March 27 - Butterfly

Butterfly's Ariel and Eric, originally uploaded by lamb lady.

Butterfly delivered her twins Sunday morning. I would be lying to tell you I didn't have anxious moments during this birthing. She delivered Eric first. When Ariel was born she paid her no mind and went about cleaning Eric. I put Ariel on a towel in front of Butterfly and swooped up Eric in a second towel, taking him out of Mom's visual range for a short time until she realized she had another lamb that needed her care. (You see, last year I wasn't there when she gave birth in the pasture. When I found her she had bonded to one of the lambs and the other needed bottle fed. I didn't want that to repeat.)
I'll spare you the entire story but this year Mom likes both her babies. YES! By afternoon there was time for a bit of play in the lambing jug.

March 26 - Tundra, Tresor and Bella

Busy day from sun up to sun down. Three sets of twins were born today. Each set was a boy and a girl. I was to be at Mom's and Dad's for breakfast at 7:30. Instead, I was in the barn with Tundra's babies. White Prince Charming and pretty brown and white Cinderella.Tresor took advantage of some pasture time to deliver her babies. Brown and white Mickey and brown, black and white Minnie greeted the world Saturday afternoon. Bella chose the pasture to birth her babies, too. The sun was getting low in the sky and I hustled the 3 of them to the barn. The brown ram is Captain John Smith and the black ewe is Pocahontas.

March 25 - Tamar

Tamar is an experienced mom. She is noted for having 2 white lambs annually. She fooled me when I went to the barn at 4 AM to find she had just delivered one large 3 color ram lamb. He is Tarzan. I expect he'll be the largest lamb of all this year's babies.

March 24 Lambs - Liberty and CoCo

I went to the barn early Thursday morning when I heard a lamb fussing on the monitor. The fussing lamb was hungry Flora. What I was surprised to see was Liberty with 2 black and tan ewe lambs in the large stable. Liberty isn't fond of me so I've been hands off with her as much as possible. She's a first time mom and doing well. Her babies are named Laverne and Esmerelda from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." About the time Liberty was getting her lambs cleaned and fed, CoCo Chanel went into hard labor. I'd been concerned about CoCo. She's a big girl and last year delivered twins but one was stillborn. She promptly delivered a girl and boy Thursday morning. I was calling my co-workers to keep them abreast of the birthings when CoCo got agitated, had contractions and delivered a third lamb, a ram.
She had black lambs last year. I bred her to Blue again and this year all three lambs are tan and white - go figure. These lambs names were suggested by my cousin, Lynette. She wanted a Copper and Tod from "The Fox and the Hounds." The ewe's name is Vixey, from the same movie. Copper is CoCo's golden boy. She's lukewarm toward Vixey and she's giving me fits about letting the Tod nurse. He's getting smarter and stronger - I'll be watching closely how things progress with them.

More March 22 Lambs - Leah

This year is Leah's third lambing. She was immense. I'm glad her babies are here. She delivered twins in the early evening hours. A badgerface girl weighed in at 8 pounds. Her brother weighed in at 9 pounds. They are Coral (top photo) and Crush (bottom photo) from "Finding Nemo." All are doing well.Oh, by the way, bide-a-wee Blue is their daddy.

2011 Lambing Begins with Jensen

First time Ma, Jensen delivered twin ewe lambs March 22 around 1-1:30 PM without assistance. Jersey West Mick is the first time Pa. All are doing well. This year's lambs will be named after Disney characters. Jensen's girls are Flora (front) and Fauna (behind). They weighed in at 7.5 and 6.5 pounds respectively. Tiny and sweet is what they are.