A bittersweet reunion

Saturday marked the final weaning date for all of our lambs. The oldest lambs were done a few weeks ago, but since we wean in two groups, the lamb flock still had the mothers of the youngest lambs in with them. The project this past Saturday was to pull out all of the adult ewes - except for Zoe, who would act as "granny" and provide leadership for the lambs - and put them into the timber with the rest of the ewes.

We then planned on splitting the lambs into two groups.... The youngest lambs who would be weaning this week would stay in the barn with the lambs who will be leaving for new homes next weekend - both of these groups would get a little extra attention this week, so keeping them close just made sense. The rest of the lambs went with Zoe to a new, fresh pasture.

Our bottle lambs, Jasper, January, and Jareau, were weaned with the first group in late April, so they ended up being split up between the two groups: Jasper stayed in the barn because he is leaving next weekend, and January and Jareau were intended to go with Zoe's group out to the pasture. At the last minute, January got in with the barn group, so we decided to leave her there as a companion for Jasper. One more lamb eating hay is no big deal, and she seems like a fixture in the barn - it would almost be odd to go to the barn and not find January there, getting into places and things that she wasn't supposed to!

That left Jareau in with the older lambs in Zoe's group, going down across the lawn, through the orchard, across the ram pasture, out across our small foot-bridge over the wetlands, to the newly opened south pasture. All of the lambs moved easily, following Zoe with llama Vinnie in the lead. The remaining lambs at the barn were given lots of hay and water, and then barricaded in so that they couldn't take off to find their mothers in the timber. The day's project seemed done, and I went inside the house to call it a day at about five in the afternoon. However....

It wasn't long before I noticed that there was a lamb outside of the enclosure around the barn! This really couldn't be possible, as we had used the same barricade that we used a few weeks ago, and that we knew was lamb-proof! How could a lamb have gotten out? I turned off the TV news and went to investigate....

It turns out that our barricade is indeed escape-proof - no lambs had gotten out: they were all still inside their enclosure. There was a lamb outside, though, poking her head into every nook and cranny, but she had not come from inside - she had come from Zoe's group in the new pasture! It was Jareau! Missing her two bottle-lamb friends, she had decided to strike out to find them, rain or shine, over high ground or wetlands. She had obviously taken the hard route, as she was wet and filthy, but happy to have found her friends. Her biggest issue now was that they were inside and she was out - but she was determined to change that!

January and Jasper, on the other hand, were the cheering section inside the panelled fence, calling and calling to their friend, Jareau. By the time I got up to the barn, Jareau had put her head into the only opening into the area and gotten stuck there with Jasper and January jumping onto her and rubbing against her, encouraging her on. The whole scene made me smile - these three friends, of two different breeds, had become 'family' only because of chance - they all had to be bottle fed to survive. Yet, they are now so connected that separating them into distant pastures had caused such a scene.

So what could I do?! Jasper leaves next Sunday for his new home, so I decided to let them have their time together this week - what is one more lamb eating hay in the barn? So now, January, Jasper, and Jareau have one more week to celebrate their friendship. When I went out this morning, the three of them were busy chowing down a flake of hay from the same hay feeder, keeping all of the other lambs at other feeders - this was "their" feeder, and they worked in unison to defend it. I know that their time together is short, and that this is the way life on the farm goes, but I am going to be sorry to break up this little trio.... I am happy that two of them will have a permanent place here, and that Jasper has found a good home, but I can't help but feel just a bit of sadness each year as our lambs leave our care and disperse to start their new lives. As always, I wish them well.

Into the shepherd's arms....

It was a pretty typical spring storm in Iowa: the wind was bending the trees to the point of breaking, the rain was hammering down in sheets, interspersed with bits of hail, and arcs of lightening lit up the sky. It was evening, and it was beginning to get dark - I knew that the lambs had to come in to the barn to get out of the storm.... Cold rain is not good for young lambs, and several years ago, we lost a lamb in a lightening storm - I certainly didn't want a repeat!

