152 Lambs

It is a beautiful day here in western Massachusetts. A good day to be a sheep farmer. Should be in the 30's which is perfect - the ground won't melt and become a mucky quagmire but it's not so cold that you mind being outside. It's all about the weather here.

I love this photo of No. 10 following The Farmer across the field this morning. We are only raising two bottle lambs in the barn (and No. 84 at our house). No. 10 certainly thinks The Farmer is his Mama.


This morning we had to take care of a ewe who has a vaginal prolapse. She's a two year old and is raising a nice lamb. Unfortunately, she's got this condition which as a woman, I can only imagine how awful it is. She is stubborn as all get out and the hardest part of the whole procedure was getting her into the barn. I won't bore you with the gory details. I could but I think everyone of you would head for the hills unless you were a nurse, doctor, or used to farm life. We used this tool called a bearing retainer to push the prolapse back in. She is now out and about but we will see how she does. All I can say is I never thought I'd be doing this kind of thing early in the morning on February 4, 2010 as a young girl growing up in NJ. It's great to be alive.

Lambing is slowing down somewhat. Most of the mature ewes have already had their lambs. Today, there were two new singles born to young ewes. They both did good and seem to have natural instincts and are caring for their babies just fine.



The lambs are growing so quickly. I took some nice little portraits of sweet faces for you all this morning.


The lambs are starting to get interested in hay and continually pick around the bales and try it out.

This little guy must have eaten something considering he has a blade of hay hanging out the side of his mouth.

The sun is getting so much higher in the sky and I can actually feel winter coming closer to disappearing into spring. Soon the woods will be full of people checking their "lines" making sure everything is all set for the sap to run and sugaring to begin. I can only imagine the work that is being done at the different little sugar houses that dot the countryside. Williams Farm is opening the end of February for their annual stint of pancakes and boiling sap into syrup. It never gets old.