and not long after started exploring the paddock with mum.
The ewe had chosen a beautiful and sheltered place to lamb, under a large tree out of the wind.
She'd dug a little nest of soil for her lamb.
By afternoon, both mother and child looked well and well at home.
At midday, we noticed another ewe leave the herd and find a spot among the tall reeds to have her lamb. By 2.30pm, after a lot of pacing and digging of the ground and straining the second lamb had arrived. I had the privilege of watching the whole process through binoculars from a distance. I must say I cheered when the lamb's little head was visible and cried out, "come on, one more push"!
So that's 2 down, another 36 ewes to go!
We had put in a lot of preparation for the arrival of the lambs, we had some fencing put in to make smaller paddocks suitable for lambing.
The ewes also put in some effort to welcome their babies by yarn bombing parts of the fence.
We hung plastic bags and a fox light along the fence to distract foxes.
Welcome little lambs! May your mother answer your little bleat and may the grass grow beneath your feet.
Ow! It is going to be fun watching all the sweeties grow and play :)
ReplyDeleteToday the first born was pogo-ing on all four legs. Very , very cute.
DeleteOh my goodness! I love that black head and white little body. So cute.
ReplyDeleteI am of course biased, but I like a coloured sheep. I do like the Dorper's black or chocolate brown cowl.
DeleteAw they are so adorable
ReplyDeleteThey are aren't they? Love their little black faces and contrasting white bodies.
DeleteIt seems like every week you have a new "first" happening on your farm, it must be an amazing experience for you. Best wishes for the other 36!
ReplyDeleteI am having fun!
DeleteFour lambies in total now and despite the Sheep Grazier's Alert-type weather - not at all suitable for lambing - all seem to be doing very well. Their mothers are very attentive and shelter their little babes very well.
Can you tell me about your fox light? We heard strange animal sounds a week or so ago that I took to be possums, but a conversation on the weekend with someone who has lost many chickens to foxes makes me think that the sounds was actually a fox trying to get into our backyard. Is it a special light? What colour is the globe? I'm thinking I should hang something like it in the garden just in case.
DeleteHi, yes, sure. The name of the product is 'Foxlights' The box has this website on it - www.foxlights.com. I bought it from my local Agstock store, not sure if you have Agstock in Victoria, but you might have an Elders or a Landmark? Anyway one of those rural produce stores will probably have them. I bought it becasue a woman I knew who had free-range chooks used them. You can see a picture of it in the posting above.
DeleteJust one thing... are you thinking of using it in the country or city garden? The reason I ask is that I think that it is really only suitable for a rural property. Basically it flashes all sorts of different coloured lights randomly. If you put it on in the city, your neighbours would be wondering about the light shows you put on each night. The globes are part of the light, all you add it the battery.
From our experience, foxes sound pretty much like a dog when they bark. They do bark, we find they bark here at dusk, especially at the moment, there are kind of grown up pups around, or were around, we have also had 9 shot around here lately.
For the record, I have not had any trouble with foxes so far despite having free-range chooks and brand new baby lambs. We do tie plastic bags and other flappy things on the fence line and we do have one fox light. I think next year I will buy another light - just becasue the area is big and my lambs are worth protecting.
Good luck!
Thanks Louise. Yes it would be for the City Garden, so sounds like it's not really the right product! I'm pretty confident a fox couldn't get into our yard, but I might add a bit of floppy wire to the top of the fence just in case. So good to hear you haven't had any problems with foxes, hope the lambing is continuing to go well.
DeleteGosh you do sound like a very proud non-sheepy mum, well done. Interesting info about the fox light.
ReplyDelete