Most of the lambs had come in when the storm first began, but a few of them had gone to graze in outlying areas earlier in the day, and now couldn't get back on their own. So, there I was in my yellow slicker, trying to bring the lambs home for the night. The first one that I noticed had obviously crawled under the seven-wire fence and was grazing with the rams. Jake had figured out how to get to the 'greener pastures' on the other side of the fence, but now couldn't figure out how to get back. I quickly turned off the power to the ram's fence, hopped it to pick up Jake, then came back over it with Jake in my arms. It seemed easier to carry him to the barn than to get one of our herding dogs out in the storm to teach Jake how to cooperate with a dog - a lesson better left for a calmer day! When I got to the paddock at the barn, Rick opened the gate, and I set the ram lamb on the ground to run into the barn. One down, and five or six lambs to go....

Next came the group of lambs who had crawled under the west pasture fence into what we call the Rock Pasture. I was hoping that all I had to do was to open the gate adjoining the two fields and the lambs would be smart and run for the barn. The rain and hail was now really pelting me, and although the slicker was keeping my sweatshirt dry, my sweatpants were soaked through, and I was getting cold.

As I opened the gate that I hoped would bring the lambs in, I realized that Gianna and her daughter, Jezebel, were two of the sheep in the rock pasture, and rather than come back up to the barn, Gianna slipped back under the fence to the timber where her fellow flockmates were riding out the storm. That was fine for her, but Jezebel followed her into the timber.... I would have to find her later. There were still three other lambs in that same rock pasture who I had to bring in - and this time, I couldn't just carry them!

As I walked into the middle of the pasture, with one lamb to the west, and two more in that same field to the south, I was trying to figure out how to get all three moving towards the barn. I was afraid that the single lamb who had been grazing with Jezebel and Gianna would try to follow them into the timber. And as I walked towards him or her, that was just what he/she was trying to do!

Then, I noticed that this lamb was pretty small in comparison to our other lambs.... And it was wearing a new, white coat - I had just yesterday changed Jareau's coat for a new, bigger one. I wondered, could this be my little Jareau - the bottle lamb who, at one point, would come to the sound of my voice calling her name? As I walked, I began to call Jareau in the high-pitched call that I had always used to call her for her bottle, hoping against hope that maybe it would convince this little lamb not to take off for the timber in this nasty weather.....

Believe it or not, it worked! Fighting my own disbelief, I continued to call, and not only did Jareau stop trying to find a way under the fence, but she also turned to look in my direction. As I called again and again, she began to run as fast as her little legs could carry her in my direction! When we met in the middle of the rock pasture, she was so excited to see me that she was like a gleeful pet dog, jumping up on me and rubbing her soggy head against me - all she wanted was for me to pick her up!

I popped open my slicker and tucked her under as much of it as I could manage, protecting her from the worst of the downpour, while she nibbled on my chin and nose - Jareau was obviously happy to be at least partially out of the storm. Now, I had to shift my attention to the other two lambs to the south.... As I began to walk towards them, the oldest of the two suddenly realized that I had opened the gate that stood between them and the barn. All it took was for me to give them a little incentive to get moving (by walking towards them), and the two ram lambs took off for the barn, with Jareau and me bringing up the rear.

It wasn't long before all of the lambs were safe in the barn and out of the nasty weather. With all of the lambs warm and dry for the night, I headed for the house, reflecting on all that had just happened. It still amazes me that even weeks after her last bottle, little Jareau heard her name, knew that it signalled an end to her misery in the cold, and came running to me for help. This is just another one of those stories that makes the tough parts of what I do completely worth it.

The ewe lamb clubhouse

You wouldn't believe how often sheep do things that remind me of the human experience. Actually, that is probably why the Bible draws so many parallels between people and sheep, but that's a whole other blog....

Yesterday, I went walking out in the west pasture to check on one of our ram lambs who recently has had a cough. I noticed that there was quite a group of lambs hanging out under the mulberry tree, so I thought he might be there with them. The lambs were resting under the tree - most just lying there, snuggled up close to another lamb on one side or the other, and cudding (chewing their cud). It was a little unusual to see such a big group of lambs and not see any playful head-butting or mounting behaviors.... They just seemed very relaxed, enjoying the spring weather!

