I’ll continue on in the next weeks talking about the D word (next week intra-specifically (between dogs) and the week after inter-specifically (between dogs and people), but I thought an intermission celebrating spring and Easter would be nice. Besides, you all deserve reinforcement for such considerate and thoughtful comments (which have been fascinating by the way, thank you so much.)
Three ewes have lambed so far, and I have 5 to go. Lady Godiva & Spot had twins and Rosebud, what a woman, had triplets. All are doing well. Spot’s lambs had bellies so full of milk just an hour after their birth that they felt like they had bricks in their tummies. Nothing better than quiet lambs with warm mouths and full bellies (or worse than bawling lambs with cold mouths and empty ones.)
I only have 5 more ewes to lamb out. I have such a tiny flock that serious lamb producers laugh when I tell them my winter herd equals a total of nine. When I was in New Zealand the sheep folks I talked to looked stunned when I said I had 8 or 10 ewes. They count them in lots of a hundred, or a thousand, and could barely imagine having a flock so small. “Ah,” they’d say after learning that not only did I have a micro flock, I gave them names. “So you have them as pets,” they’d say, with a friendly but somewhat incredulous smile on their face. Well, I guess I sort of do. But not . . . An interesting question… how close a social relationship does one have to have to call an animal a pet?
Speaking of, I am becoming worried about Dorothy. my oldest ewe. As a matter of fact, I’m waiting for the vet to call. Dorothy is a week overdue. A couple of days is meaningless, 4-5 becoming a bit of a concern. A full week? Hmmm. Here is she resting, about an hour ago. I would have been more worried, but she seems fine, hungry and as active as everyone else. But darn I wish her lambs would come soon. I expect she does too… check out her belly:
It’s crazy busy for everyone in the country right now. It’s almost 80 degrees (30 degrees over normal), things are growing and moving and changing and it feels like everything needs to be done right away. You don’t have much control over when you do things on a farm: the weather and season plans out your agenda for you. I got the pasture fertilized yesterday (check), some of the mulch out of the gardens (check), some of the fencing repaired (check) but couldn’t spray the thistles because it was too windy. The daffodils all opened up at the same time, literally in one day, and would burn out in another day or so if it stayed so warm and sunny. Luckily, it’s clouding up and supposed to rain. Good good good. Don’t want summer in spring and it’s terribly dry now, and we really need the rain.
And here’s some lamb rapture shots of Andrea Stephenson (new marketing director and web queen extraordinaire) and me today at lunch time:
Rosana Hart says
Takes me back to when we had a llama herd of 13 at the most, usually about 8. Birthing was high drama! At least llamas typically give birth during the daytime, so the babies (called “crias”) have time to dry out and get started nursing before the temperatures drop a huge amount at night in the high Andes.
(I usually link to my dog site but changed the link for this comment to my llamas site. Back in the 80s I wrote a book called “Living with Llamas” and now it’s a free pdf at the llama site. It’s mostly personal stories, including several birthing ones. Juliet’s dystocia that I managed to pull out, a year after her dead baby, our first baby, Shadow who refused to nurse for 3 days that felt like an eternity and during which I thought my husband had lost his mind, and so on. )
Wild Dingo says
Eeewwww! (sorry couldn’t resist!)
Geez, drop the D word yesterday and then leave us on hold. I guess there is some differences in the D word for between dogs and between dogs and people! in my long ramble about my anecdotal experience, that’s the conclusion I came to anyway!
Poor Dorothy! Hope for her sake she has her babies soon!
I donno, 8-10 lambs seems like a flock enough for me!
DebraS says
Um, yes, that lil spotty one is a pet 🙂
kate says
So sweet!
Best of luck with Dorothy.
How exciting (and I’m sure exhausting) to be able to look forward to new life every year. There’s something so magical about watching a species brand new to the world. Especially if they’re furry!
carla says
We had the 80’s on Thursday, and then today Friday we got quick rain and pea size hail (central Iowa). The whole thing went thru quickly tho.
Lambs are so sweet looking! Hope they are all here soon!
Melanie S says
Oh boy Lassie lamb is divine!
