Last fall, we took our ewes (then a year and a half old) plus 6 bales of alfalfa hay to Parma, where we purchased them, and left the girls for a month with the hopes that they would get pregnant during that time.
And, despite our knowledge and access to ultrasound technology, Chadwick and I had to wait until the end of February to really tell if they were, in fact, pregnant. Neither of us have access to a large animal ultrasound machine and as far as we know, no one is manufacturing a pregnancy test for sheep. By the middle of February, their wool is thick enough to give the appearance of pregnancy, so it was hard to tell. Thyme was the first to really show signs of pregnancy; judging by the size of her girth, we were betting she was carrying twins.
Extra hay, extra grain, trips into the back yard for fresh grass....we spoiled them as much as possible during their last month. Given the fact that we didn't know their exact breeding date, we had to guess as to when they were due. (Gestation in a sheep is about 5 months.) Were they bred at the beginning of their time in Parma? Or the end? So many questions without enough answers.
Poor Thyme! She looked SO uncomfortable, and I had the greatest empathy for her; all expecting mothers reach a stage of pregnancy where they just look and feel
large. She was like a giant cotton ball on toothpicks....
The morning of March 22 I went out to feed the ewes and found, to my delight, two little lambs on the straw in the barn. Still wet, they were tiny and brown and perfect. Thyme was tired but delivered them without a problem. I kicked Rosemary out of the barn and left the new mama to try and figure out what to do. For several weeks prior to her delivery, the kids would ask every morning, "Did they have their babies?" That morning, I got to say YES! We all sprinted back to the barn to admire the new life. She had a male and female - named Nutmeg and Cinnamon, respectively. The next day, Chadwick's boss from the clinic came over with an elasticator to castrate the little male.
We've never had so many people ask to come over. Not to see us, of course, but the lambs. A friend asked if I felt used. Ha! It's been fun to show them off. And I hardly saw Morgan for the first couple days after their birth as she spent all her free time hanging out in the barn. Made me happy.
Rosemary continued to enlarge, though she never looked quite as uncomfortable as her pasture-mate. She delivered twins sometime in the afternoon of April 2nd, another male and female. We named them Herb (thanks, Sara!) and Basil.
Both ewes have been great mothers to their lambs, though it bothers me that they will ram the other lambs without a second thought. Thyme took it to Darwin several times when he was in the corral whining and causing a ruckus. The look on his face the first time she broadsided him was priceless, though I felt bad for him the couple times she had him pinned against the barn wall, repeatedly head butting him, as I fumbled to get the gate open and set him loose.
Now over a month, the lambs have lost their tails (banded as well), are eating grass like adult sheep, and attack me each evening when I offer grain as a treat for coming in from the pasture. The older twins were handled a lot right after birth and are much friendlier than the younger ones. Note to self, get out and maul all the lambs starting day two! We have freezer homes for the males and hope to find the females a pasture to spend their days.
Welcome, spring!
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