Sarah Jane Humke

Last night there was yet another set of twins born on the farm.  This time a little set of ewes.  I just happened to be there as Ellie started giving birth so I hung around to make sure that everything went ok.

Lord, should I ever have babies of my own, please allow me to give birth with the grace and speed that my sheep do.  That is all, thank you.

The lambs were trying to stand almost immediately after birth.  They were solidly on their feet within about fifteen minutes of being born.

Watching this whole process, I was once again reminded what being a flock animal really means.  During the birth and directly after, Ellie and her new offspring were visited by all the main matriarchs (who didn’t already have lambs) and “patriarchs” (the wethers) and briefly sniffed and viewed.  They clearly came to welcome the newest additions to the flock.  A lot of the soon-to-be first-time mothers also came, but Ellie clearly didn’t want them getting too interested in her newborns.  It makes sense as some ewes close to birth try to steal other ewe’s newborns and keep them as their own.

While I was sitting and watching, I had a few visitors swing by too.  Missy came to say hello and get some chin scratches.

She was one of the first lambs born on the farm and is as friendly as her mama, Mable, is.  She allowed me to feel her tummy to see if she was simply fluffy or, in fact, preggers.  I really am hoping that it’s the latter, otherwise she will be going on a diet.

Greyson also stopped by.  He’s usually more standoffish than this so I took the opportunity to get a good close-up of him.

I went around and checked on the the rest of the new arrivals before bed.  We were expecting a pretty good thunderstorm and I wanted to make sure that everyone was doing ok before it hit.

The look she’s giving me is totally, “Don’t you dare wake them!”

Seriously, this little lamb is just so sure of herself, it’s just killing me!

I went out this morning to check on everyone and the ewe twins were doing great despite having a major thunderstorm just hours after being born.

(The second lamb is reclining by the tire to the left.)

For the folks keeping score at home, we’ve had five ewes give birth with four sets of twins and one single.  There are now five ewe lambs and four ram lambs frolicking about.