are looking bred and healthy. I can’t wait to see what the lambs will look like.