Annabelle.

had a little litter of lambs this morning. 4 of them. 3 ewes and a ram. That brought the number of lambs to 18 so far. 3 have died. And I have 1 ewe left to lamb, Campbelle.

I woke up really early this morning with thunder, lightening and very heavy rain going on outside. I lay there in bed worrying about all the sheep, if they had their lambs inside. I finally got up at 6 and went out to check on them.

Annabelle was out in the front pasture. I went to look at her, and sure enough, there was a water bubble. She would not go in, so I left her. I couldn't get close to her. I went to get towels and when I came back out, there was a head out. She would not let me near her to help. So I left her.

When I came back out, there were 3 lambs laying on the wet grass, all alive. I thought for sure that first one was dead, the way it hung there for so long.

So I picked all 3 up and got her to follow me to a stall. She was not happy about it, but she went inside. I didn't want to bother her too much because she was a bit crazy. So I left her again.

When I came back out to check on the lambs, there was another one laying there! Geeze already!

So anyway, she was not paying much attention to the last 3 lambs. So I dried them off as much as I could. I went in and got a bottle of colostrum and fed the 3 smallest lambs. They drank it all. Then I called my friend Carrie and asked her if she wanted 3 lambs for her 3 sweet kids. They came a few hours later, with towels and bottles. Those little lambs will be loved and spoiled before the day is over. Annabelle never even looked at them.

So she has the biggest ewe lamb with her. She's doing great. Annabelle is Buttercup's mother. Buttercup had triplet ewe lambs on Easter Sunday. So between these 2 ewes, they had 7 live lambs, 6 ewes and a ram!

The sun is shining again! It's a big mud pit outside. But the lambs (there are 12 of them at the moment)  are running about, playing and having fun together...

All the boys...

This is Lambchops. He is Adalaide's boy. She also had a ewe lamb. She is taking such good care of them! I'm really proud of her. I'm so glad I got her in a lambing jug, just in time! But this little guy is adorable! I call him Lambchops because he does have those fluffy sideburns like a man.

These are Darla's boys. The black and white is Frodo and the brown is Sam. She's a really good mother and apparently has rich milk, because these are fat little guys.

And this little sweetie pie is Bilbo, Cameron's boy. He has been limping. Somehow he's hurt his right front leg. One of the big ewes might have hit him, trying to get him away from them. Or Cameron could have done something. Whenever she's ready to go, she nudges him til he gets up to follow her. She doesn't let him get too far from her. But he would rather just lay down and sleep, just like Bilbo Baggins did when he was so old.

And these very small boys are Amarillo's. Goodness, they are so small. As big as she is, I am a bit surprised. But she did have triplets. They both look like her a lot. The smaller one is Pippin and the bigger one is Merry. I love them!

Still waiting on Campbelle and Annabelle to lamb. They are just laying around, waiting too.

I'll take pics of all the girls later. There are 5 of them.

12, 13, 14...

This morning, I got up early and looked out the front window. I could see Amarillo standing in the same place she was laying last night. It was raining. I saw some littles lambs around her. So I got some clothes on, grabbed towels and went to her. I saw 2 lambs standing and one laying, still wet. It was dead. But the other 2 were fine. I grabbed them all and she followed us to a stall. Got the lambs as dry as possible then went to get hay and feed for her. Got them all settled in, then trimmed around her udders so the lambs could find the teats. They did. I found out all 3 were rams . I was happy to have a few more boys. They will be Mariodoc Brandybuck (Merry) and Perigrin Took (Pippin).  Can you tell where these names came from?? Yes, I have Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, so had to have a Merry and Pippin.

I still need names for Adalaide's 2 lambs, a ewe and a ram.


 So we have 6 ram lambs and 5 ewe lambs so far. There are 2 more ewes left to lamb now.

And I am tired of April already. It has been the most fickle month, like it really doesn't know what to do. Should it be cold? Or hot? Or dry? Or sopping wet?   Well, so far, it has been ALL of these things. And right now, it's SOPPING WET out there! We have had a fire going some days because it's been so cold. Then a few days later, the air conditioner is on.  Oh April, I will be SO glad to see you leave!

And I realize this must be horribly boring to you all, all these lamb posts right now. But this is my life. Like ALL DAY, this is my life. Hauling water, hay, feed, making sure the right lambs are with the right mothers. Rescuing the lambs that went the wrong way at the fence and got on the wrong side. Banding tails. Giving some lambs bottles. Just never ending sheep right now! I am SO tired. And I took a nap yesterday afternoon. Yes, a nap. And it felt SO good!