Unfortunately, as I drew closer I startled the group (even moving slowly), so many of the lambs stood up, ready to flee at any sign of 'equipment' - dewormers, needles, fresh coats, or anything else that required them being handled. That's when I snapped the above picture, because as I drew near enough to see who was under the tree, it surprised me.... All of the lambs lying around the mulberry tree were girls!

I had obviously stumbled across the ewe lamb clubhouse! No wonder there was no tussling going on! We tag all of our ram lambs in their right ears (we remember it with the statement, "boys always think they are right"), and it was easy to see that none of the lambs under the tree at that moment had a right eartag! As I scanned the pasture, I could see many examples of typical rough-and-tumble lamb play - by the ram lambs - but not under this tree. These girls had decided that they wanted some time to themselves with no boys alllowed!

I eventually did find my coughing ram lamb (who was fine), but I couldn't stop thinking about the group of ewe lambs under the tree.... It reminded me of days gone by when our kids used to make forts that allowed entry to only their own sex. I guess the ewe lambs decided yesterday that enjoying the spring day did not include playing with the ram lambs. I bet they will be changing their tune by fall when breeding season begins!

The continuing saga of Jezebel and Jewel....

As most of you may remember, Jezebel and Jewel have been our escape artists this year, finding their way to their mothers so often after weaning that we had to "jail" them to keep them from finding the ewe flock and nursing. The last time we let them out was last Monday morning, and by afternoon, they had again found their way back to the flock of adult ewes.

Well, it has been one week since their last release and, according to my vet, ewes dry up their milk if they are not milked for a week, so we thought we would try letting them out of their pen again. It has actually been over two weeks since we weaned them, but now it has been a whole week since they've last been with their mothers. My normal routine is to fill the lambs' creep feeders in both the morning and early evening, so I thought I would open Jewel and Jezebel's pen after I filled the creep this morning. My thinking was that they would, hopefully, become so engrossed in the creep feed that they would forget about going to look for their mothers....

The plan seemed to be working when I opened up their "jail" this morning - as you can see in the photo at right, both Jewel and Jezebel headed straight for the nearest grain feeder and away from the door (behind me as I took the photo). As I went about my routine, I could peek in and see them filling up their tummies - a good sign!

Unfortunately, it didn't last long, though. When I finished my barn chores and took the dogs out for some exercise, I suddenly noticed two little lambs - one black and one white - making their way across one pasture after another, running full-speed for the adult ewe flock in the timber. It took only minutes, and by the time I got my camera out of my back pocket, they were just reaching the last fence, with llama Martin standing guard, ready to greet them! If you look closely at the photo on the left, you can see two little white dots (their coats) running towards Martin, who is just to the right of the big group of trees - they were already nearly a quarter-mile away!

Quite honestly, I'm not planning on fetching them back again - I am done with that game! Their mothers' milk is drying up, so I don't have to worry about having to wean them again. We will be weaning the last group of lambs this weekend, so we will move Jezebel and Jewel back with the lambs at that time - until then, they can graze with the ewe flock, I guess. When you work with livestock, sometimes you just have to call it good enough and move on - I think this is one of those times... but wait until this weekend! I'll get them back then!

Jubal likes his grain

When I got out to the barn for my morning check of the lambs, I noticed that one of our lambs had lost its coat: the leg strap of the coat had obviously gotten caught on one of the posts of the hay feeder and somehow the lamb had struggled out of it - the coat laid there where it had been abandoned. The problem here is that the lambs like to stand in the feeder to eat - not really how it was intended to work - and as the level of hay goes down, their leg strap can get caught on one of the upright posts. Some of you long-time readers may remember that we had this problem almost daily with Ivy last fall, and she seems to have finally figured out that she needs to eat from outside the feeder! Well, obviously we now have another lamb who is doing the same thing, again!

So, with the untangled coat in hand, I went out to find the "naked" lamb. Since I also had a bucket of grain for the lambs and the few ewes who are still lactating, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and feed the sheep, drawing them all in towards the barn so that I could recoat the lamb at the same time. Well, the grain did the trick, and the entire flock of lambs and lactating ewes came running to the paddock near the barn to gobble their daily grain.

