29 lambs

Ten lambs were born in the past few days:  two sets of twins and two sets of triplets. All of the lambs are Katahdin "Mules," my name for 3/4 Katahdin x 1/4 Blackface (Hampshire x Suffolk).

Two thirds of a set of Katahdin triplets

The last set of triplets is a little problematic. The ewe, #013, a 3 year old Katahdin (81%) has an enlarged teat on one side. She's producing plenty of milk, but the teat is too large for the lambs to nurse. Hopefully, as they get bigger, stronger, and hungrier, they will latch onto the big teat. In the meantime, I have been assisting two of the lambs to make sure they are getting enough nourishment.

Twin Katahdin ram lamb

I moved pens around today, making a large mixing pen for the oldest lambs:  8 ewes and 17 lambs. Most of the lambs are purebred Katahdin, out of the new Katahdin ram (Phelps). A smaller mixing pen contains the last three sets of twins born. The triplet families are still in lambing jugs.

Katahdin "Dairy" ewe lamb 

There are five ewes left to lamb in the first group.  The second group of ewes shouldn't begin lambing until March 15. This weekend, I plan to give them their CD-T vaccinations. All of the Mule lambs will be been born in the first group. More dairy lambs will be born in the second group of ewes due to lamb. Purebred Katahdins will make up the largest portion of the lamb crop.