Sarah Jane Humke

A Single Holdout

Sarah Jane Humke

May 16, 2018

Nearly done. I have one last lady, Charlotte, to lamb still and then lambing 2018 is in the books. On Monday, my smallest ewe Eva gave birth to a healthy little ram lamb. He was a little surprising, despite the tendency for rams to be white this year.

As his mama is all black…

Still, his birth took a lot of stress out of my life as I was really very concerned about her ability to birth a lamb. I needn’t have worried as she did just fine on her own and is an excellent mother to the little guy.

Nadia, one of my older ewes, gave birth to a lovely little ewe lamb this afternoon. Miss Nadia is a bit of a Eeyore-esqe sheep, always seeming down and depressed. This is simply her nature, and there is nothing wrong with that. Really, what do I know? She may really be the life of the sheep party and the jokester of the flock, but I don’t speak sheep so I will never know. Anyway, she and her little ewe lamb are doing quite well tonight…

Current stats: thirty lambs from twenty ewes. One final ewe left to lamb. Fourteen ewe lambs and sixteen ram lambs. 150% lambing rate.

The view to the West…

Sleeping Beauties

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 15, 2018

Over the weekend, four more lambs were born. First it was twins from Fanny with a ewe/ram pair that were both white! Yay! The little ram is spotted and the ewe is almost entirely white.

I had been a little disappointed by the fact that all my girls had been, up to this point, born dark colored. I know that some of them will lighten-up considerably, and several have already started, but I did want a few white girls to add to the flock this year.

So imagine my surprise when Miss Charlotte went and had another little white ewe lamb shortly thereafter!

Miss Rosie was next that evening having a darling little ram lamb under the chicken coop. I didn’t get to introduce myself to him for a while as his mama was keeping him cooped-up under the coop.

The weekend was a little cold and rainy for the most part. However, that didn’t stop the bees from getting out and hustling.

The lambs played a lot. Pretty much massive run-arounds with twenty or so lambs tearing around the field like an ardorable, bah-ing, moto-cross race. After the running around, they are tuckered-out.

This little guy is actually dreaming about nursing as I took this. His little lips kept sucking like he was getting dinner from mama.

There are little cuties everywhere you look….

Jolly Time

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 11, 2018

Jolly finally had her twins last night. Two lovely, ram lambs. And I have to say, she looks so much more COMFORTABLE. Towards the end there, she just looked huge and miserable.

I’m including the outtakes from the twins birthday photo shoot so you can understand some of the issues I have getting the best shot:-)

Now I have six ewes remaining to lamb. I’m up to 24 lambs, 10 ewes and 14 rams.

Welcome to the Flock Gentlemen

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 10, 2018

I had a meeting for the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Ames and I didn’t get home until after dark last night. So it was with a headlamp that I greeted this little guy. I’m sure that he now thinks that I am some sort of God. Or Iron Man. Or a bizarre cyclops. Or he might just be very confused about the whole meeting. I don’t know. What I do know is that he is a total cutie patootie and his mama is Isobel.

Also, he really likes to eat….

I couldn’t get him to come off his mama to take a picture at that moment for love or money. His mama even kept moving a little to try to get him to come up for air and he just resolutely hung on.

The little ram was born to Miss Mabel shortly before I did my walk-through this morning. Now, Miss Mabel used to be a bit of an air-headed sort of ewe. If she had been human, she would have been the pretty mother ahead of you in line at the grocery store who blithely wanders away without her debit card in the machine despite it’s ominous klaxon which makes it sound more like she had accidentally entered the codes for the nuclear missiles aimed at Russia rather than a simple four digit code to pay for her $52.49 in groceries. The type who exclaims, “Oh my! I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached properly!” then leaving her sunglasses on the counter as she leaves again causing the bag boy to chase her down in the parking lot to give her eyewear back to her.

However, Mabel has grown out of that (mostly). She hasn’t seriously lost a baby since the first one (and by lost I mean unable to find) and is just generally less daft. Age brings… well, something. I don’t know if I would call it wisdom precisely, perhaps experience?

Anyway, Mabel had a lovely single ram lamb this morning and both were doing lovely when I went out to check on everybody.

We’re entering the final countdown now. The ladies who are still expectant are: Charlotte, Eva, Fanny, Jolly (who, poor thing, looks rather like a large barge on short legs), Missy, Nadia, and Rosie.

I have just realized that I am a very bad shepherd. I actually have twenty-one ladies bred, not twenty. *ahem* Well, I guess that this just makes me bad at counting sheep? Anyway, there are still seven ladies left to lamb not six as I had thought previously. So yay! More lambs for you!

There are now twenty-two lambs running around like adorable miscreants, ten ewes and twelve rams.

The Trouble with Tribbles

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 9, 2018

Currently I am feeling much like Captain Kirk in the famous Star Trek episode where the cute and cuddly tribbles overrun the Starship Enterprise. I have lots and lots of cute and cuddly, and they are everywhere. Lambs can easily fit between the bars of the cattle panels that I use for the sheep pen, so you see them galloping around in little groups outside the fence. This morning, it was using the hay bale/pile as a place to play king of the mountain.

However, twenty lambs (yeah, no new babies to report) is a lot of lambs for my pen and they are, well, everywhere. And when they fall asleep, they don’t notice you coming up to them or almost stepping on them in their weird little snooze spots.

However, everyone knows that the best place to take a nap is on mom. Of course.