My ‘herd’ of sheep consists of one ewe and her twin sons (who are well and truly full grown big boys). I call them my companions rather than my pets. The two boys, whom I’ve known since the hour they were born, both have their tails. I left them long ’cause it’s easy for me to check if they have dags or any ‘issues’ at that end, so no need to dock and I hated the idea of taking them off. They attract much interest from friends and visitors because over here in Australia almost no one has seen a grown sheep with a long tail. I did have their testicles removed though, I really didn’t need two rams vying with one another for incest rights with their mother!
And it’s been unseasonally warm over here too. Last week was almost a return to mid-Summer in what is supposed to be Autumn (that’s Fall to many of you!)
And yes, I loved the variety of responses to your ‘D word’ post, looking forward to more on that subject!
Smiles…
Liz F. says
I’ve stopped smiling (cause of those pics!) long enough to wonder: does piebald coloration in herd animals leave them at a disadvantage in the wild? Just thinking that if the herd is mostly single colored sheep, then who wants to stand out and be spotted!
This leads me to guess that the answer to the pet question may have something to do with the lengths humans go to to protect an animal from predators, illness, or other harm.
Thanks for spreading lamb rapture, and the daffodil picture is just beautiful .
Vanessa says
As someone whose pack is limited entirely to dogs (well and one cat who plays fetch like a dog) having eight or so ewes sounds like a flock to me. However I can imagine the reactions you are getting given your agriculure-based location. I get much the same response when I talk about how I show and train my dogs from farmers in Nebraska. Don’t get me wrong I love farmers and think farm dogs (those who get to work) have an almost perfect life. I say that sparingly though because although these dogs get to work it is often seen here that human contact and training for anything outside of the work they do lacks substantially. So perhaps not as perfect as once stated. It’s always interesting here, the differences between “pet” owners and “farm dog” owners. There are many advancements being made that are beneficial to the lives of dogs but they trickle there way slowly to the rural areas.
Wow I have no idea why I rambled so long about that, and it’s not even related, sheesh sorry.
I hope for Dorothy’s (and your) sake that she lambs soon. That stomach cannot be condusive to having a nice relaxing day.
I look forward to your continuation on the D-word topic. Your blog has become somewhat of a monring ritual for me. I get up and check it every morning before I go to classes. I must say I don’t know many college students who wake up early specifically so they can read up on their favorite animal behaviorist!
Sabine says
I think little Lassie is here to stay. 🙂 So much for the pet question. 🙂
I hope for Dorothy’s sake that her (and your) waiting will be over soon and the little ones will arrive without any further delays or complications.
Happy Easter to you and your family and all blog participants ! 🙂
The question arises – which came first ? The dog or the egg ?
http://666kb.com/i/bi1pi2kin15zhyp2m.jpg
Debby says
In thinking about the way we produce food now on factory farms, it occurs to me that it would be better if we viewed farm animals with the respect if not the love we give our pets.
I wish at some point when there is a lull in the animal behavior topics, (as if that is likely to happen!) that Trish would give a lesson in sheep breeds on her farm.
Good luck to Dorothy, I hope all will be well with her.
rheather says
Baby sheep are terribly, terribly cute! And Dorothy needs to get to work and have those babies. Hope the vet helps-maybe she’ll pop them out just when the vet arrives just to spite you!
I’ve stolen Gina at PetConnection’s phrase for my goats. They’re pet livestock. They’re few enough that I name them and know them as individuals, but still realize that their ultimate goal in life is my freezer.
I can’t wait for the next D word post-and I’ll catch up to more comments while I’m waiting.
Sarah says
I find myself discussing the “pets or not” question frequently–we have seven goats, all with names and no job but to eat and not be eaten. They’re wethers and does, so no breeding even. Of course, to my neighbors with real livestock operations, they’re clearly pets, but to me, they’re not. Sometimes I say that it’s because my pets come in the house. In truth, I think that, for me, a pet implies more of an emotional connection for both of us–and really, the goats would be just as happy without me as with me.
Loving the lamb pictures!
Dan says
Venessa said “Don