You have to understand that there is grain available at all times in the barn for the lambs. It's even sweetened grain, with molasses in the mix, to entice them to eat, so there is no reason why they should run like the wind to come and eat what I am feeding the ewes. No reason, that is, except that they are sheep, and sheep do things together as a flock.... Plain grain eaten with the flock is so much more enticing than sweetened grain eaten alone in the barn. So they all run in and help the ewes eat up their grain, and then the lambs will run into the barn and finish filling up on the sweetened grain with their lamby friends. I'm sure the ewes would rather that the lambs didn't help them eat their grain, but there isn't much to be done about it.

My plan this morning was to try to catch the naked lamb while he or she was eating, unsuspecting, at the trough with the rest of the lambs and ewes, and then try to put the coat back on. This isn't always easy to do by myself because the lambs aren't always as cooperative as I would like! They usually struggle to run away, pulling and pushing in my hands.... I was game to give it a try, though, so I poured the grain and watched the flock mob the feeders, looking all the while for a lamb with no coat.

Well, he wasn't hard to spot, with his dark wool exposed while the other sheep passed me, all coated in white - Jubal was missing his coat! I grabbed him as he lowered his head into the trough for the grain, and instead of struggling to run off, he stayed put and just ate! I pulled the neck of the coat over his head and found that as long as I continued to let him eat, he really didn't care what I did! I pulled up one back leg to put it in the strap, and he stood there, eating on three legs. I pulled up the second back leg for the other strap, and he still stood there, eating. When I finished, I straightened the coat on him and, believe it or not, he hardly moved - other than his lips and jaws, of course, which continued wolfing down grain from the trough!

It wasn't until the grain was gone that he looked up, saw me standing nearby, and ran for the barn to get away from the "threat" I posed - and, of course, to find that sweetened grain that his friends had already found in the creep area! I don't know what he thought I might do that I hadn't already done, but I guess now we know that Jubal sure likes his grain - a lot!

We win weaning, round one!

Weaning time is a difficult time for us - we want to let all our sheep go out into the pastures and enjoy that great grass that is growing all around our acreage, but at the same time we know that if we get the lambs too close to their mothers, they won't stay put! They will take off under our fences and end up in the adult ewe pasture with their moms.

Right now, the ewes are all the way on the opposite side of the property in the timber, and the lambs have been a quarter-mile away in the east pasture. The problem is that the lambs (and the ewes still nursing their lambs) have eaten down what was in the east pasture so that there is really not much left for them there. I have had the option of opening the west pasture gate for them so that they could graze there, but I've been reluctant.... You see, if they go into the west pasture, they are in direct sight of their mothers in the timber - only two high-tensile wire fences stand between the west pasture and the timber, and most of the lambs have already figured out how to scoot under the bottom wires.

So, I've been procrastinating moving the lambs and have been feeding them alfalfa hay instead. All good things come to an end, though, and the alfalfa is almost gone. I don't want to use it all up because in a week and a half, I will be weaning the rest of the lambs, and I will want to close the lambs into the barn again for the first couple of days. No more alfalfa to feed now means the lambs and the few ewes with them needed to be moved, but oh, I was scared!

I never move sheep in the early morning - the old-timer's rule of thumb is to never move sheep into a fresh pasture when the grass is wet. The point here is avoiding the dew, not rain, and the idea behind it is that if they are coming from a low-nutrition area (as they would be in an eaten-down pasture) into a high-nutrition area, you want them to do so after they have filled themselves up a bit on the poorer stuff. Too much high nutrition feed on an empty stomach can make for digestive problems in sheep, so I waited until about noon yesterday before I opened the west pasture gate and closed off the east pasture to regrow.

My fear, of course, was that as soon as I opened the gate, all the lambs would run to the far side of the west pasture, see their mothers in the timber, and then scoot under the two fences to be with mom. I watched and waited, but it seemed like all the lambs who moved into the pasture were too busy eating to look for mom - a good sign, but not necessarily an indication that all would stay put! The question was, what would they do once their tummies were full?

