The first thing I've never done before.

 It had been a little more than half an hour since April had the ewe lamb and nothing was going on. And she had these 2 water bags hanging out. She wasn't pushing or sitting, just concerned with the little ewe lamb.


I was getting a bit worried by then. It just felt like something was wrong. So I just went on in and felt around. I have never done this before so didn't know what all I was feeling. At first I felt little round things. Of course I thought testicles. But no, it wasn't. I finally did feel some feet, but no head. When I pulled and got them out I saw they were the back feet. April was contracting then and pushing. So I pulled when she pushed. I pulled downward toward her back legs and out he came. He was alive! I was so thankful. I got his little head all dried off and let her do the rest. She seemed good after that.

And he's up and headed to the milk with his big sister.

These 2 guys are so cute. Both pure white and full Katahdin. I won't have to dock their tails! The ram has a little brown spot on his side and his ears stand up. The ewe lamb's ears hang down and she looks like a little rabbit.

I names the ewe Cheney and the ram Chandler. They are both doing great. Got their CDT shots this morning along with 7 other lambs. All are out enjoying this beautiful day.

I'll post about that 2nd thing later. I am out in the garden, tilling and getting ready to plant some kale, collards and lettuce. And getting beds ready for onions and radishes. It's supposed to be in the 70's the next few days, but the end of the week we are in for some freezing nights. I have 2 more ewes to lamb and I trying to get them have their lambs today. It's not working yet. But they've had 18 lambs so far.

I did 2 things I have never done before.

The first thing is a little later in the story.

This is April. On Friday about 11:30, I noticed her up front in the pasture and she had a water bubble. It was time, finally! So I grabbed some towels and some coffee and headed out there. It was a beautiful day to have some lambs!

She would walk around. Then sit down.

Then she'd get back up. The chickens came out to help her.

Then some sheep came out. They had been having their mid-morning siesta.

I grabbed some blocks and sat down. Had some chicken company.

Then she started pushing. I saw some feet and a nose, so I knew it would be just a few minutes and she'd have a lamb. She did this a few times, then she'd get back up. Then down she'd go again. It was nearly 12.

Finally, the cutest little white lamb was here. Looked like her momma. # 28, a ewe lamb. I helped April dry off her face and let her do the rest.

She was up within a few minutes, looking for some milk. April was huge, like a dairy goat. She went back there and found the udder and had some colostrum. Then this happened. Some of you will know what this is.

And this is where the first of the things I have never done before happened in about 20 minutes or so. I'm going to finish this post tomorrow. I am tired y'all!

Ah hah moments.

 Sometimes I don't like farming.

 Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here.

Sometimes I don't really like my animals at all.

Sometimes I just want to sell everything, move to town, live a life of abandon. Go out and party every night like I used to. Have no responsibilities. Not even a dog.

This winter has not been fun for me. I won't lie and say that it's been a breeze. It has not! It's been really nasty, wet, muddy, snow, sleet, ice, freezing cold, rain all the time it seems.

I know I am not the only one who is going through this too. I read your blogs and Face Book posts. I know. We are all just plain ole sick and tired of Old Man Winter and all his crap, right?

I'll tell you what I've been really hating the most about farming for me. Feeding time. I just absolutely HATE it. I dread going out there in the mornings. They are the worst. It's when I feed the sheep, goats and alpacas their feed and bread. Have you ever been literally plowed down by 20 sheep, who weigh at least 150 pounds each? Have you ever tried to walk with feed buckets in each hand with 20 sheep on all sides, trying to get to that precious yummy feed? And then have you ever tried to bend over with those feed buckets, because you can't put them down, and clean out poop from all the feed bowls, while 20 ravenous, seemingly starving sheep, WANT THEIR FOOD RIGHT NOW?! Oh my gosh, I just could not do it one more time.

And the goats are just as bad. And I only have 4 of those. But ALL 4 are huge and can do just as much damage as 20 sheep. And OH SO greedy, those sheep and goats. They all think that the other goat's food, which came out of the SAME bucket, is better than what they have! So they go round and round and round. The sheep do the same thing. It's crazy!

So, yesterday, while I was having my 8,978th major melt down, I had an ah hah moment. It's amazing when I have these. I immediately felt so much better and I didn't even have it yet.

I went to the Co-op and bought an 8' feeding trough for the sheep. Now WHY have I not ever done this yet? WHY? My husband went to get it in the truck for me later. It was here when I got home. And he even put a rope on it so I could pull it around. I know. He's a pretty good husband.

So this is how it went this morning. It was rough getting to the trough, but by golly, I poured that feed in there and they all gathered round and started eating and it was QUIET! Alleluia, it worked!!!!!!! I still have some of those green feeders that hook over things that I put some feed in too, that are in the stalls. So they aren't all here in this picture. And Amarillo is still in her stall with her 2 ram lambs. But it was SO nice.

And I gathered up all the bigger black plastic feeder bowls, took them inside and washed them out for the goats to use. Because, goodness knows,a goat is finicky about stuff like that.

 
There are all 4 goats, each with their very own feed bowls. Happy. That didn't last but a few minutes. Til they all realized there was feed in ALL those bowls. So they had to play musical feed bowls. Silly goats.

Anyway, all this to say that I am feeling totally refreshed and ready for a new start. It's a beautiful sunny day, supposed to be in the 60's! The quads are all doing great. Although, I am bottle feeding the 2 girls and had brought them inside. I did take them out to see their brothers, Click and Clack, and their momma. Just to see what she'd do.

This is when I first put the girls down. She sniffed them.

The ran to the corner and called the boys. You can see the difference in size of the black lamb to the right. He is twice the size of the other 3.  So here is Amarillo with her 2 boys with the girls in the front.

I decided to leave the girls in there but wanted them protected. So put up this little fence in the corner for them. They can see the others, but Amarillo can't hurt them if she decides to freak out on them. The black ewe I named Cameron. She weighs 3 1/2 pounds. The little brown ewe is Campbelle. She weighs just 3 pounds. But they drink a small bottle about every 2-3 hours now. They are doing amazingly well for how I found them 2 days ago, all trampled and cold and wet. I am surprised they have all lived and are doing so good. So I'll leave the girls out here with them and still bottle feed them. I want them to be a part of the flock. But they are SO small, I want them to be a lot bigger before they actually go out in the pasture with the other sheep and lambs. One swift roll-over and that could be it for these little tiny guys.

 I named the boys Click (the smallest) and Clack, after the Tappit brothers that come on NPR on Saturdays and talk all things cars. My husband loves those guys.

So, this is where I am right now. Much better. And I won't sell ALL the animals, just some of them later. I do have too many sheep for this place. Just to figure out who is going to be hard. I have an idea of some that I know I could sell and be ok about.

I hope you all are having a good weather day too, where ever you all are!