And That Makes Twenty

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 8, 2018

Twenty. Twenty lambs out of twelve ewes. That’s a 166.7% lambing average. Which is phenomenal for me.

Last night it was Hettie having a set of ewe/ram-dark/white twins.

They are healthy and happy and as my dad likes to say, “Goers”.

This morning it was Diana’s turn to have her first lamb, a very healthy little ram lamb who looks like a party on four legs.

Twelve ewes lambing means that I am 3/5 of the way through lambing. Of the eight ewes expecting, three are first-timers and the remainder are experienced ewes. The new lambs are perfectly 50/50 ewe/ram percentage so far.

The Halfway Mark

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 7, 2018

On Friday evening Deb had a wonderful single ram lamb. Now, I typically withhold judgement about lambs born until they are a little, or a lot, larger. But I have to say that this little guy looks amazing. And before people start asking why I say this, it’s because he has a super uniform fleece, no “britchy” area, and he’s just really well-formed and put together. He’s difficult to get a photo of because his mama is so very protective of him. The first twelve hours that this little guy was alive, I was unable to even get a very good look at him as Deb had him under the chicken coop and kept herself between he and I at all times.

On Saturday Libby had a lovely set of twins, a ram/ewe combo. She is allowed me full-access to them almost immediately.

Sunday morning brought another single birth, this time a ewe lamb to Greta, my most reclusive sheep.

All four new lambs are doing really well and are all already playing with the rest of the new gang.

Going out to the pen is a tad overwhelming right now. There are now seventeen lambs out there, and I have ten more ewes to lamb still. However that means that ten ewes have lambed, so I hit the halfway mark Sunday. For those keeping up with your stats, we have seven sets of twins and three singles out of ten ewes which is a 170% birthing average.

*Takes deep breaths*

Everywhere you look when walking around out there, there are lambs. Lambs trying to get into trouble jumping up to play on someone other than their mama. Lambs escaping the pen entirely and running around free as jaybirds with angry mamas bellowing for them to get their fuzzy little butts back home right now! Babies asleep in the most unlikely corners.

The hens are happy for the return to warmer days.

Ok, so I spoke too soon…

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 3, 2018

I keep expecting the twin parade to end with a rash of singles because that is normal. And expected. And just not happening this year. Last night Beulah had a lovely set of twins, another ewe/ram set.

Then this morning, I arrive in the pen to find that Miss Claire had given birth to a set of twins as well! Yet another ewe/ram set.

Now, I don’t know if you are seeing the pattern that I am, but there is definitely a pattern amongst the twins born this year. Here, let me show you a little more clearly:

Abigail and her twins, ewe is dark and the ram is white.

Prudence and her twins. Dark ewe, white ram.

Claire and her duo, dark ewe and white ram.

Beulah and her twins, dark ewe and white ram.

Four out the seven ewes have had this specific combo. What the heck?! I wish that I understood sheep color genetics better but honestly, people have tried to explain it but I don’t have enough space in active brain usage to understand it. It falls into that category of things that I “should learn” but haven’t along with the Shetland colors and color patterns and spinning wheel ratios. I get it but……

So, for those keeping track at home, seven out of twenty possibly bred ewes have lambed at this point. Those ladies have had a total of thirteen lambs which is a 185.7% lambing average (my usual is around 125%). There are seven ewe lambs and six ram lambs.

We’ve still got a long way to go folks….

It’s Raining Twins!

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 2, 2018

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.

Back to Babies

Sarah Jane Humke

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May 1, 2018

Last night we had another set of twins born to Prudence. Once again a black and white combo (it’s like a bunch of Oreo cookies around here honestly!). They were born very quickly as I was doing chores. I walked by her on the way in and noticed that she was off by herself in an oddball corner then when I was done with chores I went back by and there were two new little lambs with her. Seriously, less than half an hour passed when they were born.

Both little rams were up and going right away and everyone has already bonded nicely. Which is good as it’s starting to get a little crazy in the pen with all the lambs running around.

The lambs have already formed a gang and are roughhousing all around the pen. There’s chase (which usually elicits a round of chain reaction pronging as well as running), practice headbutting, king of the mountain, and random jumping.

I was able to get some better photos of the little ewe born to Katherine on Monday morning.

She’s a very chill wee lass who seems to exude the demeanor of, “Yeah, I got this,” at the ripe old age of twelve hours.

Currently, chores consist of checking food and water for all livestock, checking for babies, and checking on the pullets. They are in the coop with the rest of the hens, but in their own little enclosure. Don’t worry, they have plenty of space, they just all pushed to one side because I changed out their water and that was very scary for them.

They are past the terrible stage of looking like baby dinosaurs and now just look like the little hens that they are. The pullets are fully feathered and are starting to fly out of their enclosure when one of them is feeling saucy. They will start to do that more in the next week, and I will probably even open a crack in the enclosure just so that they can start exploring around the coop. I didn’t get Murray McMurray chicks this year as I was late to order and I wasn’t sure that I could get someone to pick them up. Then I went into our local feed store and they had 2-3 week old pullets for 25% off, then 50% off. They already had feathers and were past the super delicate phase of life, so I got them and put them straight into the coop with a heat lamp. As you can see, they are doing just fine.

The rest of the chicken flock has been having a party laying eggs. I’ve been getting between forty and fifty eggs a day for the past month or so. I have around 50 hens that are of laying age, so just under an egg a day per lady. This was the haul from last night.

Forty-four eggs. That’s a lot of quiche!