Lambing Update ~ April 11

On the evening of April 9th, Lil' Snugs was found with one gorgeous black mouflon ewe lamb in the barn. The white ewe was out of the barn and calling for momma. After a chase in the dark I finally coralled everyone into a waiting lambing jug. Both pretty ewe lambs weighed about 6 pounds. Both are available.



This morning, I walked out to do chores in the rain to fine Ayn had just given birth to a HUGE black mouflon ram lamb. He weighed nearly 11 pounds! Check out his huge horn buds His back hoof was injured and it needed to be splinted. I think his hoof got caught and strained during the birth process. This is Ayn's first lamb and I am so glad she was able to give birth to this big boy unassisted. This ram is available.

Lamb Update ~ April 6

The birth that I have been very anxious about took place sometime between 6pm and 8pm last night. Helena developed a vaginal prolapse a few weeks ago and had to have it stitched into place by our vet. I cut the sutures on Sunday ~ a little too soon but she was okay and did not prolapse again. This birth was a case of "go with your instinct and not the textbook". Helena had her water bag out for several hours yesterday and since she was not distressed and having contractions I decided to wait and see what would happen. My lambing guide says a baby should be born from 30-45 minutes after the waterbag presents . . . .If not, then there is probably a malpresentation. Nope . . . . not in this case. Helena just decided to go easy and take her time having her lambs.

Her current prolapse is due to an extremely difficult birth two years ago when she was a ewe lamb. Her lamb Bee-Bee was huge and became stuck overnight. By morning when Helena was checked the lamb's head was swollen and sticking out. Helena had tried so hard to give birth, she had begun to prolapse. I managed to pull Bee-Bee out - it was a miracle that Bee-Bee survived! Helena's prolapse healed but it recurred this year.

I was thinking about culling her in the fall but decided last night not too. She gave birth to two of the prettiest lambs this year. An 8 pound ram lamb with HUGE horn buds and a moorit spotted 8 1/2 pound ewe lamb. Her spots are on the leg so you can't see them in the photo. I am thinking about keeping the ewe but the boy is for sale. Both have beautiful conformations and will be finely fleeced (Helena is a Noi granddaughter).

Lamb Update 4/5

Manon had a very large single black/grey mouflon ram lamb ~ he weighed close to 8 pounds and came out back feet first. This was a tricky pull as I had to do it super fast because the umbilical cord would be pinched causing a "gasp" reflex in the lamb. Some lambs drown and die immediately when this happens. To complicate matters the hocks of the lamb were locked and needed to be straighted. Since Manon has "always" given us twins, I became concerned that there was another one stuck. I caught our vet just leaving her office and she came over to give Manon an internal check just to be sure. Nope - this year she gave us just one big single. I needed penicillin anyway and I was out of lubricant so it was a good thing that she was able to stop by and help out . . . . . Thanks so much Dr. Church!

Yesterday evening during lamb check, Mark woke me up to say that there was a lamb in the paddock but it was too dark to see who it was. I went out and saw that the lamb was up and nursing and Penny was the mom. Penny is a grandaughter of NMI famous ram "Tolkis". This was her first lamb but since she was doing well and all the other pregnant ewes were sleeping in the barn - we decided to wait until morning to move her and her lamb into the lambing jug. She gave birth to a beautiful 6 1/2 pound black mouflon ram lamb with huge horn buds.

This morning at lamb check Saltina had just given birth to a beautiful black/grey badgerface ram. He was up and nursing and weighed about 7 pounds. His dad is Hun - who has been giving us some beautiful lambs this year. All three ram lambs are available for sale.


Buy local . . . . . Eat well . . . . .

We Made The News!!!!

On Thursday the Bangor Daily News came out to do a story on our farm. Here is the link to the article:

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/04/01/news/making-maine-home-urban-professionals-carve-out-a-farming-life/

Thanks so much, Sharon for the great article . . . . the photo's were wonderful . . .

Buy local . . . .Eat well . . . .

Lamb Update 3/31

Saltie gave birth in the middle of my barn paddock early yesterday morning to twins just as the sun was coming up. Lambs were up and nursing in minutes even though it was in the mid-20's. The boy is a very splashy and cute moorit spot and the girl is a black badgerface. Both are very long-bodied like mom and are available for sale.

Buy local . . . . eat well . . . . .

Icelandic Lamb Skins

Our lamb skins came back from the tanner last week and have only now had to chance to put them up on the blog. I have four lamb skins available. All are machine washable (directions will be included with each lambskin). They are beautiful with very long and fine tog (like mohair) and a very warm soft inner coat (thel) which feels like cashmere. two are the color of moorit/grey mouflon (wonderful light smoke grey with caramel tips). The other two are moorit mouflon (cocoa with caramel tips). These are great used as throws and rugs. Some people even sew them together to make a very luxurious and warm coverlet. Please e-mail or phone if you have any questions. Price for these beauties is $165.00 each plus shipping and handling. All Maine state residents are required to pay 5% sales tax.



Buy Local . . . . Eat Well . . . .

Lamb Update ~ March 30th

Woke up yesterday and looked out my bedroom window and saw a newborn lamb by himself staggering around the pasture. I ran out to the barn to find Liz licking off her second lamb. The first had wandered outside the barn. This year our lambs have been very vigorous . . . . up only a few minutes after birth. I am so glad I moved all the girls into the nearest paddock to the house to keep an eye on everything. After saving Liz's wayward baby I put both into a lambing jug immediately. The first lamb was chilled and I needed to get more colostrum in him to warm him up. A few minutes later, I noticed that the babies were just standing at Liz's side and not nursing. I had to strip the teats to get the milk flowing. Liz had a slight case of mastitis last year ~ my fault as I left her ewe lambs with her too long and they damaged the udder and caused mastitis when they got too big to nurse. Her udder had grown huge over the last few weeks and I was afraid that her mastitis was back and she would have no milk . . . . not the case as both sides of the udder were producing loads of milk. I finally got the babies to nurse and they were up and bouncing around later in the day. Liz had a gorgeous 8 pound black/grey lamb ram and a 6 pound moorit mouflon ram lamb. Both are available for sale.




By mid-morning I noticed Pepper had separated herself from the flock and saw her as she ran to the barn . . . . I knew it was her time and because she has been such an easy lamber and Pumpkin's daughter, I knew that I should just give her some privacy and go check on her a few hours later. Imagine my surprise when I went out to the barn two hours later to see her in the final stage of labor as she was finally pushing out the largest lamb ever born on our farm. He was a whopping 12.5 pound black spotted ram lamb! He has both Liefer and Ari leader genetics behind him as well as Noi and Peli. Such a great combination. This big boy is for sale.