I have to tell you, this lambing season kicked my backside. For the last month I’ve been just completely exhausted, absolutely bone tired, and no amount of “catch up” sleep seemed to help, this time.
And it wasn’t just exhaustion. I was having a terrible time focusing on all the work I needed to get done. Emails were piling up. My to do list was getting longer and longer and longer.
I assumed that I either has some terrible disease (which is always my go-to) or that lambing was just going to keep getting harder and harder every year. Then I overheard Amy telling someone that someone that she had been suffering from much the same symptoms and it turned out to be allergies. I was intrigued, because I have never been an allergy sufferer. (I know, don’t hate me.)
I did a little research and it turns out that allergies can manifest themselves in fatigue and inability to focus without the runny nose and stuffy head that everyone else gets. Three days of Zyrtec changed EVERYTHING. I feel like my old self again. I’m just bummed that I didn’t figure this out before I spent a month being miserable.
Now I can catch you up on the things that would have taken too much effort to write about a few weeks ago!
Two weeks ago, I made the drive up to my friend Phylleri’s farm to pick up a few new additions to the colored flock. This is Leo, a chocolate Angora goat kid. Isn’t she gorgeous.
Bootes is one of three colored lambs we acquired at the same time. She has a sister named Sagitta and an unrelated ram friend named Draco. (We stuck with the constellations for the colored flock this year.)
It appears that our lambing season is at a close, earlier than we expected. Four of the yearlings we bred this year did not conceive, which is disappointing but not terribly so. We have a lovely crop of healthy lambs this year and they are doing well.
We did lose two little ones, tiny Earhart and Armstrong. Earhart’s mama rolled over on her and Armstrong was just failed to thrive. I felt guilty about not writing about them at the time, but I was so sad and so tired, and the words just would’t come. I know many of you were sending prayers and wishes for Earhart, and I wish I had better news to share.
I am trying to take the advice of Dr. Seuss who said, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” They were lovely little lambs, and it is so precious to me that I got to spend some time with them, however brief.
Losing a lamb always makes me so grateful for the ones who we get to watch grow up.
They are amazing little wonders, so full of life and personality! There are untold adventures awaiting them.
Why do we put coats on newborn lambs? One of two reasons- the first is that it’s cold and the forecast calls for hard frost. As of Friday night, we were still having hard frosts a couple times a week. I think they’re probably over now, but you never know. THe other reason to coat a lamb is that they are shivering and don’t seem to be warming up quickly. In that case, we go back and take the coat off within an hour or so once they’ve warmed up.
What are the signs of labor? There are lots of signs that a ewe is in labor, which gives you lots of opportunities to notice. A ewe in labor may paw at the ground (called nesting), make a knickering noise that is usual for her, turn her head and talk directly to her belly, look around for her lamb (even though it hasn’t come out yet), run around the paddock smelling other ewes’s lambs, and get up and lay down repeatedly in an effort to find a comfortable position. All of these things can go on for hours, but I find that when they start making the face above, they are usually pretty far along and are starting to push.
Do we have any bottle babies this year? Other than 
