Birchtree Farm

I've been lax at updating so here is some of what has been going on, in random order:

Yesterday we scored a huge pile of used metal roofing from Freecycle. Woohoo! We are going to be building a woodshed, and used metal roofing is just fine. Plus, any leftovers can be used for roofs on hayfeeders. Hurray for Freecycle!

All the ewes were sheared and then moved over to the summer pasture with their lambs. We kept the ram here and also the bottle lamb, Oliver. We only have the one ram here (Umbri) along with Oliver. They are doing OK with each other for company. Oliver is getting big and spunky! Here is Umbri pre- and post-shearing, and Oliver learning how to graze.

The oldest of our two rams sadly had to be put down. He had gotten an infection in his front teeth, and we didn't notice it for quite some time as he wasn't acting any differently. Not until a couple of his teeth fell out was it apparent. He ate fine but I think the infection got into his circulation and he couldn't shake it, even with antibiotics. We were going to butcher him this summer, but the way he went, we didn't feel comfortable even using him for dog food, so we had to dig a very large hole.

On a happier note, recently I have updated our farm website with pictures of lambs for sale so venture on over to Birchtree Farm if you'd like to take a look!

Of course, I have also been working on getting a garden in. I started tomatoes (three heirloom varieties: Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and Giant Pink Belgium), peppers, eggplant, broccoli, and cabbage indoors in early April. The cabbage and broccoli went out into the garden a few weeks ago. I also planted peas a few weeks ago and they are now up at least a foot high and are climbing the trellis. I got the tomatoes in the ground in mid-May, and the peppers and eggplants in on Memorial Day, and now have to cover them tonight due to a frost advisory. I've also planted pole beans and two kinds of bush beans, two kinds of beets, and some swiss chard. That filled up the garden, so my lettuces and spinach will have to go into big pots.

On the perennial side of things, I put in two heartnut trees, two beach plum, two aronia (black chokeberry), two different table grape varieties, three lowbush blueberries, two cranberry bushes, and twenty-five Ozark everbearing strawberry plants. Then I whacked the raspberry patch back into it's original boundaries and perhaps later I'll clear out the center and turn it into two rows to make them easier to pick.

Here are the photos of Mixie and her ewe lamb, twin to our bottle lamb.

The remaining lambs came in a final rush on Friday. First, I went out in the morning to check on them, and found most everyone up in the hoophouse as it had been raining. I looked at Mixie as I thought she would be the next one to lamb. But then I notice Anya, with some afterbirth hanging, and she moved a bit and there was a new lamb. This one was a ram, and he was smaller, at 6lbs. Anya is Stefi's sister and also a first time mother, and was doing the same thing as Stefi had done - trying to keep track of the lamb so well that every time he tried to find the udder, she would turn around. So went and got Ken and we held Anya still so the lamb could nurse. I also pulled out about an ounce of colostrum that I had collected from Stefi, and gave that to him in a bottle. So that got him started, and then he and Anya figured things out.

Then, Friday afternoon I went out to feed at about 4:30, and Mixie was just starting hard labor. I watched and a nose and two hooves appeared so I left her to it. She pushed for several minutes and I was wondering if I was going to have to help like I had with Stefi, especially as the toes appeared rather large. But I decided to just let her get on with it and not worry unless she hadn't made any progress after half an hour or so. So I went back to the house and came back down no more than 10 minutes later, and there was the lamb, just delivered! Mixie got up, turned around and started talking to her and cleaning her off. It was a big ewe lamb. She was on her feet within 5 minutes and headed towards her mom with one purpose - get to the udder!

Then I got a bit of a surprise. Mixie was freaking out at this *thing* coming at her, and kept backing up, and when the lamb kept coming, she knocked her down, and then proceeded to start licking and cleaning her again. Of course the lamb got back up and headed towards mom, and mom backed up and backed up, and then knocked her sideways and recommenced talking to her and cleaning her.

It seemed as if Mixie was very happy to have her lamb, as long as the lamb remained on the ground and didn't try to touch her!

So, I moved the lamb into the pen, and got Mixie in as well, and tied Mixie up and got the lamb onto a teat, which was not difficult as the lamb was raring to go. Then I let Mixie go again and watched. Lamb was bleating, Mixie would respond and lick her. Lamb would head for a teat, and Mixie would push her over. Oh boy.

I dashed off a quick email to my Icelandic shepherds email list, and back outside to make sure things were OK. It looked like Mixie was done lambing, and Ken got home and so with both of us it was a bit easier to hold Mixie so the lamb could nurse.

