New Lambs

Charlee... on Easter I left Charlee in a jug while we went to my brothers in town. When we got home she had lambed and gave me a ewe and a ram. He has white around his face and will fade,ag, like his Mom


Charlees ewe is katmoget, my first ever. Very light almost white with brown points. She has Shirly Temple curls so should have a wavy crimped fleece like Charlee.

Oma lambed on the morning of April 6th she also had twins, one ram and one ewe lamb. I was here to see the birth but there is 'trouble in paradise' reminiscent of my lambing in 2008! Excuse me but OH SHIT! I'll talk more about Oma in another post. This little guy is a katmoget also. His sister was a dark brown.

Hattie's lambs were born on the evening of April 5th. She had a black ram and a black ag ewe lamb. The ewe lamb has a white spot on each side of her body right by her front elbows. So she is spotted, but by the time her color all fades she won't show her spots!

"I see a goat Mom."

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny was here early this morning. Two ram lambs from Desert Peach Bella and Stonehaven Watson! These are Watson's first babies. Bella's third set of twins. More information when I have more time.

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New Sheep

Meet Stonehaven Duncan! He came from Tammy Knights in Washington state down to Laura in Walton, Oregon last week. Laura came to Reno for a Labor Day Fest at Sharon' s house right down the street from us. His first evening was spent in a pen close to the ewe's and wethers. By the next day he was able to go in with the boys and did not butt heads even one time. Duncan is such a gentleman that he payed no attention to the others. The boys, four wethers and two ram lambs all give him a wide berth. With horns like this and a great presence Duncan has earned his way to the top of the pecking order by just looking their way!

Rocco was peeved because till yesterday he had the biggest horns.
Bella and Stevie her lamb were cautious about this new guy right in the next pen.
Then at the fair I was gifted with this darling ewe lamb, fluffy one in the lead, made by Carolyn Thompson. She made some of the sweetest little lambs with yarn and wool.

Lambs, Lambs and

... more lambs! Easter Sunday began with a early morning check to the barn where I found Jorja "Ray" with her new large single ram. Healthy strong and legs that are almost as long as his Moms. He looks like Zorro with his identical eye patches. Jorja is an independent "Wild Child" who after only a few hours in her jug broke out and joined the flock with baby in tow. He's doing great!

Easter Sunday is our family holiday. My brother, sister-in-law, Mother and son Dana came for a day in the country. They were able to see two lambs and we kept an eye on Oma as she looked ready to lamb. Soon it was time to eat and visit so Oma was forgotten for a few hours. After 4:00 in the afternoon I did another barn check and Oma "Jean" had her two lambs dry and fed. One ewe and one ram lamb. This is the best picture I got with all three. The ram and his sister look the same only less white. This is the ram. It's a shame I will loose all this color as most of my sheep carry the Ag gene. This ram lamb has the light brown around his belly and legs.

All went well Sunday then this morning at the 4:30 AM barn check Bella (Portabella, her Mom is a Truffle) was out on the grass with two new lambs a ram and a ewe. So far three sets of twins and even number on ewe's and rams. One ewe lamb died and one single ram.

Altho this ewe lamb is pink from birthing fluids she is almost like the ewe lamb who died. Not gulmoget but dark brown over her back and light brown on her legs and belly. Her legs are not as light as the first lamb.

Now the best news of all! Bella is the ewe who had two blind lambs last year. Oma had one blind/sick lamb die and a healthy ewe lamb, and Hattie and Jorja had a one in four chance of having blind lambs because their father is Dugan. All have healthy happy lambs so I venture to say that the lambs sire Cider (Newton and Limerick) does not carry the gene that caused all the trouble last year.

Feel Good Fiber and More About Lambs

Thursday I had a surprise visit from Becky bringing good will and presents! She is sharing some of her fiber from Terry Mendenhall with me and it's washed! I can't wait to felt a sample. Thank you Becky very thoughtful of you! Something like giving beer to an alcoholic!


The thiamine and B-Complexe are helping my Bella twins! I was a bit affraid of the reactions I got from the three lambs who received the 1/4/cc thiamine and 1/4 cc B-Complexe IM one died and the other two after about 8 hours, this was 11 at night when I went to check them, they looked like two pin-ball sheep bouncing around their jug and the boy was spinning circles like the few that died! Wow, what next? I did not give them the second dose of B's. This really had me freaked out. By 3 in the morning when I checked again they were sleeping with their Mom. One thing that had me concerned was these two lambs running around in the middle of the night, but then again when your blind who knows if it's dark or light?

