It's amazing to me that after two years of life on our farm, we've yet to welcome any new animals via birth on The Elliott Homestead.
We should have had a calf by now, but since our first cow Kula never was able to get bred, we're still a bit behind on the calving schedule, and will welcome our first calf (hopefully) the end of May.
And though we've got 26 eggs in the incubator, it'll be a few more weeks until our heritage birds make their appearance in the farm.
But this week…
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this week is of a different sort. Because if all goes to plan (which, by the way, is the stupidest statement a homesteader could ever say and makes me feel a fool for even typing it) this week we'll be welcoming our very first Elliott Homestead farm babies onto the farm.
Well, besides the one I gave birth to last summer, of course.
These babies will be much fluffier than Will, will boast a few more legs, and will require much less pain on my part. Poor Rosie, on the other hand, is in for it.
And considering it's Rosie's first time being a mother, I feel even worse about the whole ordeal. Ya'll, we're are preparing for lambing.
I don't care how many times I breed animals…. I still always feel a bit like a pimp.
‘Hey there, Hamish… Did you see that Rosie girl? Looking pretty good ain't she? You want to… well, do you want in on that action?'
Tying poor Sally girl up to the post last summer so that short ol' Hiro could mount her successfully about did me in. I'm so sorry for what I've done, Sally! But I need you to have a baby! Don't judge me. It was for your own good.
But regardless of how slummy it makes me feel, it still must be done. Without breeding there is no milk or meat or babies. And thus, we breed.
Rosie was bred last Fall. At least, that's when I saw Hamish successfully mounting her. Fast forward about five months, and here we are. Rosie's belly is now rotund and extra fluffy. Her udder is beginning to bag up and her poor woman parts are puffy, swollen, and pink.
See?
I remember that part of pregnancy. It sucked. This was the point in pregnancy when I threw myself down on the floor, weepy uncontrollably, begging for the Lord to get to this creature out of me NOW.
Every time I see poor Rosie, I remember those pains and discomforts.
Her time is coming. Any day now, I expect to see her venture off on her own… perhaps stop eating for a bit… and begin the laboring process.
What's that, you say? You've never helped to deliver lambs before and wouldn't have a clue what to do if there was a problem and you're feeling incredibly unprepared because the lambs could come… like now… And you're totally not ready for an emergency?
Me too. Let's prepare together.
Preparing for Lambing
1. Let's start by preparing a nice, dry, warm place for our ewes to have the lambs.
If any problems arise, it will help that she's contained. Our sheep aren't super docile, so if we were to have her in a field, we could be chasing her and causing further problems. I will leave her free to graze with the other sheep until I see real signs of labor. For my shelter, I'm using the empty pig paddock with fresh bedding.
2. Now, let's make sure there's fresh water and hay available for her there to keep her comfortable.
3. Just in case, let's also put together a little lambing box.
This will include:
– Antiseptic spray: filtered water in a squirt bottle with a few drops each of melaleuca, lavender, and OnGuard essential oils
– Scissors: to cut cords, membranes, or anything else
– Nylon Rope: for gently pulling lambs, if necessary
– Milk bottle and lamb nipple, in case something happens to Rosie or we have triplets
– Coconut oil: for lubrication as needed
– The Elliott Homestead notebook: to keep track of lambs weights, sex, etc.
We don't dock our sheep's tails, nor do we castrate the males. So we won't need any of those supplies on hand. And since these lambs will be raised for meat and not registered (they're purebred Katahdin lambs), we won't need to worry about tagging either.
I'm excited for my Rosie girl. With any luck, she'll have a healthy lamb (or lambs!) and be a great mother.
And that's more than any homesteader could ask for.
And Amen.
More posts on Sheep on the farm:
- The Sheep Saga
- Why You Need Sheep
- Preparing for Sheep on the Farm
- How to Butcher a Lamb
- Lambing in Winter
Kate
March 30, 2015 at 10:59 pmI used coconut oil this year and it was a bit fail. Olive oil worked better the next time. Unless you’re using fractionated coconut oil it was like trying to rub a dry bar of soap over my hand, I would chip out a chunk and rub on my hand. We were really far from the house in cold January though. Not so fun.
Shaye Elliott
April 7, 2015 at 12:11 pmAhh – didn’t think about the cold because it’s been so warm here! Great tip, Kate.
delia
March 30, 2015 at 11:03 pmI’ll never forget my first lambing experience!
I was a born and raised city girl who married a farmer.
We bought a flock of 30 bread ews so I wouldn’t have to work off the farm.
Well don’t you know the first ewe went early and hubby was gone all day. Ummmm yup the lamb was stuck 🙁 well I went in and discovered she was stuck because she was sideways. Buy the time I get her out she was gone 🙁
I did another check to be sure there was one . all clear.
A few hours later she still seemed to be laboring. …this time the lamb could be felt when I checked ….but she was dead and a leg was back. Well I got it out but it was a sad day. 🙁 thankfully they didn’t all go that way …..talk about being thrown into the fire that day.
Bobbie
March 30, 2015 at 11:15 pmI also have vitamin e/selenium gel (for the lambs) and molasses (for the momma’s water) to give everyone a bit of a boost, and a bag of powdered colostrum. And the best thing we ever did was get our hands on some videos that teach how to pull lambs because, sure enough, our very first lambs had to be pulled.
