Spring Lambs!

I'd meant to go visit my neighbors' new crop of lambs for a few weeks but had been delayed. One day, though, I finally stopped by and took a tour:

The sheep were divided into numerous pens, some with many sheep and some with only a few. Old ewes, new mothers and handicapped mothers were usually put into small pens. Mothers with twins were often sectioned off so they could easily tend to and bond with their tiny babies:

The biggest, healthiest lambs in the large pens were having the most fun:

A blind ewe and an elderly ewe were given special consideration:

And all the animals were given exacting and merciful care:

The lambs, of course, were adorable. Some seemed afraid of me and some seemed to regard me with great curiosity:

There were two rams in the two biggest pens. One was dangerous and I was not allowed in that pen, but the elderly ram in the other big pen was used to people and oblivious to visitors:

The farmer went in to check on the sheep in one pen:

The ewes didn't mind her, but the lambs bounced around playfully:

There was much activity:

She told me that she had 48 lambs, only two of which needed to be bottle fed this year. One of the bottle babies had been rejected by its mother and put in with a ewe so old that she didn't do much of anything anymore. She had no milk to feed the baby, but served as a warm mommy substitute for the little one. The two of them had their own pen but the photo I took of them was not usable:

We chatted and watched the lambs. I said hello to Doug, her friendly horse, and then I took my leave:

A Visit With My Sister - Part 3

Despite the bad weather during my sister's visit, we had a lot of fun. While passing through Malone, New York, we noticed that Bokie's 1950s chrome and pink drive-in diner was open for the season. Of course we stopped and ate lunch there. Bokie's is always fun and we always have a hearty meal:

We also visited my neighbors' sheep farm, less than a day after the first lambs were born:

Twin births mean tiny lambs, so the farmer puts mother and babies in a small pen to protect the little ones from being trampled by the flock and to help the ewe and lambs stay close while they bond:

We didn't dare enter the pen with the young, dangerous ram, but this pen had an old man of a ram who was content to ignore us as we visited. That's him lying down. He never even turned his head to see who was entering his pen:

On the other side of the barn was another group, this one without any rams, and all of the ewes were ready to give birth at any moment:

Doug, the friendly Morgan Horse, was loose and accompanied us wherever we walked. He likes people, sheep, dogs, cats - and nearly everybody. He likes company:

This mother had two lambs, though one was behind her when I took the photo:

Another pen of ewes. The colorful markings, like the red blotches, are used when giving medications so the farmers know who has been dosed already. Imagine trying to keep track without marking the animals!

If you remember a couple of earlier photos of two lambs born ahead of the others, they had by this time grown rapidly to an amazing size. We stopped and said hello to them before we left:

Around The Farm

Things had been chilly, but spring continued to advance slowly. Blue and Jasmine stood together near the stock tank for this photo. Jasmine was overdue for calving. You can see that she's rather big around the middle. I was checking on her several times a day:

I was out in the south field when I took this photo, looking toward the barn, house and the neighbors' red barn. The brown circles are wasted hay from where the bale feeder was located at one point. I moved it with each new bale:

 Dawn in the pasture, with the sun just breaking over the trees:

 Remy and Jasmine on a windy day:


 The wild Shadbush all burst into bloom on April 29 and continued for several weeks, adding beauty to the woodlands everywhere:

 Shadbush in bloom along the edges of a neighbor's field. Also notice the big puddles in the foreground of the photo. It has been a very wet spring:

 Our spring began in earnest and then it suddenly turned chilly and rainy. In fact, it was so rainy that wild ducks began nesting in corn fields. The Mallard drake was right next to the road but became alarmed when I stopped and rolled down the car window to photograph him:

 I returned to the neighbors' sheep farm to see how their lambing season was going:

 This little cutie was hoping I had a bottle of milk for her. I didn't, and she quickly lost interest in me:

 The lambs in this pen were running and playing, angering the crabby old ram. The ewe in the small pen had tiny, delicate lambs and they were being protected from the hustle and bustle in the big pen:

 I was told that they had about 80 lambs this season. I asked about the red marks and learned that they are simply identification, to help the farmers keep track of who was who:

 Lambs sure are cute. It's always fun to visit them:

Annual Visit To The Neighbors' Sheep Farm

My sheep farming neighbors told me it was lambing season and to come on down and see them. So I drove to their house and went into the barn to find them. No one was there but Doug, their old horse (and the sheep, of course). Doug was happy to have a visitor and we chatted for a while, but I left the sheep alone since no one was home:

I returned later in the day, just as my neighbors arrived home. They'd been gone for hours and wanted to check on the sheep also. It turned out that 11 lambs had been born that day:

The bigger, stronger lambs were in the pens with the big sheep. Those who were small, weak or had other problems were put in smaller, separate pens like the ewe and lambs in the background:

A mother and her two little ones:

There were two brand new, black patterned lambs whose mother was still passing the afterbirth:

The second lamb of that pair had even cuter markings:

This ewe and her two babies was in a pen of their own:

There were also two chocolate and white newborns with their traditionally white mother:

The daughter-in-law of the farm owners comforted a rejected lamb. The ewe had triplets and was feeding the two smaller males. This larger female, however, had been rejected. The solution was to put the ewe in a stanchion and hold the lamb up to nurse. They planned to take the baby to a friend for hand feeding later, but first it needed colostrum:

Two babies, watched closely by their guarding mama:

Several mothers and their lambs shared a spacious pen:

My neighbors had lots of work to do, so I thanked them and headed for the exit, stopping to snap a photo of a friendly barn cat as I passed by:

Spring Lambing At A Neighbors' Farm

I stopped in at the neighbors' barn one morning because I knew it was lambing season and they had a barn full of sheep:

I've heard of a "dog in a manger," but never before a "cat in a manger:"

Both the husband and wife were out in the barn when I arrived, and they were excited. I could tell a crisis was in progress:

The crisis was that two ewes had given birth to twins. One lamb had died already and this pair was struggling to survive. The lamb on the left was too weak to nurse, so their owner had milked out some colostrum from the ewe and fed it to the lamb. Its feeble cries were getting weaker and it didn't appear able to stand up. It was not expected to live:


 The rest of the sheep, however, were happy and healthy:

The sheep on this farm were mostly of mixed origins, largely Katahdin and Dorper, both primarily meat breeds:

The little pied lamb on the left was particularly appealing:

They'd just received their morning's hay and everyone was busy eating:

This is Mary, named for the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." She was a bottle fed baby and has remained tame all her life. Mary is old now, and is the main attraction when folks come to see the sheep. She's always friendly:

This ewe with the golden face was the mother of the pied lamb a couple of photos up:

And of course there were barn cats:

The owner fetched some stale bread and we fed the ewes. Well, actually she fed the ewes because they weren't interested in taking any bread from me, a person they didn't know. I helped the husband move a big round hay bale, thanked the couple and took my leave: