Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Birthing babies

The last several days have been busy.  Two calves born, and lots of baby lambs.  In fact, the triplets we had are now being bottle fed.  So, if I have not been posting, you now know why.   Ill be out taking photographs today now that the sun is out and it looks to be a beautiful day.   The weather has been just awful of late.  The sheep are looking forward to the pasture.

We still have lots of lambing yet to come, but Im going to let them lamb on pasture now, and get them out of the barn.  The mommas can come into the barn with their babies if I think they need some time alone, but the weather looks really nice for the next couple of weeks.

The baby bunnies are starting to wean themselves off of mom.  They are eating food and hay and drinking from the waterer now.  Not much longer until we have ourselves a nice fricasee!

The baby chicks that we found in the barn are doing well.  Its also time to get our broiler birds out onto pasture.  Lots to do this weekend.  Lots!

6 comments:

alexis nicole said...

You've got your hands full with a lot of beautiful things!

Michael@greenakeys.com said...

Another set of triplets late this afternoon. Just brought them into the barn for the night. They will be fine. 2 ewe lambs and a ram lamb. We are up to 11 babies now. Still bottle feeding the first set of triplets. Their mother is still not doing well, but she is nibbling at her hay. Thats a great sign. Lets hope she starts eating again. Otherwise, I give her maybe 2 more days.

SteveandAlina said...

Aw, the poor Momma... I wonder what is wrong with her? post-partum depression? Do you give the lambs formula or what???

Toni aka irishlas said...

Hope all your birthing comes natural and easy..
here's to a pasture full of Spring lambs!

Michael@greenakeys.com said...

Ive got lamb formula. I may switch over to whole cows milk. Cows milk isnt the same as sheeps milk, sheep milk is higher in fats and proteins and milk solids. However, cows milk isnt fake, chemically mixed formula. Its a trade off. For now, Im sticking with formula.

Its not PPD. I think its a bit of mastitis, and also toxemia. The lambs growing in the ewe zap her of lots of nutrition and if the ewe doesnt eat well, she loses her conditioning and when the lambs are born, her rumen becomes acidic and she loses her appetite. That makes her condition worse, etc.

SteveandAlina said...

How is the Mom doing now? (I'm almost afraid to ask!)

That is interesting about the lamb formula. I know what you mean about the processing vs. cow's milk. I did quite a bit of pumping for my own two kids. :)