Mixie had delivered the ewe lamb at about 5pm. Between 6:30 and 7pm, suddenly another water bag appeared, and seconds later, another lamb just slid out and hit the ground! It happened so fast that Mixie didn't realize she'd had another lamb! We had to clean off the sac so it could breathe and Mixie sniffed it but as her first lamb was up and active and calling, she kept going back to that one, and totally ignored the second. We were able to get about 3 oz of colostrum from Mixie using the EZ milker, and put it in a bottle and gave it to the new lamb. He drank all 3 oz, and we started drying him off with a towel.

Long story short, we ended up bringing him inside and let Jake finish getting him clean and dry. Dog tongues work as well for that as ewe tongues. :-) We tried getting more colostrum from Mixie, but she would not let down any more milk for us. As the ewe lamb was so big and stocky, and had nursed several times when we held Mixie, we decided to just leave them alone for the night. Darkness and quiet apparently did the trick, because by morning they had things worked out.

So now we have a bottle lamb named Oliver. He weighed almost 7lbs at birth, which is a normal size, and would probably have done fine if Mixie had accepted him. By later that night he was following me around the kitchen like a little wind-up toy. The ewe lamb by the way was 9lbs and both of them have very thick fleece. The ewe lamb is black with some fancy white flashing on her head. It looks like someone dripped white paint on top of her head and some of it ran down behind her ears on both sides. The ram is a black mouflon with a lot of golden "frosting". Eventually we will wether him and keep him as a fiber animal.

I don't have any pictures yet of Mixie and the ewe lamb, but here are a couple of Oliver, living the high life.

One of my two-year-old first time mothers gave birth this morning to a single ewe lamb. I was so relieved to see nose and toes appearing normally after the other day when one lamb was head out with one leg folded and one leg all the way back. However, being a first-timer she was very tight and the skin just didn't want to stretch on its own. I had to keep her pinned down with my knee on her shoulder as she wanted to get up everytime I tried to help, and work the skin up and around the head while pulling on a leg (thanks again Elaine!). Once the head was out she realized the obstruction was removed, gave another strong push and out came the lamb! Then she got up and walked away. I think she was a bit confused or just wanted to get away from me. :-) Eventually she worked her way back around and found the lamb and started cleaning it.

The lamb was up on it's feet within 10 minutes and trying to suckle on anything it could find (my knees, mom's fleece, etc.). Mom is so in love with her baby though that every time the lamb heads towards the udder, she turns around to see where it went. Eventually, I tied mom to a post and got the lamb on a teat for her first drink.

I thought for sure this ewe was going to twin, as she was big as a house. However, this lamb weighs only 7lbs, and she was the only one. The ewe magically deflated.

I went out again a bit later and the lamb was trying to find the udder again, but the ewe kept turning around to see where she was going. So I pinned her against the fence and got the lamb on a teat. Then, I let them go, and they walked to the other side of the pen, and this time, the lamb found a teat on its own, and mom just turned her head to sniff the little wagging tail. Whew! She also started to pass the afterbirth, which nursing helps stimulate. So I hope they have got it all figured out now.

Penny lambed on Sunday afternoon. She went into labor normally, and delivered fairly quickly a small ewe lamb which was up and about in short order. I went back to the house and came out about 15 minutes later and she was starting to deliver a second lamb.

This delivery seemed to be taking longer, and I could see from the size of the nose that the lamb was going to be bigger than the first. I think the lamb was alive at this point but I'm not sure. Eventually the head emerged, but I could not see any feet. Back inside to grab lambing supplies and a phone number and my husband with his cell phone. When we got back out, she was lying down again with the head of the lamb still out and with the first lamb up and bouncing around, and in fact the lamb had made it to the opposite side of the paddock where Onyx's lambs were playing. We called Elaine at Frelsi Farm and left messages at their home and cell numbers.

I got my hand in and the first thing I found was the left knee which was up against the side of the lamb's neck. I was able to straighten the leg and pull it out, and then with my other hand inside applying pressure on the opposite shoulder, and traction on the leg that was out, and a push from the ewe, the lamb slid out. You can deliver a lamb with one leg back if the lamb isn't too big. However, it had been dead for some minutes already if it wasn't in fact stillborn from the beginning. I cleared the mucus from its mouth and tried a few breaths, but it was not to be. It was a ram lamb and bigger than the ewe lamb, but not excessive, probably 8 lbs or so, with small horn buds.

Ken called Elaine back to let them know they didn't need to call us, and we got David on the phone, and then a few minutes later talked to Elaine. Both were very encouraging and helpful and many thanks go out to them.

I did decide to take the pelt from the dead lamb, and also saved meat for the dogs.

The upside is that we have a spunky 7lb ewe lamb bouncing around and getting lots of milk! This is probably our best ewe, so I'm glad that the lamb is doing well. The ewe is an experienced mother and has not had problems before, so we are looking at it as just one of those flukey things that can happen.

Three more to go, and crossed fingers for no more difficulties.