Blossom has triplets

Sometime early this morning, Blossom let herself into the comfortable barn and presented Dave with three white triplets when he arrived this morning, one male and two female.  They are lovely, strong lambs and all are doing well.  She does not appear to have had problems birthing but we will have to watch her.

Shy Blossom with her lambs

 
At the same time, one of the Romney X's presented us with two black males, both strong lambs.  It was a busy morning.

Then there were twins

 
Some time later, one of the brown Romney X presented us with twins, one black and one white and both female. There goes my colour theory again.

   Then there were more twins

While we are still in the midst of lambing, Dave and I are already thinking about next years flock.  Walter has to move on.  A ram can only provide his services for two years.  The first year, the flock is all new to him.  Any of the ewes that are born from that year are held back in year two from breeding because they are too small so the ram is only servicing the same ewes again the second year.  Then he must move on to a new flock.  In this case, Walter will move up the mountain to Rock Farm, just five kilometers away.  We have already contacted a breeder on the mainland and have located a brown, Romney ram for next year.  This will ensure more colour in future wool.

Shepherd Dave is beginning to look tired.

Dave has been bringing some of the high school students to visit the farm and check out this birthing process.  There is nothing like a little field work to connect what is in those books with real life.  Today the lesson was all about worms.  Not the common garden variety but the intestinal worms picked up by the sheep, particularly in wet, warmer climates.  Dave is constantly on the look-out for evidence of these parasites which can quickly kill a sheep if they go undetected.  The lesson included information on how to read the signs that worms might be present by the consistency of sheep poo.  I leave the reading of poo signs to him as well as the worming process.  However, when we sheer the sheep I also find signs of stress caused by these parasites in the wool which can be brittle and damaged by such an infestation.

Corri and her lamb

There have to be some benefits for studying poo!