So, it was with a lot of trepidation that I went out yesterday evening for a head-count in the ewe pasture. I fully expected to find at least a half-dozen of our lambs who had made it across the open terrain to mix with the ewes. If so, I would have to bring the truck and a dog, and begin sorting them out of the group to bring them back. I called my sheep to the gate and they came - and there were no lambs (see photo at right)! The rest of the group must have been grazing a great area, because they straggled behind the first rush of sheep, but they, too, had no lambs with them! This was incredible, but after most of the day in clear sight of their mothers, none of the lambs had made the trip to rejoin them! I couldn't believe my eyes! I was elated! We had won this round of weaning - admitedly with two lambs still in "jail" in the barn, but that was a small price to pay!

Even better, by dusk, the lambs in the west pasture rediscovered their old pastime: playing on the manure pile. It has been weeks since we've watched them run up and down the pile at dusk, playing king-of-the-mountain! Without access to the pile, they continued playing their version of tag in the east pasture, but no more running up and down, jumping and twisting in the air - until yesterday! No, they had not forgotten their fun times! So, after a long day outside, Rick and I spent the last half-hour or so of sunlight relaxing and watching the fruit of our labor - our 2010 lamb crop - celebrating spring!

Jewel and Jezebel are released - for now!

Well, Jezebel and Jewel have spent a few days in their homemade jail in the creep area, and I have begun to feel sorry for them. They stopped calling for their dams on Saturday, and they have been model citizens since then, resigned to their lives in their "jail." So after checking on them again this morning, I decided to allow a sort of 'parole' and let them out to see what happens! As with any parole, I expect them to check in with me - like all the other lambs - when I come out to refill the creep area twice each day. If they are missing for this afternoon's head-count, I will know that they have taken off to find their dams again, and will have to put them back for another few days....

Of the two, Jezebel is indeed the leader: whether it is new food and water or an open pen door with a chance to escape, Jezebel always seems to be leading the way. This morning, when I unclipped the many carabiners that held their pen door closed, it was Jezebel who came to investigate what I was up to - and Jezebel who took the first steps into the creep area to freedom! (see right)

Now, don't get me wrong - Jewel is not a stay-at-home! She was right behind Jezebel coming out of the pen! Jewel just isn't quite as brave as Jezebel when it comes to new things. Like a smart lamb, she would rather watch Jezebel take the risk, and then follow if things turn out well! Jezebel, on the other hand, has very little sense of caution - she will blunder in and face the consequences, hoping that they won't be too bad.... This is something we will need to watch until she gets older, to make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble that she can't find a way out of!

So, at least for the time being, all of our lambs are back together. It is nice to walk among them and see them all frolicking in the sun or filling up on creep feed in the barn. A flock of lambs is always good for a smile - there isn't a time that I go out to see the lambs that I don't come back feeling renewed and happy. It won't be long before people from all over the country begin to arrive to pick up their choices for breeding stock from among our lambs, so I guess I had better enjoy their antics while I can!

Well, a quick head-count at the afternoon check-in told me I was missing two lambs. I took a quick stroll around the grounds and found no lamb out of place or unable to come in for a check, so I had a strong suspicion that I knew who was missing.... Could it be my little escape artists, Jewel and Jezebel?

I took the truck out to the timber on the far side of the property - about a quarter-mile from where the lambs are currently grazing. This is the area where we've hidden the ewes - it has lots of grass, and is far away and out of sight of the weaned lambs. I had hoped that it would be enough to keep everyone where they belonged - I obviously underestimated the desire in these two lambs to find their mothers!

As soon as I got the truck out into the trees on the far side of the property, I noticed two very small ewes running among all of the big girls.... Sure enough, when I got close enough to see faces and read ear-tags, it was just as I had suspected: I could see that Jewel and Jezebel had once again escaped and traveled cross-country to get to their mothers - let me emphasize the AGAIN part! I still can't believe it! Even with that nice pep talk I gave them as they left their jail this morning!

So, I caught them both and put them into the back of the pick-up for the ride back to the barn, and the return to jail (see photo at left). Even though I hated doing it, they are back behind bars tonight for an unknown period of time - until I can be sure that the next time they escape, they will find their mothers dry. It is times like this that all I can do is sigh....