The Good and the Bad of Raising Sheep

Hildegard, my oldest ewe, lambed on Wednesday. She had twins. One was stillborn, and the other is a little black ewe lamb. It's always sad when a lamb is born dead, but it does happen sometimes.

The little one is still really small but seems to be doing alright. She took longer than average to figure out which end of her mother to go to for milk. She also, at two days old, is till checking out any nearby sheep for food, including the rams. Luckily her mother keeps close by and makes sure she nurses.

Her coat is pretty dirty. Some of the birth sac dried on it, and, of course, being smaller than everyone else, little bits of hay keep falling on her while the other sheep are eating.

In the next two pictures, you can see how tiny she is compared to the one-month-old lambs.

Here she is looking for her mother.












And, no, this is definitely not her mother.

Baby Pictures and More

Boudica gave birth to a black ram lamb yesterday. She's a first-time mother and a little uncertain about my motives with the camera, so it was a bit difficult getting good pictures.

Sierra's twins, now 22 days old, and Minerva's lamb, 16 days old, look so big and mature compared to the new little one.

I was trying to take a picture of one of her twins, but Sierra decided to be a camera hog. (Actually, she just wanted to be petted.) That's her nose at the right of the photo.

And a few more pictures because they stood still long enough to take them.

Hildegard, voicing her opinion

Snowden, Hermes, and Scout (in the back)

Heloise, just being Heloise