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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 24, 2007 9:38:04 GMT 1
Hello everybody! New lambies arrived this morning. Luckily, last night I got the 4 ewes in to check that they were OK. Two were due this week. Trimmed away the excess wool around their bags with the help of a friend had a Chinese takeaway and went to bed......... Got up at 7.00 a.m. and there they were - twin ewe lambs. Here is a quick photo of one of them. Mum is a shearling so it's her first time but she seems to be OK with them. More news later.
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Post by maree on Feb 24, 2007 12:51:46 GMT 1
Congratulations on da twins bm.......the one in the picture looks a sturdy, big fellow/lass?...............I better not let our flock see the centrally heated conditions your ladies enjoy, or they'll all be headin off for wales...........as soon as the boat starts running again
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Post by Admin Mal on Feb 24, 2007 14:33:02 GMT 1
Congratulations! They look gorgeous.
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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 24, 2007 18:53:29 GMT 1
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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 24, 2007 19:39:50 GMT 1
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Post by mucklelaalie on Feb 24, 2007 20:03:09 GMT 1
heat lamps, cctv... bonna will be speechless
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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 24, 2007 20:45:21 GMT 1
heat lamps, cctv... bonna will be speechless I know! I know! I'm a big softie but I want them to grow nice and big for the coming shows. I've only got four more lambs to come so every one of them counts. It's a hobby rather than my living - I envy not the sheep farmers who do this for a living!!! And ewe lambs are just what I wanted!!! Having said that the cctv was an idea I got from a commercial farmer. £45 from B&Q and no more trudging out at 3.00 a.m. in your dressing gown to look in the shed. Marvellous!
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Post by mucklelaalie on Feb 24, 2007 21:26:55 GMT 1
i'm not putting down the comfort value... ! Sounds like you very much have the right idea! ;D
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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 24, 2007 21:34:19 GMT 1
i'm not putting down the comfort value... ! Sounds like you very much have the right idea! ;D Indeed!!! Comfort means a lot to us more advanced in years!!! ;D
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Post by Admin Mal on Feb 24, 2007 22:15:49 GMT 1
Having said that the cctv was an idea I got from a commercial farmer. £45 from B&Q and no more trudging out at 3.00 a.m. in your dressing gown to look in the shed. Marvellous! Great application of technology!;D You don't have one of those camera nesting box type things, do you??! I think they would be great.
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Post by bonna on Feb 24, 2007 22:23:27 GMT 1
Great to see your lambie pics, benjiesmum, and I totally approve of the care and attention they're receiving. It would just be a bit difficult to give that level of attention to large numbers! Also, up here most folk leave their lambing until the weather's a bit better (yeah, right, dream on!) so hopefully most can lamb outside where they always need a bit less attention.
I can remember putting in a 12 to 2a.m. (or something like that..) shift with a pair of large and potentially valuable Suffolk twins which were hell-bent on dying - neither had shown any signs of wanting to get to their feet after a swift and trouble-free birth. So in they had to come, and I kept the fan heater on one while the other kept mum from going loopy (you couldn't take them both off her at once or the pen wouldn't hold her!), then swapped them over again, and again, until they both eventually warmed enough to get them fastened on for a feed. I think they could have used your heat lamp!
Keep up the good work.
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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 25, 2007 1:29:13 GMT 1
I can remember putting in a 12 to 2a.m. (or something like that..) shift with a pair of large and potentially valuable Suffolk twins which were hell-bent on dying - neither had shown any signs of wanting to get to their feet after a swift and trouble-free birth. Keep up the good work. Yes Bonna, Suffolk lambs are known for wanting to die when they are born!!! I had a Suffolk ewe once and every year it was the same old story - dozy lambs with a death wish....... The heat lamp actually belongs to the chickens but they don't mind lending it out at this time of year! and yes, I suppose it is a bit like the camera you'd put in a nest box.....come to think of it last year the swallows used the top of it to build their nest on so it got covered in a real mess...... but it is brilliant because (like now) I am watching the ewe feeding one of the lambies from the comfort of the study without disturbing them. The only problem sometimes is when one of them disappears out of range of the camera and I start to panic!!
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Post by benjiesmum on Feb 25, 2007 18:14:20 GMT 1
Phew!!! What a day! Lambies have had their tails done today and that always stresses me out! So important for showing - are they too long or too short? Anyway they're done now. Little rubber rings duly fitted in the right place. They weren't in the least bothered either. I think it stresses me more than them. Here they are minutes after having a drink at the milk bar!!
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Post by Admin Mal on Feb 25, 2007 22:48:13 GMT 1
There was a bit about docking tails <concerning working dogs more I think> on Landward on TV today. About whether it was necessary, etc. I watched part over lunch but fast-forwarded it when it got to chopping off tiny puppies' tails while we were eating.. By the way benji - what is the breed of your sheep? I know you did say but I've forgotten and hubby, myself and a forum reader <you know who you are! ;D> were discussing your sheep in Chris Hodge's shop in Lerwick today!
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Post by bonna on Feb 25, 2007 23:11:53 GMT 1
Lucky lambs (being ewes.......) - t'other kind have more to worry about than tails!
I don't know much (anything!) about showing sheep, but unless you've got a naturally short-tailed breed like Shetland, tail-docking of lambs is a necessary evil anyway, for welfare purposes. It's a rare sheep that doesn't develop "loose bowels" at some time in its life, and sheep don't do toilet paper........oh, sorry, I didn't realise you were having supper!
Lambs seem to be doing just great.
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