Too many babies to remember

Today was once again full of babies and to be honest I can't even remember how many we had. I will try to recount the events to the best of my ability.
This morning #1 had twins, and #2 tried to steal them. Then #2 had a single (big ram!) that we had to pull because it was pretty stuck.
Then the local kindergarten class came to see the animals; imagine 16 young children chasing 30 goat kids, because that was the reality of our situation. The goats and the children all survived, and everyone enjoyed themselves (the children more than the goats I think haha).
Once the kindergarten left we went to check on the sheep again. #3 had had a single, and #4 was trying to have her's but once again the baby was too stuck. So we pulled our #4's two lambs as well. #4 has a weak ewe lamb so we're keeping a close eye on her.

We also had one bull calf today, just a little guy (only 83lbs).

I now have a lamb in a XL dog kennel in my living room. The poor thing was apparently abandoned by it's mother and probably hadn't had anything to eat until we found it curled up behind a bale. We brought it in at 4pm, T gave her some Cal Mag and Vit B, and this really helped; we also kept her on a heating pad. By 5:30 she was strong enough to drink, and happily guzzled down 3 ounces. We were a bit concerned about her because she hadn't urinated, but (lucky for me) she peed everywhere as I was giving her her second dose of Cal Mag and Vit B. I'll be getting up every 2-3hours to check on her, and I'm really hoping that all we've done for her will work, and we'll end up with a healthy ewe bottle lamb :).

Babies, Babies, Babies

As the title states, today was a day full of babies. We had one calf, and twelve lambs today (and one was delivering when I went home).

We had one set of twin lambs early this morning. Then, while we were ear tagging and needling yesterday's babies, Ewe#1 had one lamb, then Ewe #2 had twins (ewe and ram), and then Ewe #3 had one. Ewe#1 tried to take Ewe#3's lamb, so we moved Ewe#1 and her baby into a building; she looked like she was going to have a second lamb, so MIL put on the gloves and pulled out lamb number two (two ewe lambs). By the time we were done dealing with Ewe #1, Ewe#3 had had her second lamb, so we went in for some lunch. When we came back out Ewe #3 had had a third lamb! (two ewes and one ram).
About an hour later Ewe #4 had twins (ewe and ram).

This evening we caught all the cull goats and ewes so we can send them to market tomorrow morning. While chasing the sheep, T noticed that Ewe #5 had a lamb hanging out of her. FIL and I chased her down, and I pulled the lamb out; she stopped at one (ram). Another ewe was starting to lamb just after this so T and MIL stayed out to watch her (I'll let you know tomorrow what she had).

Just a note- hairless ewe didn't make it through the night, her mom just hadn't been taking good enough care of her, and although we tried our best to save her she just wasn't strong enough.

Such a Lovely Day

We had five more lambs born last night, but none so far today. T says it looks like there are a number of ewes who look like they're going to pop any day now, so we may have a few busy days ahead of us.
Had one more bull calf born today as well.

Today was incredibly hot, and because I wasn't thinking I forgot to put on sunscreen; I now have a farmers burn (hopefully it will soon be a tan). DH and I brought the dogs to the lake for the first time this year, and were pleasantly surprised with the temperature of the water. Gertie was not impressed with swimming and was grumpy for about an hour after we got out of the water.

I planted my cucumbers (two types), carrots (two types), lettuce, spinach, beets, radishes, cabbages, and zucchini tonight; corn (two types), peas (two types), butternut squash and watermelon are all going in tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be taking pictures of my garden as it progresses (I'm just cool like that).

Little lambs chilling in a bale.

 First white faced heifer of the year.

I forced the heifer to take a picture with me :P .

It was so hot out that Pepper decided to sit in a container of water; Gertrude just drank it.

*One Hour Later: we have four more lambs. Also, hairless ewe has taken a turn for the worst, here's hoping she makes it through the night. *

Hairless Lambs

I snapped a couple pictures of our bald lambs this morning. They are just so odd looking!

 This is what a normal Suffolk, Katahidn X lamb looks like. A Suffolk, Canadian Arcott should be similar, just maybe a slightly different color.

 This is what our bald Suffolk, Canadian Arcott X lambs look like. (Ewe on left, wether on right)

She is just so pink!