I will be home now for the next six days. I started the twins on 1/4cc B-Complexe every eight hours (but I held back to every twelve) for a couple days. They do start to crash if they don't get the B vitamins regularly.

Friday now both lambs are getting around fairly well and now I find this dangerous, two blind lambs and a ewe that all want to get out and explore. Bella wants to graze with the other ewes also. All in all Bella has been a very patient mother. Next step, will they ever see? I was poking at the little ewe's eye and thought she reacted or did I hit her eyelash? It's now Saturday and I'm going to cut down on how often they get B-Complexe. The twins act fairly normal, they still want to sleep more then healthy lambs and after a injection ,sub Q, of B-Complexe or thiamine they are much more active. More than is normal, I think. I'm cutting back on B vitamines and will give them just one more shot.
Maddies lamb went to the state lab yesterday. Please let there be answers. The vet will come soon I hope to draw blood from a few ewes.

Now talking genetics, someone quoted me from "Sheep Diseases" by Eddie Straiton a problem that has the same symptoms as my lambs some lambs have mild cases and can be raised up for butcher. Most die. This is said to be genetic and is called "daft lamb disease". I can't find much about it.
I use one ram at a time. I'm using my third ram. I kept ram #2 for two breeding seasons. I have more ewe's than I can breed in one year so I alternate ewe's from year to year. Last year ram #2 bred a ewe, last set of twins born in June he jumped the fence, this ewe had one lamb born normal and her twin died very fast in a few hours. Fast walking in circles till she fell over and died. I gave the lamb B-Complexe but she acted like my last ram born (Maddies) and died fast!

This last fall I used a new ram #3 and he is breeding all my now two year old ewe's from ram #2, plus some foundation sheep I have and a few total out crosses from ram #1. I bred 11 ewe's this fall. I bought ram#2 and ram#3 from different breeders but found out that they have a common ancestor and I didn't much care. The father of #2 is the grandfather of #3 so some of the ewe's I bred this year and my new ram have a common grandfather. In the past years line breeding my other sheep and goats has been good for me and I have never had any problems. Just don't get to carried away and breed too close!
Now this year so far all ewe's that have lambed are daughters of ram #2. With babies sired by ram #3. So just maybe or if this could be genetic, if it takes the dam and the sire to carry a recessive gene and both pass it on to their lambs I could have the right, or wrong, combination in my sheep.

Five ewe's have lambed who had sick lambs. Nine lambs were born and three of those lambs are normal and healthy in every way. Go figure!

Lambing Summary

I want to keep a log of this years lambings. So far it's sad and I'm having a hard time typing this out. Started with Oma on March 28th she had twins a ewe and a ram in the late afternoon. The ram was circleing and appeared blind, he died by the next morning. The ewe lamb is healthy happy and is a chunk like her Mom!

On March 30th we gave the remaining 10 ewe's that are bred a Bo-Se shot, a B-Complexe shot and some A,D,E paste. Later last week I started putting an electralite powder with A,D,E thiamine etc in one of their water buckets and they do drink it up most everyday.

On April 1st Tess had twins two ewes one is fine and the other showed the same symptoms as the first ram only she was more relaxed ate well for a few days, was blind the whole time received some Bo-Se and B-Complexe but on about the fourth day just wanted to sleep, laying up-right with head back looking very comfortable. She died her 7th day. I did feed her with an eyedropper she peed and pooed the entire time.

Now, the picture above are the lambs born yesterday to Bella, dark colored ram and a ewe. They were born April 14 in the afternoon and I was there to watch the birth. Both came head first and I helped the first lamb just to help things go easier for Bella. She is a two year old first time lamber. Lambs look normal at birth and once they are up they became a bit frantic thinking they are alone because both are Blind!! With a quite voice they calm down and nurse like any other new born. The little ram is active nurses well and starts his circling when he becomes lost. The ewe lamb this morning has not nursed, she wants to lay and sleep under the heat lamp. I gave both babies 1/4 cc of A,D,E injectable yesterday.
All three ewe's were bred to the same ram and have the same father. I'm working with a vet and some friends who breed animals and only one other person has come forth with this same problem. I will have a necropcy done and this other lady is sending me her necropcy results to compare. She never did get direct answers to her lamb problems and all her lambs died. Not a good scenario.
That's enough, I need a Kleenex and a towel to dry my keyboard and someone with some answers!