Bleaaings on your lambing season! We’ve got two weeks to go here.
Quinn
March 31, 2015 at 7:24 amWe’re on lamb watch here too!! Um… and have been for a month. Cause we just threw the ram in with them and walked away so when I saw our oldest ewe swollen, bagging up a bit, hollowing out on her sides, and the ram sniffing in her stream again (the last 2 reminding me of cow birth) I was SO SURE we penned her up for like 10 days and I faithfully went out checking every few hours (which might have been more to escape the smell of lysol & vomit that permeated the air of our home that week). Not a change, let alone a lamb. Figuring she needed exercise and sunshine, I let her out eventually and decided to watch from the field. Surely it’s got to soon! But otherwise I’ve done nothing other than prepare bedding area, plus we’ve already got iodine for a teat dip for the cows. I’m going to implement some of the suggestions here quick, fast, & in a hurry!
Stephanie
March 31, 2015 at 8:35 amSpring is a miraculous time! Our kidding season already over, but just like every other year i had to assist one new mom. It went well this time. The very first time almost did me in! Three years ago we had one with legs out but head turned toward rear. Had to push it BACK in to turn it around. Awful for me and my poor goat. It was dead, but 2 healthy ones right behind it. Another day of bittersweet on the farm.
Elaine
March 31, 2015 at 12:53 pmWhat an exciting, and nail biting time ! I look forward to seeing pics of the new little one(s) and hearing how it goes. We are in the process of selling our home so we can start our own little homestead. So glad I found your blog as I have found tons of info – meat rabbits etc. I have this easy to read, funny and understandable for those of us who only know a tiny bit about homesteading but dream of starting fresh and being somewhat self sufficient
Allison
March 31, 2015 at 4:01 pmAfter the seriousness of all the posts before it might sound kind of crazy to mention, but my 14 year old brother has been keeping a flock of sheep for a few years and all of his sheep have lambed successfully by themselves. He hasn’t had to intervene in a single birth, and sometimes, didn’t even know he was expecting one! There have probably been about 8 or 10 successful births in all and the only big take away has been that baby sheep are easily trampled, so if you have a bigger herd, it’s good to keep them and mama separated until they get a bit bigger.
Melissa
March 31, 2015 at 8:58 pmWe are waiting for our first time mama sheep to lamb also. I’m certain it will be any minute now, but I’m also waiting for my own little one to come any minute now, so maybe I’m hypersensitive about the whole ordeal. I do keep filling up the ‘birthing house’ with fresh hay but Izzie (the sheep) ignores it and Josie (the guardian donkey) keeps eating all the hay. So far we haven’t had to intervene with the birth of the goats or cows or rabbits or pigs or chickens (just kidding-although we have helped with last little bits of shell every now and then)… Actually, one of our calves was completely rejected by her mama and Andy had to clear the bag off of her face so she could take her first breath and after catching that dead beat mama and milking out her colostrum and bottle feeding that baby, our sweet Jersey girl, Delilah adopted her like a champ. All is well that ends well and I can’t wait to find out how your first lambing/animal birth at Beatha Fonn (hope I got that right) goes!
Corina
April 2, 2015 at 1:06 pmYippie! Welcome to the land of cute baby animals, and the land of “When is she going to have these babies, because I have watched for signs for 24 hours, believing birth is imminent, which means I have to spend tonight in the barn to make sure I’m there when she has the babies!” Nerve wracking! But fun!
Janet
April 2, 2015 at 3:53 pmWe got our Katahdin baby a few weeks ago by accident. Drove several hours to get Big Black heritage hogs.
That family had 2 preemie lambs. They offered them to u I s for free, they didn’t have time for bottle feeding. One died, but the other is thriving. We will be keeping him as a pet only. SUch a sweet baby!!!! I now know why someone wrote a song about Mary’s little lamb following her everywhere!
Heather
April 3, 2015 at 7:23 amBest of luck!!
Shelly Magee
April 3, 2015 at 12:07 pmLove your article! Informative since we don’t have sheep but also very funny. Good luck!
Miley D.
April 3, 2015 at 12:45 pmThis is my second year raising Katahdin sheep. I love the breed – they are such easy keepers. I only had 6 lambs last year – not bad – lost a set of twins as I didn’t know that when a ewe presents the bag of waters – they only have a short time before she should lamb, or you will lose the lamb. I lost a set of twins that way. When I saw my next ewe with the bag presented, but no baby – we grabbed her and helped her deliver the lamb. Then she rejected it – we had to jug her and hold her to let the lamb nurse. She because one of the best momma’s that year.
Roll ahead a year – I now have double the amount of ewes – and sure enough, the same one had issues delivering again – had to help her. She had twins – delivered the first with no issues – had to help her deliver the second – and she rejected him! Also had one yearling that delivered a premie – he was so early his hooves weren’t totally developed. The premie and rejected one are my bottle babies and doing great.
So, yes, I agree – have extra selenium / vitamin E ready – some bottles and replacement milk and replacement colostrum handy – just in case.
And enjoy – little lambs are the sweetest things around and the most fun to watch.. 🙂