Thursday Lambs

Here they are--Twin ewe lambs out of Locksfield Griffin & Locksfield Tabitha. The little stinker on the right is the all black one and it took forever to get any kind of picture with her holding still.

The ewe lamb with the funky shading is on the left. You can somewhat see how it goes over and under her eye. You can also see the tiny white splash on her front shoulder area.

The light washed out alot of the brownish markings around her eyes, but here is another shot of her.

Since everybody else was lambing two to three days early, Tabitha decided to do so as well. It was not a quiet event and I got dragged into it whether I wanted to or not! At the 9:30 p.m. barn checks, she was really thinking hard about it, digging straw, looking at her sides and laying down and getting back up.

I decided to give her until around 1:00 a.m. before I checked again. However at 10:30 I heard her calling madly for her baby. I rush out there, expecting to see a lamb on the ground, but all I see is Tabitha running around baa-ing like crazy, being trailed by 3 or 4 yearlings. What the heck? She had me so convinced she had already lambed that I went over every inch of the paddock looking for a lamb! Then I was starting to believe that she had lambed and some predator had snatched it from her. She continued to call and run about and lick at the birth fluid on her back legs. Finally I remembered another ewe who had done this a long time ago--she had just gotten way ahead of the game and thought she had already lambed. So I decided this must be the case. Tab was so caught up in thinking there should already be a lamb, that she had stopped having contractions! I locked Tab in the barn by herself, as the yearlings were all revved up and becoming unruly. Then I forced myself to go back to house and wait at least a half hour. I knew she had finally lambed, when it was all quiet outside! When I got out there she was licking the newborn lamb, and already had a second on the way. Poor little sucker was another one hoof back presentation and again Tab had just become so focused on the newborn that she had quit laboring. I tried to help position it better, but Tab was having nothing to do with that. Finally however she started having contractions and I was able to help her a little. I think with these one hoof back births, unless the lamb is huge, they can usually deliver them on their own. I've seen allot of them do it over the years.

So Locksfield Griffin (black) and Locksfield Tabitha (Moorit) presented me with twin BLACK ewe lambs! They are so messing with my mind this year---black and grey parents having moorits, black and black parents having moorits--black and moorits having blacks... Sorry, I digress. The girls are very lovely--they are a bright shiny black and have the longer fleece type but it has allot of wave and crimp to it. One of the girls has the most interesting 'ghostly' gulmoget or katmoget type markings on her face. Very cute. I'm guessing pheo, and that perhaps she isn't true black but maybe modified? I tried to get pictures, but they aren't good. Any ideas? Malinda, have you seen anything like this on your lambs? She also has a tiny patch of white under her chin. The solid black one didn't want to hold still at all for photos. They were about three days old in these pictures. I'm hoping to get better pictures of all the lambs soon.