Melody’s lamb has been adopted.  On Saturday evening, daughter Tracy and her partner Mike came to visit, and they left with the lamb in a box, a big bucket of lamb milk replacer, and a beer bottle with a rubber nipple on it.

It wasn’t easy for Tracy to take this on. She knows the magnitude of the responsibility.  But Mike assured her that he will pitch in, and they decided to go for it.  They already have a goat, a horse, ducks, chickens, and pigs.  The sheep will round the barnyard out perfectly!

The sales pitch:  purebred Romney, excellent wool potential, could be bred to start a flock, great lawnmower, and of course excellent lamb chops if all else fails!

Tracy considering adoption of the Bummer Romney

Marilyn’s account of Feb 27
We had planned that I would come home from work during the noon hour, take John to a medical appointment that requires someone to drive you home.  I would return to work for a few hours until John summoned me to take him home.
But at the last flock check just before I arrived, John was shocked: Roberta was in the stall, on her back, legs flailing. He called me to tell me she was in labor. He would have to drive himself to the clinic, I would tend to Roberta, then arrive at the clinic by 4:00 to pick him up. We could deal with his car later.
When I first glimpsed Roberta, it looked as if she were having convulsions.  She was FLAT on her back, hind legs extended like sticks. You NEVER see sheep on their backs. Their inflexible spine just doesn’t allow it. But there she was. I ran for the house, clothes and shoes flying as I switched to farm gear. Grabbed a bucket and towels and a gallon jug of propylene glycol which is used to treat pregnancy toxemia.
In the stall, I could see little hooves and part of a nose.   I tugged on the hooves and two legs easily pulled out.  I followed the nose up and around to grasp the head and began to pull.  Roberta had a big contraction.  Before John was out the driveway, I was laying a lamb next to Roberta’s head.  She licked it frantically.  Having dealt with that, I could pause and evaluate Roberta’s situation.  It seemed the stall is not completely level, and somehow she had laid on her side with her legs pointing slightly uphill.  I tried to roll her up in the direction her feet pointed [her right side], but it seemed impossible–very heavy pull downhill.  I wondered, would it help if I just rolled her over onto her left side?  I tried it and over she went.  In seconds she was on her feet, happily licking that huge, strong lamb who was already on his feet.  Suddenly she looked just fine, no longer on the verge of death.

But she was laboring again.  Once again there were feet and a nose, and again I pulled when she pushed.  Another fine lamb, but it was limp.  The cord must have been pinched during those long minutes on her back.  I cleared the airway, patted the chest in a version of lamb CPR, swung the lamb by its hind legs, but all to no avail. Roberta tried too, licking her for a long time. She could not be revived.  We are so happy that Roberta is OK and that she has a fine strong lamb.  So that is how our afternoon began.  In the photo you can see Roberta licking her second lamb.

Sigh of relief.  I went inside and made some toast for lunch.  Then I returned to the barn, dealt with the stillborn lamb, dipped the navel, weighed the big boy –14 lbs! — and took Roberta into the lambing pen.  That is when I noticed Melissa standing around, looking preoccupied, not chewing her cud.  I watched her back hunch with a big contraction.  Soon I would need to depart for Beaverton to pick John up.  Next time I looked Melissa had gone into the main stall.  I closed the gate to keep her there and keep the other sheep out and departed.

Two hours later, we are back.  John has had a small snack and seems fully recovered from the fasting and the anesthetic they gave him.  Melissa has a huge water balloon protruding.  We strategize:  divide the big stall into two smaller ones, and use one for the “nursery” which suddenly has six lambs and three ewes, soon to be nine lambs and five ewes.  We will add chicken wire to the gate so lambs don’t accidentally end up out in the pasture without their mothers, then we will build the dividing wall, and meanwhile we will monitor Melissa and put her in the lambing pen when the time is right.  Up to the garden shed to find the chicken wire.  To the barn to cut it into lengths.  Zip ties to attach it to the gate.  A quick peek into the main stall:  oh look, Melissa has given birth to a lamb!  They look fine, we will deal with them when the fence work is done.

John cleans out the pen and we add fresh straw.  Melissa happily follows her lamb into the pen.  We begin moving fence panels into the main stall so we can construct the dividing wall.  Meanwhile Melissa lies down and makes a sound.  Next time I look there is a big lamb, still wrapped in its amniotic sac, lying behind her.  Clear his mouth, drag him up to his mom’s nose, and get out of there so she can bond with him and keep licking both her lambs.  The photo shows Melissa laboring.

Back to the stall remodeling, then dinner and a little break.  I sit in my chair with the heating pad–my back is still not fully recovered from a fall in the stall a month ago.  Around 10:00 we check the barn.  Another ewe, ear tag 1105, is pawing the ground in the corral.  We watch her contort with strong contractions, but there is no outward evidence of lambs as of 11:15.  We enclose her in the main stall and go to bed.  zzzzzz  At 4:00 a.m. I go over to check on her.  Twins!  Looks like the second one has just been born and mom is very busy licking.  Back to bed, they are safe inside the stall for now.  6:00 a.m. and it’s time to get up.  The lambing pens are occupied and we have another set of twins.   John says, “let’s plan this.”  Before we shower we are in the barn, dipping navels and weighing, gently releasing Roberta and her day-old lamb so that Betsy and her twins can move into the special pen.  Finally we can open the main stall for the rest of the flock and feed them their breakfast!   So that is six deliveries in 16 hours.  Nothing at all compared to the huge sheep operations you see in the valley or in Australia and New Zealand.  But something special for Wetland Wool.

