This ewe delivered a nice healthy ram lamb last night at 10:30. It was about five days earlier than we were expecting. But, Mother Nature does not follow a calendar!
It is still VERY cold here, so we threw a lamb wool-over on him (yes, that is what they are called and what he is wearing!) Just a play on words with pull-over sweater.
It was -27°C outside (-38° with the wind chill) and our barn is not heated so we had to hang a heat lamp above baby and mom.
Baby is now a day old and doing fine. Wool-over comes off tomorrow.
Awh, nothing to beat a newborn lamb :-) Cute factor very high! Our tup (ram) has just been removed from the ewes, so we have another four months to wait for our lambs.
@kathyladley Thanks for your interest!
We have Rideau Arcott ewes. They were developed here in Canada - right here in Ottawa, our nation's capital and only an hour from where we live.
Yes, we always lamb in the barn, summer or winter. And, we do lamb year around (we aim for 4 lambings a year).
Good news though. The cold snap is now over, and we are supposed to be in for some real warm weather this week. Bad news - its supposed to rain! That is not good when it goes back to more normal winter weather - that means ice everywhere.
@kathyladley These are meat lambs and their fleece is not worth much. I have been toying with the idea of trying to get the hides back from the abattoir but that may not be feasible since most abattoirs do not want to take the time to properly skin the lambs. The hides might have too many cuts in them to be of any value.
Each ewe will lamb out 3 times in a two year period. We have divided our ewes into three separate flocks (breeding units) so by planning our breeding cycles we can be lambing year around.
It saves work for us - and it means we have lamb available for sale year around as well.
We have Rideau Arcott ewes. They were developed here in Canada - right here in Ottawa, our nation's capital and only an hour from where we live.
Yes, we always lamb in the barn, summer or winter. And, we do lamb year around (we aim for 4 lambings a year).
Good news though. The cold snap is now over, and we are supposed to be in for some real warm weather this week. Bad news - its supposed to rain! That is not good when it goes back to more normal winter weather - that means ice everywhere.
Does their wool sell well?
Each ewe will lamb out 3 times in a two year period. We have divided our ewes into three separate flocks (breeding units) so by planning our breeding cycles we can be lambing year around.
It saves work for us - and it means we have lamb available for sale year around as well.