- Date of update Dec 17, 2023
- # of lambs born — 15
- # of ewes who have delivered babies – 8
- # of ewes still pregnant – 23-29, I don’t think they are all pregnant
- # single lamb births – 2
- # twin lamb births – 5
- # triplet lamb births – 1
- # tagged weathers (neutered boys) – 9
- # tagged female lambs – 1
- # of bummer lambs – 1
- # of lambs who died in first two weeks – 4
- Total # of lambs on farm – 10
- % birthing rate – 188%
- % of production rate – 125%
- % survival rate at birth – 100%
- % survival rate at 2 weeks (bummers count as death as they need help and leave the farm) – 67%
- # ewes with clipped ears for culling – 3
Well it has been a long week, we had all of our triplets die. We are still not sure of the exact cause. We switched the supplement we were feeding the newborns as we cannot get any more locally. We have ordered more and will be switching back to giving the supplement the first day of a lamb’s life. We are hoping that the supplement change is the correction we need. The latest twin mother forgot one of the lambs and after being in the jug with them she rejected one lamb so we had to bummer it out. All of this and no more births has totally tanked the 2 week survival rate and our production rate. The sheep are deciding to take another break in birthing. I am hopeful that we will not go another three weeks before lambs start to appear again. The sheep come into a fertility cycle every 3 weeks.
We have installed our creep feeder into a section of the momma/baby area. It has been two days and no lambs are going in to eat yet. I am hopeful that the lambs will discover it soon, as it takes quite a load off of the momma sheep.
To correct our lamb survival rate we are clipping the ear of any ewe that loses a lamb this round. We will cull every single one of them this spring. We have more ewes than we currently want and this should help stabilize our survival rate. We will know next year.
Since we are both going to work early now, I have been getting up at 0345 to go out to the barn and take care of all the sheep and any new lambs. Annmarie is now doing the evening chores as it fits in better with her new work schedule. I feed the cows and the boys in Alcatraz every other day.
Stewart Creek Somethings 