SSN 2021 Kidding Thread

Aww, wish I had some lambs to show. I just want to see some cute babies already(Thankfully lots of other kidding threads seem to be starting so I have lots to keep me occupied!)

Rained all night, supposed to go for at least another 8 hours. Pasture and barn is flooded. No more straw so I had to dig a bunch of dirt out from under the hay shed. Made an area just big enough that everyone can be on high to be dry. I filled the chicken coop(where I have winnie for now) with a bunch of pine shaving I had so she is high and dry. You would think perfect time to pop them out! Nope, she seems pretty normal again. Udder seems a little bigger but nothing else. I did find ligaments so I think between the wool and them being low I just managed to miss them. Oh well! Day 146. 147 is what I heard is the usual day they go, so hopefully tomorrow!

Then about 55 days until the other girls start. Should start seeing some bellies get bigger soon! Bubble already seems a lot bigger so I am wondering if she has another set of quads in there.

 

Oh no. You shouldn't show me stuff like that! Guess it is time to make some popcorn and multitask watching that and ewe cam! Thank you! I will definitely watch it later!

Usually we don't have this much rain until early Feb. I would have preferred snow, but muddiness aside at least it watered the pasture! I will have to go seed it before if freezes up again.

 

Day 147 the most common date for them to lamb, according to everything I read anyway. I do remember she was bred at night so technically day 147 won't be until around 8 tonight

She is acting pretty normal. Udder feels bigger. Borderline tight, but not quite there. She was very swollen in the back end and her ligament area felt waay lower. Not enough for me to get excited yet, but enough to keep me hovering and peeking in the camera.

Ugh, these last few days always seem sooo much longer than the almost 5 months to get here! I wouldn't be so worried about it, but this is Winnies first lambs, Cowpokes first lambs, and my first lambs! I just want to be able to get a good feel for what it is like and make sure everything goes smoothly.

Here is her udder from this morning

 

Oh yes! I already follow her. She is awesome! That is where I got my CIDR protocol from.

 

I am hoping to! She has a nice udder, and I am honestly curious what it will taste like. A neighbor I had a while back had a couple East Friesians and I found out from her that they are a dairy breed(I never even knew there was dairy breed of sheep). Now, she moved away after a year and never did breed them before they were sold. So I didn't get to try it. I even got a EF Ewe on a bottle about 4 years back. I was super excited and she was a sweetheart! Sadly she had a horrible, horrible death by a pig at 4 weeks old. That was my only sheep experience up until mid/late 2019 when I got Winnie and the 3 others.
This was my first sheep and pretty little ewe, Samantha. Only picture I got of her as she wasn't here very long

 

I feel like that will be me one day Tiny little house I spend no time in, but a big ol pasture with 200 goats!

 

Getting there. Day 148(or 147 depending how you look at it)

Her udder I would say is tight, or at least very dang close. It is like a perfectly round beach ball. She was also really wanting to stay outside this morning, which was strange because everyone else was in the barn. Still eating though and acting pretty normal. I would say maybe tonight, but probably tomorrow.

 

Aww, it is always so special when you can dinally win the over. These guys I have are all fairly sweet, but I am used to dairy goats so in comparison they are like a House cat VS a feral. They will eat out of my hands and I can touch them if they are eating, but no way I can catch them without a chase.

They are kind like a hobby I guess. Goats are my thing, that is what I am almost always focused on. Sheep are kinda like a little side of some wool, and maybe in the future, meat(depending if I let the Suffolk ewe raise a ram up). Kinda just doing it for fun. If this wasn't everyone's first time I would probably just let her go and completely do her thing, but because it is a first I want to be there and get a feel for how it all goes down. If she has more than 1 lamb I think I may pull one as well. Just so I can add a more friendly one to the herd that I can kinda work with.

 

She is definitely in labor. Lots of pawing, yawning, up and down, staring into space, and looking behind herself. Should have lambs in the next few hours!