Thursday, April 28, 2011

Winding Down

Sorry for the long absence, but as you can imagine we have been pretty busy. This season's lambing is winding down, and it has been a very stormy one.  We have had a few days of sunshine, but the most intense days looked more like this...

Easter afternoon
















We were going to tell you about the hour and a half spent pulling a gigantic 16 lb lamb that had one leg bent all the way back (we lost the lamb but saved the ewe)... the heartbreak of coming into the barn early Easter morning and finding one of a set of twins that could not be revived... the fact that all 14 lambing jugs were full twice in spite of a steady rotation of ewes and lambs to the field... the hours spent making sure every ewe had hay and water and every lamb had a full belly... the triplets dramatic birth at the very bottom of the hill in the farthest corner from the barn... the fact that every birth is a miracle...but instead we will share this...

Scenes like this make it all worthwhile... there is nothing as beautiful lambs in the field...



















Here it is... the birthing of the lambs of 2011 (at least the first 39...)

7 comments:

  1. Aww gorgeous. I have some photos on my blog from the other night of the lambs playing together. Adorable!

    We still have 5 yet to lamb....it's good to be seeing the finishing line, isn't it.

    (Horrible when something goes wrong, isn't it :( I hate seeing a mother sheep who's lost her lamb... if there's another twin, it's fine, but, oh, poor lonely sheep !)

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  2. Oh, the saddness that goes along with farm life!
    I am thankful you posted pictures of the beautiful part...thank you.

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  3. Thanks for sharing all of those pictures! Sorry about the losses...that is sad.
    Wow!, that first picture of Easter looks so...stormy, yet beautiful! The next two pictures are beautiful as well! The lambs are so cute! Love seeing the slide show!

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  4. i'm sorry you lost a few, but i hope those that made it will prosper. and i hope the moms with multiples can supply plenty of milk too. is there any chance that the ewes that lost their babies would adopt any of the multiples?

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  5. I feel with you from storm to tragic nature to the wonder of lambs. You had intensive days working very hard.

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  6. It is so hard to loose even one...beautiful pictures!

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  7. Your experiencing life in a nutshell there. It must be a very intense time.

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