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What a beautiful day it was today, and the lambs got their first taste of being out in pasture. We've had very little snow thus far and the fields are still open and just waiting for little lambs to romp around and play in. Too bad a snow storm is coming tomorrow and the paddocks will be under a foot of snow. But not today. 
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Poor little "Babysheep". With everything else that has happened to her, another malady has laid siege. She has inverted eyelids, where her lashes unnaturally grow inward and cause irritation, infection, or even ulcers on the eyes. This is a genetic thing and usually the problem goes away after a while--but not always. One of Grandma's babies from last year had the same issue, but it worked itself out after a couple of months. If the condition with Babysheep does not right itself, she could go blind. So, we've been keeping a close watch on her the moment we noticed the inverted lids. Over the last few days, the daily watery discharge from her eyes increased and visible ulcers started appearing on both eyes. And we could tell she was not seeing very well--bumping into walls and such, zigzagging here and there. She needed to go to the vet and we took her yesterday. We don't have pictures of the procedure she underwent, but it is just as well. It was ghastly. First, the vet (a very good vet by the way) had to inject medicine INTO HER EYES! YIKES! Good thing Farmer Tom was not in the room. This medicine, while ridding the area of infection is also designed to puff out the eyelids and keep the lids and lashes pointed out. The vet then proceeded to gently stretch and suture the skin directly above and below each eye to keep the area open (the lamb will still be able to close her eyes to sleep). The stitches will dissolve over time and now we must give her a medicated eye ointment twice a day for the next two weeks. The prognosis is good and the vet believes she will make a full recovery. I was going to post a picture of her but she looks just awful with those black stitches weaving in and out of her skin and her big unnaturally opened eyes making the yucky yellowish brown ulcers even more pronounced, not to mention the abnormally pink puffy lids. I don't even want to describe it, so I won't. Here, this is a nice picture of her BEFORE she had the procedure. I look forward to seeing her well and I pray that will be soon.  It's a fun and demanding time for us at the farm. We've got lambs coming out our ears, not literally of course; but almost! And it's just a little stressful when we have to introduce the new lambs to the rest of the sheep family. There's always a mad scuffle of mamas trying to protect their young ones from the other big scary sheep and all the activity of other new lambs running around excitedly at the prospect of more additions to the fold. On top of it all, the lambs need to be tagged, banded, and vaccinated, which is a little painful--not just for the lambs but the shepherd too. But after a few hours, all the lambs get used to each other and are playing and romping around with joyous abandon. There's the payoff. What a joy to see a bunch of baby sheep playing together and taking naps together and exploring together. Well, I could go on and on, but I'll let these latest pics do the talking:        More baby sheep today! Smooth had two very healthy lambs, one male and one female. Both were very large. It'll be interesting to see what they weigh. I'm guessing they're both at least 13 lbs, if not more. Freckles also gave birth to triplets. It was a bit of an adventure trying to get all the mamas and newborns into their respective lambing jugs, but after a few adrenaline pumping minutes, Farmer Tom managed to corral the newcomers. So far all five lambs seem to be doing fine. Here are the first pics of Bear Valley Farm's newest additions: 
Now that we're bottle feeding #95 (whom I think I shall name "Baby Sheep") all six of our lambs our doing well and growing fast. Still waiting on more lambs from five other ewes. So while we wait, enjoy these latest photos:    As we mentioned earlier, Grandma's little runt, #95, was a too weak to fend for herself due to her small size and underdeveloped condition. We bottle fed her yesterday and last night. This morning she seems to have taken a turn for the better, good enough even to let her get outside and mingle with the other lambs. We watched her nurse from mama several times as well. We'll weigh her later today and see if she's gained any weight. 
Well the day had finally come to say goodbye to the last lambs from our 2014 brood. #11 #13 & #22 enjoyed our farm the longest and were happy contented sheep. It's sad to see them go but it's good to know that they have served their noble purpose by providing food for many families and gave us wonderful memories of their stay at Bear Valley Farm.    Grandma gave birth to three lambs at 1:30pm today--two females and one male. The large female and the male are doing well. The third female weighed in at only 6.0 lbs -- pretty small for a lamb. She is able to nurse but will need a little help from us by way of supplemental feedings with the bottle until she gains enough strength. Her temperature was slightly hypothermic and she doesn't have a good fat reserve. But Farmer Tom and Sharon are on top of the situation. We'll do all we can for her and keep this little one in our prayers that she makes it through the next week.  Today our first three lambs (all females) were introduced to the great outdoors. The weather was beautiful and the babies had a fun time exploring their new world. Here are some photos...       These two females were born to Limpy on January 6th. 9.75 lbs & 7.65 lbs 
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