Yearling babies

Nine of the 11 yearlings have lambed: six sets of twins and three single births. One of the sets of twins is my dad's ewe.

This morning, the black yearling (I call her Lakisha after last year's American Idol contestant) had two hooves sticking slightly out of her, but was showing no signs of labor or distress. So, I checked her out. I discovered that the baby was coming backwards.

The hooves were pointed down and further inside was a tail, not a head. I got the lamb out without too much difficulty. It was fine. The ewe was relieved and instantly starting licking her offspring.

The last two yearlings were bred later and should have their lambs closer to May. Crissy is bagging up. I don't see anything with Scarlet yet.

The yearlings are doing a good job with their lambs. Three of the yearlings with twin lambs initiatially disowned one of their lambs, but within a day or two, they forgot why they didn't like their second lamb.

One of the yearlings gave birth to a mostly black lamb. The twin is white. I'm not sure where the black lamb came from since both parents are white. Several of Ears's progeny are showing his characteristic big ears.

Ears is supposed to be picked up this weekend. He's sold for breeding. I'm going to miss him. He's got a lot of personality.

The rest of the lambs are doing fine. They spend their days outside frolicking in the pasture and their nights inside cuddling with their mothers and picking at the creep feed. The pregnant yearlings have access to the pasture at night and early in the morning.

The quads are growing well. Of course, they should be. They're double dipping. They nurse their mother and drink milk from a bottle. I offer them milk two times per day. Another lamb, a twin from my 10 year old ewe, occasionally nurses from the bottle. I could probably discontinue the bottles, but the quads are doing so well.