Spring is for lambs

Nothing symbolizes spring more than the birth of lambs and other animals. Here are some images of this year's lamb crop from My Flickr web site.

These are Darby's twin girls. Darby (319) is a six year old ewe, 5/8 Katahdin x 3/8 Dorper. She always has nice lambs. At first, she didn't want to let the smaller one nurse, but after spending a few hours in a head stanchion, she gave up on that foolishness.

This lamb looks a bit like a Southdown (in the face). He had a sibling, but I found it dead. It was a big disappointment. His mom is a 2-year old ewe I dubbed Crissy (7105). She is very feminine and has a large, nicely-shaped udder. With all the milk to himself, this lamb should grow like gang-busters. I suspect he will make a good ram lamb to sell for breeding.

This lamb was recently born (in this picture). His mother, a 2 year old ewe (7061), went way out into the pasture to deliver him and his sister. With the exception of one breech birth, all of the ewes have lambed unassisted.

These twins, a ewe (L) and a ram (R) belong to Scarlet (7062), a 2 year old ewe that my niece named. I wonder if they'll be friendly and trusting like their mom. I like the brown markings on the male.

I always have a difficult time getting good images of black lambs. I guess their intense color fools the camera's meter. This year, I have four black lambs. Two rams and two ewes. All can be registered 100% Katahdin. I may keep one of the ewe lambs. The one pictured is a ram lamb (ear tag in the left ear). He's all black and doesn't appear to have a white mark on his body. His twin brother has a white blaze, white-tipped tail, and two white socks.

Oh, how the lambs love to run and frolic. They do the same thing inside the hoop house, but outside on pasture they have so much more room to play. Right now, I am able to let the twins out. Soon, I will start letting the triplets out. They haven't been out to pasture yet. About all they can do for fun is run around the hay feeder, which they sometimes do when their moms are busy eating.