Green grass, sunshine and lambs, I love Spring.
 

Well, I do and I don't love Spring. It's a fickle one this year. we have thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon, again. Still , the lambs were making the most of the nice weather this morning. In the first two photo's you can see one of each set of twins is smaller than the other. Those littlies are the only reason these 4 lambs are being kept out of the paddock, they look like fox bait to me. The rest, well, like goats they love to climb and even one of the ewes thinks she's a circus pony. :D

Won't be long before they start doing laps of the dam, though at the moment it's just back and forth along the top of the dam bank.

OMG! they're too cute!

Spring is my favorite time of the year, I hate fall because it means snow is right around the corner. I don't mind the cold weather, but I'm not looking forward to the white stuff. Love the baby lambs.

lookit those lil tykes go!!! :lovestruck:

I love it GF!!! - It really makes me want to have my own farm :D those babies are just adorable!!! :cloud9::cloud9:

They'll keep running like that till they pull up, panting. :) Jull, I hope you realise your dream some day. Lindapalm, although we don't get snow here I did do a cringe when you said you aren't looking fiorward to it. I don't think I'd like it either. I'm really longing for some warmer weather right now.

OMD GF they are so beautiful! I long for a piece of land with some farm critters too! I know its lots of work but man I would be so darn happy!

GF I have a crazy question? Do their joints always look so BIG!? :eek: they look like they have a real bad case of arthritis! :laughing: well at least if mine looked like that I think I would be in pain! :laughing:

Oh my goodness those are adorable pics GF. You know, it was always a dream of mine to own a farm and have all kinds of animals. But, having just the dogs makes me absolutely neurotic about them I can't imagine having sheep and horses and goats - Oh My!!! I hardly slept at all last night worried about the pups outside while it was raining so much, but while I was worrying they were snoozing in their dog houses. :wall: Yeah, I'd never cope with all the other animals. I am a :loser:

Darn! I don't know how I missed these two posts, I do opologise for that, Winston and DD. Winston, I reckon my knee that was operated on now looks like those lamb's joints.:D For Dorper lambs though, well they are a very stocky, chunky sort of sheep so need strong joints to carry the weight about. Lambs unfortunately DO get arthritis, but can be vaccinated against it now.

DD, in fact both of you, I am sure you'd manage farm life beautifully. All you need is that joy and enthusiasm for animals and nothing seems too hard. Who said I'm not neurotic? :laughing: Locking lambs and ewes up so Mr Fox won't grab the babies, most farmers would tell me I'm neurotic. Still, I see the choices are a) you accept some losses(unacceptable to me), b) you get a Maremma sheepdog(I could not leave a dog out where it might get bitten by a Brown snake), or c) you could get an alpaca herd guard. Gone off the latter idea, just another big mouth to feed. So, locking them up out of the rain, warm at night, and hopefully eating out the grass in my driveway is the way to go for me. Here are the new arrivals.

They're darling, GF! :lovestruck:

How do the sheep deal with snakes?

The babies are so sweet looking , I would let them sleep in bed with me. I know it would not be a wise idea.

Barkingdog, I think they'd just cuddle up and go to sleep at this age. But the mess, yeah, not a good idea. :)

Haven't had a sheep killed by a snake yet, but we did lose a beautiful Jersey heifer, Hazel, also a foal, the latter on another property. For all I know sheep may be more aware of the danger they pose and be more careful to avoid stepping on them. The reaction when one of our cats goes through the paddock is unreal, you'd swear they think it's a lion hunting their lambs.(Hello, cat fight outside.)

Cats can be fearsome! :laughing: Sad about the heifer and the foal. :(

Those lambs are adorable. There is nothing cuter than a newborn critter.
Maybe sheep survive better because being closer to the ground, they see the snakes sooner?

No GF, I'm too neurotic! lol I'm with you on the options. If I could sleep outside with the pups tonight (Halloween) I would, but it's not really an option. Besides, I'd bother them with jumping at every fire cracker! But I'm sure they'd keep me warm.

Another photo of my favorite of those latest twinnies, isn't she just beautiful? The second photo, well I call the lamb having a stretch 'Billy Goat' because of his horns, but Aaron told me he can put rings on them and dehorn him that way. All the ear tags and rings go on late on Sunday, and in the meantime I'm going to have a blast. I visit a friend's iris garden tomorrow arvo, then on Sunday hopefully make it around 5 Open Gardens down around Stawell. I'll be exhausted by the time it comes to help Aaron do the lambs. :D
Just added a photo of my ram lamb, 5 months + now and already shedding the fleece along his back. :thumbs up

I shall have to sleep in . Shadow(first orphan we reared and bred with, OLD now though) had lambed when I went down to check her at 1am which meant carrying the lambs up to the stable , then shaking out a bale of hay for her as bedding. Went back out at 3am and got her up in case her lambs hadn't found the teats yet. Heading for bed right now. That makes 9 sets of twins and one singleton lamb. One more ewe to lamb think, Baa-bie, who will lamb when I am in hospital no doubt.

Wow! Another set of twins! Love the name Baa-bie! :laughing:

It's pronounced as a sheep baas of course. Named after my sister Barbara. LOL.Trouble here though, with the ewe unable to get up unaided. I can lift her rear and she'll make it but it may mean the lambs didn't get a drink last night. I think the little ewe lamb did find the teat while she was up but the ram lamb looked so flat that I pulled her down and milked some colostrum out for him. May have to repeat that. I can get them onto a bottle, we do have the milk powder here , just not looking promising for dear old Shadow though. She may have twin lamb disease. Shearing her heavy fleece might help her to get up - doubt it really - and then I'd not have anything to grip. The joys of rearing lambs. (NOT!)

Good news is that both lambs know what the teats are now, and the little female is so determined I even saw her down on her knees drinking while Shadow was lying down. I have just supervised a feed for the ram lamb and left them for the night.

What is 'twin lamb disease', GF? :( I hope Shadow pulls through!!

I think the horns are cute, why do people dehorn the animals?

Twin lamb disease is pregnancy toxaemia, Hazel. She has been avoiding eating the ewe supplement because in her huge state she didn't want to be jammed up between the other ewes. The grass began to go off seeing she is not supposed to be lambing this late, and we've had stupid cold weather this Spring. Oh, also I have seen her go for the mineral block, only to have other sheep with their lambs crowd her out. Not to worry, she is eating again now and may get some strength back.
Horned sheep can be a headache, quite literally, for other sheep seeing they like to butt heads, Barkingdog. I actually had one wether, no horns, kill a ewe by head butting her too much.