In the shake of a lamb's tail

We have 30 lambs now. It's amazing how fast they were born once it got started. There were days we had 6 new lambs born! It was a very busy time. We'd blink our eyes and have more work to do! Thankfully, all but 7 of our ewes have had their lambs, and the 7 that remain could lamb any time from today to August. It's warm enough for them to be out on pasture now, so they can handle things for themselves. Other than two bottle-lambs, all of our sheep are now out on pasture. It's so awesome to see them running around and having fun out there. There are so many of them! We've doubled the size of our flock. I wish we could keep them all... of course, I'm sure I'll only feel that way until they are grown, and less cute. :-)

Last week we vaccinated, ear tagged, castrated, and docked tails. Not all 30 lambs, because they aren't all big and strong enough yet. But we got a lot of them done. I thought it'd be terrible and I would either be grossed out or feel terrible for the lambs, but they all did so well, and they only acted like they were in pain for about 30 seconds. It really is a far more humane process than I thought it would be. I'm glad I got to see it. And I'll be honest, I think the little lamb tails look so much cuter when they are short!

I'll tell you something that didn't go quickly - our trip to Grove City to pick up a sheep shed. We found a 3-walled sheep "shanty" for cheap on Craig's List, and we needed a shelter for our rams. So rather than build one ourselves, we decided to pick one up. It was only 2 hours away - figure 2 hour drive each way, and an hour to load, that's a 5 hour trip.  Not bad! Well, it ended up being a 10 hour trip. How? Well that's easy, did you forget our motto? "Plan B Farms: Where nothing goes as planned". We were about 30 minutes into our trip when the tire on the trailer froze (something got stuck or a bearing went, we're not sure) and we drug (dragged??) the trailer for about 50 feet before getting to a stop on the side of the interstate. The wheel started turning after that, but we had worn the tire down to the inner threads, and it wasn't safe to put the shed on, so we drove it back home, and borrowed my uncle's dump truck. It worked like a charm, but we couldn't go over 50 mph the whole way there and back. It was a long day, but we got the shed, and now the rams can be in their own pasture, separate from the ewe's and lambs. Just so long as they don't jump the fence (for a third time)!!

Our website is up and running (www.lauridellacres.com). I spent hours on it's design at first. I was pulling my hair out, getting I.T. help from the company we were using... and nothing was working. Just glitch after frustrating glitch. So finally, after hours and hours, I demanded a refund (not expecting to get one) and they said SURE! So we dropped them, and went with a new company (fatcow.com). In a flash we had our website up and running! It was so easy! I can't wait to get more photos and finish off some of the details. It was a lot of fun to put together.

Next weekend - a sheep and wool festival in Maryland. I think Ryan and I are going to camp all weekend rather than get a hotel. It should be fun. I don't remember the last time (if ever) I spent more than one night in a row in a tent!
After the festival is over, I think my life might return a little more to "normal"... whatever that is :)  Then perhaps my blog won't be strictly a farm blog haha!

One thing that I'm excited about that isn't farm related - my sister-in-law had her baby! 6 weeks early, but they're both doing really well. I can't wait to go visit them!! I'm not a huge fan of babies... I prefer 2 year olds... but as I've gotten older (and closer to having children of my own) I've gotten a little more accepting of them. I can't wait to meet little April. Hopefully she'll help me to move along the path of liking infants. :-)

That's my life!

Dogs and Lambs

I got a phone call earlier today that our sheep dog Ellie was hit by a car. :-(  She is ok! I guess she jumped the fence in the back yard and got loose. My mom noticed right away, and Ryan went out to get her. He called her, but she wouldn't go to him. He heard a car coming down the road, and knew she would try to herd it. And sure enough she ran into the road. She was standing broadside when the car hit her. Luckily, she was hit by the bumper and she rolled under the car, and was missed by all 4 tires. Ryan says she has a bruise on the side of her face, but otherwise appears to be perfectly fine. She got up and walked right over to him afterward. The woman who hit her stopped, and was crying. Ryan calmed her down and everything seems to be alright. But Ellie will be under constant surveillance to be sure there are no complications. And as soon as she heals, Ryan will be working with her on the "come here" command!! We are so very thankful she is alright!!


In other, happier, news:
We have lambs!
8 so far, 5 ram lambs (boys), 3 ewe lambs (girls). So far all singles except for one set of twins. We have 3 black lambs, and 5 brown ones. We like the brown ones best, as they are worth the most money. But some of the black ones are really cute, so I definitely don't mind having them around! :-)  I was expecting more twins, and hopefully we'll get more, but I guess singles are usually born first. Makes sense I suppose.

This is Aram:

He's one of the twins. I can't believe how cute they all are! But, they aren't soft like I thought they'd be. Their fur feels almost like corduroy pants. I think it's so short that you just can't feel how soft it is. It's SUPER short! It'll grow fast though. :)

Ryan and I have decided the nickname for our farm will be "Plan B Farms: Where nothing goes as planned". Literally everything we've done with these sheep has had to be done a second time, because our original plan wasn't working! We've rebuilt barns, pens, fences and bridges... we've moved sheep 'here' just to put them back 'there' again... we had a breeding plan laid out, but then two rams jumped the fence, so our entire breeding plan for this year has changed... it's been really hectic. But I'm loving it all, and we're having so much fun.

The barn isn't very accessible. It's a muddy walk through the pasture to get to the barn, and once you get within 10 feet of the barn, you'd better have either knee-high boots or waders because the mud is literally a foot thick. there's no getting around it, you have to walk through it. Then, once you bravely make it into the barn (without losing a boot to the sticky clay/mud), you have to step up on a chair, over a 4 foot fence onto a ladder, climb down the ladder and FINALLY you are in the barn and can see the lambs. So, while we welcome any and all visitors, please note: if you don't have knee-high boots, or you aren't physically able to climb onto a chair, over a fence, and down a ladder, you aren't going to be able to get close to the lambs. This is definitely something we will be doing differently next year!

That's my life!