Saturday, March 03, 2007

A fast start, a good start

It's been a fast and good start with lambing season. Since last night, three sets of triplets have been born. I now have 15 lambs, a fairly even split between males and females. So far, all of the lambs have been sired by Hurricane. My dad doesn't have any lambs yet.

I breathed a sigh of relief when #22, my first black ewe, finished lambing and passed her afterbirth. Last year, she had a c-section. Everything went fine with the c-section, but I had some concern about her next lambing. She gave birth to three black lambs! Two are solid black and one has a tiny spot of white on its forehead. They are two rams and a ewe.

This morning, I found #397 with a set of triplets. Two of the lambs are white; one is brown. Two rams and a ewe. Last year, #397 had gotten very obese. She delivered her lambs late in the season. I had almost given up on her. Every year, she has at least one lamb with color. She's a good ewe.

This morning, #13, one of my best ewes, delivered triplets: two ewes and a ram. Two of them have red necks. Last year, #13 raised a nice set of triplet ram lambs. She ranked second in performance. I got a beautiful picture of her with her three boys. She's my "poster" ewe for the Katahdin breed.

So far, everything is going well. I've got my fingers crossed that this continues. You never know what can happen during lambing season.

I'm going to have to get a picture of the black triplets. Triplet black babies has to be somewhat rare.

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