Ruth and her girls.

When I started this blog post, “half done” meant that half the ewes have lambed.  But because of Miss 1105 [Is it Betsy?  I can't remember] we are at 60%, 6 of 10 ewes have had their lambs.

On the 21st, Carole had her twins while John was away at weaving school. Big strong boys, 11.75 and 10.25 pounds. Carole was born in 2005 and these are lambs 10 and 11 for her. She is a good mother and knows the routine. On the 22nd, Rebecca went into labor. This was her very first lambing [she was born in 2011] and she had two big boys also, 12.25 and 11.25 pounds. She labored long and hard, with John standing by to assist if needed. Everything went well! She is fiercely protective as first time mothers often are.

Over the weekend there were no new lambs. We had time to give shots, band tails, and make sure moms were fed. So how did we miss it that the male triplet was not eating? John gave them all some supplemental milk replacer on that first day, when Ruth’s colostrum was very thick and her milk had not yet come in. All three lambs took it eagerly and seemed strong. Soon the two girls lost interest in the bottle but the boy always approached whenever we got into the pen. The problem was, we had other things to do, and we needed to sleep at night….by Sunday, it was evident that he was going to continue sleeping for good. We are sad to lose him, but it certainly makes things easier for Ruth and her twins. There is one lamb for each spigot, happy little girls bouncing around. As of the 26th, every time Ruth lies down for a rest, they climb up onto “Ruth mountain” and leap off, chasing each other around their mother.

This is the way it goes with lambing:  joy and sorrow, confidence and confusion.  The shepherd is part of the rhythm of life, sees that birth is not a moment but a process, confronts the very thin line that separates life and death.  The sheep, unconcerned, carry on.

Wetland Wool Farm is back! We have always been here, just got really busy and lost touch, so to speak.
The year 2012 was unique in that we had no lambs for the first time since 1988 when we first got sheep.

Ringo, who seemed such a promising young ram, had to go back to his breeder, and then to market. He had seemed interested in the ewes and made the same clumsy initial efforts we have seen with all our young rams, apparently consummation just did not happen.  There is only one use for unproductive rams….lamb-burger.
Enter Robert, another ram lamb from the same breeder. Only once was he observed consorting with a ewe [Ruth]. But 5 months later, they were all waddling around with bulging bellies.  Here is an example.

On the morning of February 20, John went out to feed the sheep and noticed Ruth was slow to get up and come to the feeder.  Unusual for her–she likes her alfalfa.  We had our oatmeal, then Marilyn went out to check the sheep before leaving for work and there was Ruth, busily licking a lamb.  Dashed back to the house, changed shoes and coat, summoned John.  He opened up the lambing pen and placed the newborn lamb inside.  Ruth followed immediately, but there was already a “water balloon” emerging, soon followed by a second lamb.  This one was a bit bigger, so Marilyn took hold of the little hooves, reached in to feel the nose and forehead, and pulled when Ruth pushed.  Two pushes and he was out.  We set up feed and water and secured the pen.  Marilyn went inside to change shoes and coat, came out to leave for work when John shouted that there was more labor going on.  Back inside, change to farm shoes and coat, and by the time she was back in the barn the third lamb had arrived.  Finally, navels were dipped, noses cleared, and all seemed relatively peaceful.  The lambs weighed 7, 9.5, and 8.25 pounds.  Ruth was carrying almost 25 pounds of babies!

Having posted photos of their fleeces, it seems only fair to include portraits of the sheep who provided that lovely wool.

Here is Ruth with one of her twins last year.   She is five years old, born in 2007.

Here is Melissa.  She was born in 2008.

Last Friday [May 18] it was warm and had been dry for nearly two weeks.  John spoke to Beth Myton, our shearer extraordinaire, and they planned to start shearing that morning even though I would not be there to assist.

We enclosed the sheep the night before, located the clear plastic bags, hoof trimmers, wound treatment [for nicks], and the big sheet of plywood to be used as a shearing platform.  Next morning they were able to shear 8 sheep and trim the two wethers.  The fleeces are enormous, with no breaks.  All the energy that might have gone to lambs went to wool!

So far, Melissa has the best fleece.  After picking out all the straw and veggie matter and tossing the belly wool, the fleece weighs 11.5 pounds!  Since Romneys don’t produce a lot of lanolin, after washing it will weigh about 8 pounds. That is miles and miles of yarn.  The staple length is 6 inches, the crimp is lovely, and it shines.

Ruth also enjoyed having no twins to raise.  Her natural colored fleece is full of shiny silver, soft brown, and charcoal gray locks.  The wire table is 5 feet x 10 feet so it’s easy to see that this ewe has produced a lot of wool:  12 lbs 4 oz after skirting!

In April we began to believe in Spring again!  The sheep are happy with just one feeding of alfalfa [gourmet sheep food] because the grasses are leaping up and full of nutrients.  Without lambs to feed, the ewes are getting rather rotund on this lush diet.  They also have a lot of wool and I expect it to be excellent, though all the March rain makes it look stringy.  These youngsters are about 14 months old.