We are wondering if these babies are a bit premature; T said the boys testes were small and were not quite descended when she was trying to castrate him (she got it figured out though). So maybe the small testes and lack of wool are because these babies weren't actually quite ready to come out yet. As long as they continue to eat and build up some strength I won't worry too much about them, except for sun burns that is.

On a slightly different note, we have already had two more sets of twins today, and one heifer calf :). The animals were nice enough to give us a break so T and I were able to check out all of the garage sales in town before lunch, the weather was beautiful so it was great to be able to walk around in shorts rather than my dirty farm overalls :P .

*Two hours later*-we have a new heifer and a new bull calf. The heifer is our first white faced girl of the season, so far all the white faced babies have been males.

Lambs Galore

We had 12 lambs born today (six sets of twins)! Sadly one ewe lamb was dead when MIL found her; she suspects that she was still born as there was nothing apparently wrong with the lamb. We also had 3 calves born today (all bulls), so overall we had a busy day.

One of the ewes had to be caught and helped as she had a lamb coming out head first who was stuck; happily this lamb survived. T put on the gloves and reached in the ewe, she had to go past her elbow to find the second lamb! After she pulled it forward, I put on some gloves and got to reach in and find out what a lamb feels like while it's still in it's mother. Boy was I confused! The lamb had pulled back in a bit before I got my hand in, and so I too was past my elbow in a sheep; it took me a while to locate the legs, and then I couldn't find the head. Sounds odd considering that the head is attached to the same body as the legs are, but I just couldn't find it. So, T had to take over once again, and after a bit of a struggle she was finally able to get the lamb positioned correctly, and pulled it out (it too was alive).
T said the head was turned all the way around (imagine it's nose resting on it's back), so that's why I was having problems finding it. She had to maneuver it around quite a bit so that it was coming out the right way.
Having your arm inside an animal fishing for a baby is a pretty strange experience. You can't see what you're doing so you're going by touch alone. It's like being in a pitch black room, searching for a banana in a large bowl of warm jello, except there is blood and other bodily fluids and the 'banana's' life is depending on you removing it from the 'jello' quickly and correctly.

We also had a set of twins born today who are quite bald. They remind us of hairless cats as they are wrinkly and pink; chances are they're going to need little coats or they'll wind up with sun burns. It's tempting to breed them and sell them for $1500 just like those hairless cats  : P .

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone while out in the pen today, sorry for the crumby quality.

 A half Canadian Arcott ewe lamb. I think she's the cutest thing :)

 The first hairless lamb just after it was born. Lamb #2 was still waiting to come out.

The hairless twins together with mom. I'll get some better photos of them tomorrow so you can all see just how pink they really are.

Some Current Pictures

Today is a beautiful day, so I thought I would snap a few pictures of some of our goats so everyone can see what they look like now. Hope you enjoy.

 Mishka is on the right, and her daughter Weeble is on the left.

Stella (C's goat)

A group of babies. The three laying down are triplets.

Trying to cool off in the shade.

Cassie (on the left) and her brother.

Alex and Billie.

The buckling with the lions mane.

Eggplant's buckling has a heart on his leg :).

Tommy the LGD watching his goats while keeping in the shade.

Before We Started Kidding

Back on March 25, before any of our kids had hit the ground, we purchased a purebred (or so we are told...) Boer Doe and her two kids, a doeling and a buckling. The Doe goes by Kirby, and we have named the doeling Peanut Butter (P.B. for purebred also equals Peanut Butter) and the buckling is Rambo (their father's name is Bodacious).

 Kirby with Rambo in front.

Rambo on the left, Peanut Butter on the right.

We will be using Rambo to breed our 2011 doelings in 2012. We're hoping for some good strong meat babies, with lots of color.

Jump ahead a bit to April 14; the day was miserable, it was snowing and blowing, everything was wet, and we had to bundle up as if it was January. For those of you with any farming experience you know that this means it is "perfect" weather for having a baby; enter Zorro. FIL had been told that one of the llamas we had received last year was due to have her baby in May, well that was wrong because she decided that a snow storm in April was the perfect day for a baby. He was quite chilled when we found him, and he had some raspy breathing, but happily he perked right up after a couple of days in the barn with his mom (I'm sure the antibiotics helped too). For those of you who are interested to know, a baby llama is called a cria.

 Zorro and his Mom

A closer look at Zorro, boy was he ever wet!