Sorry to say, Teardrop continues to reject Tula as her own. While mama is not overly aggressive toward her lamb, she will not let Tula nurse. This all happened because during the birth in the middle of the night somehow Tula got separated from her mother where enough time elapsed that no bonding occurred with Teardrop in those first critical hours. We tried to remove Tula to join the other sheep to see if she could be on her own, but she just cried and cried and wanted to go back to Teardrop and her brother Toro. Even though Teardrop did not bond with her lamb, Tula certainly did with her mother. It's sad to see Tula try and try to nurse only to be turned away. So, it looks like we have another bottle baby on our hands. Darn! Now I'm going to have to be Tula's mommy--to feed her, and pet her, and love her, and get attached all over again. I think she'll still be fine sticking close to Toro and Teardrop, but since yesterday she's on the bottle. Tula is already looking forward to it. When we come into the barn she is ready to leap out the opened gate and start "punching" my leg looking for milk, which she hungrily devours within a minute's time. Awww. She's going to be my favorite lamb very soon I think.
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We are getting a bumper crop of lambs this year. This morning we were surprised to see two more baby lambs born. Teardrop, who gave birth to our Fall lambs not six months ago, gave birth again to a healthy male and female lamb. The births were not without incident. This all happened in the middle of the night as Teardrop was with all the other sheep in the big pen. Apparently, the female lamb got separated from Teardrop during the night and most likely found another ewe to nurse on. By morning Teardrop was already rejecting her female lamb, keeping only to the male lamb. So, after having placed Teardrop in the lambing jug, we began to start a "forced feeding" regimen. This involves holding Teardrop and making sure the female lamb gets her milk. After a few days of this, the mother will start to smell her scent on the lamb and should accept her as her own. We named them Tula and Toro. This is the largest group of new lambs we've ever had at Bear Valley Farm. 21 lambs, 9 ewes, and one Fabio.  When the triplets went outside for the first time something happened that I didn't anticipate. Our herd of sheep completely freaked out when they first saw little Bootsy. Her black and white markings were so stark and different from what they had ever seen before so they instinctively surmised that Bootsy was dangerous and must be avoided at all costs. This was very sad, because Babysheep and her babies made several attempts to integrate back into the herd only to be rejected because they were bringing along that weird alien creature into their ranks. The next day the sheep were less suspicious but they still gave Bootsy a wide berth. We'll just have to be patient until they all learn that Bootsy is not a dangerous alien but only a cute little harmless lamb who just wants to fit in. C'mon you sheep, give her a break!    Today we put the triplets into the big pen so they could stretch their legs a little and get the chance to explore a little. My, they are spunky little lambs. Even Bambi, who struggled for the first few days to learn how to nurse, was up and about with vigor.  Babysheep finally gave birth to her babies on Sunday April 23rd. Three beautiful female lambs, one of which has significant black and gray markings. It was quite an eventful day. While working outside we heard a ewe bellowing very loudly by the barn. It was not a normal cry we typically hear from the herd. Sharon went to investigate and, lo and behold, Babysheep had already given birth to the first lamb (Bambi). The birth must have been very difficult for Babysheep to cry out like she did. Most of the time a ewe in labor just grunts a little, certainly not loud enough to hear from over 1000 feet away. The second and third lamb came out nearly 40 minutes later. Sharon had to help pull Bootsy out, as she got stuck. Bootsy is our black be-speckled lamb--a really cutie. Buzzy, the third and largest of the lambs, came out last with no difficulty. So congratulations Babysheep! You did good. And wow, what an attentive mother she is. Here's the first of many photos taken of this historic event at Bear Valley Farm...  Finally I've had enough time recently to edit together last year's summer movie project. I had all this great footage of the animals from the summer of 2016 but never had the time to start on it. I already have a bunch of footage of the 2017 lambing and have been wanting to start on that project, but I couldn't move on without finishing the former. Well, it's finally done--our precious memories of the lives of Moo and Bloo and Betsy and Wilma and Luke and Bullwinkle and Zero and Bronco and Little Squirt and Lazarus and Timmy and Daryl and Fabio and Babysheep and all the Mama Sheep and Barney and Gary and Babygoat and Daisy and Bear the Dog and the chickens. Just click here on the 2016 Movie Page and enjoy.
Today turned out to be a beautiful day for shearing. Everything was dry, the sun was out in force, and the ewes gave the shearer hardly any fuss at all. It would be interesting to see how Grandma's new baby would take to her new look. All is well. Little Jeffrey recognized his mama right away, though Grandma certainly looks different now.   Yesterday Jeffrey became Red #9. He's a quiet little fellow who hardly made a peep during the paint branding, CDT vaccination, and tail docking. What a trooper. And look at those huge ears!  Surprise, surprise! Grandma gave birth to little Jeffrey yesterday afternoon. We assumed Grandma was bred in early December, but it turns out she conceived only two weeks after having lost Ginger (around the second week of November). Jeffrey appears very healthy and is exhibiting the typical behaviors of a newborn lamb. Of course, we'll be keeping a sharp eye on this one to make sure we do everything we can to ensure good growth. If you think Bullwinkle had large ears, wait until you see Jeffrey...   |