What a run of warm weather we've had! Yesterday capped it by reaching the high 70s; it was a 'house and car windows wide open' sort of day. Perfect for welcoming new life into the world of Boulderneigh.
On Sunday Blaise was on my radar. She wasn't showing physical signs of imminent labor, but the behavior was there. Sure enough, when I went down to do Monday morning chores (a couple hours after I awoke from vivid dreams about lambs) Blaise, her yearling Bauble, and a tiny lamb were sequestered on one side of the Sheep Sheraton while the rest of the ewes gawked from the other side of the fold. I haltered Blaise, scooped up her damp but clean newborn, and took them to the barn stall. Then, because Blaise had so little udder development, I called an acquaintance who usually has sheep colostrum and dashed to town to pick some up. I have since confirmed that Blaise does have some milk and her little mite nurses, but Bitsy, as I've named her, seems to appreciate the topping-off I'm giving her every few hours. I had to supplement Blaise's twins last year, so I'm not surprised. Here are the photos from yesterday:
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| While bottle-feeding Bitsy I felt something on my hair and looked up to see this |
The stall still had stinky old bedding in it when I moved the new arrival in; Brian has been promising to help with that chore but hadn't made time for it yet. Last night he did; better late than never! Now it is full of fresh, clean straw.
I have managed to get one sheep sheared. Sunday afternoon I started on Bridget, and then remembered that she takes the longest and switched to Bitta. I got a before photo; it was too dark by the time I finished to get a good 'after' shot.
Today began foggy and chilly; if it warms up as promised I'm going to try to get another fleece harvested. After today we return to typical NW spring weather and shearing will probably be put on hold for awhile.
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| (It lies; still clouded over here.) |
The guy I hired to tame the landscape came this morning to finish up by spraying the ivy and a few weedy areas. He said he'd come back in a couple weeks to hit the ivy again; he figures it will need it. My husband was dismayed by the cost "to get rid of a few blackberries," but he wasn't here to see the hours of hard work put in by several men and certainly wouldn't have gotten around to doing it all himself. To me, it is money well spent!
4 comments:
What a sweet little thing! Glad it went well. I have two does both due the first couple of days of April. What is spring without babies? :)
Leigh, my three remaining bred ewes all look like they may wait until April as well. No udders on them yet, and I EXPECT them to bag up.
Oh!! She's darling!! :-) :-)
Oops! I missed finding this post! I'm so happy to see that you have one tiny little babe! Bitsy is adorable! It sounds like she's really sweet.
We haven't had any snow for a while now, but the mountains evidently have quite a bit. And there hasn't been this much water in Lookout reservoir for years! Its good to see it.
Your place looks beautiful.
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