Last night, a post was done discussing the signs of labor.  I made a prediction based on the signs I had read about and saw in Kit before she gave birth that Kaboodle would lamb either through the night last night, or in the morning.  Apparently, the signs are accurate as Kaboodle gave birth to a healthy lamb ram at around 5:00 in the morning.  Both he and his mom are doing well. 

With any big event such as birthing, there is always a certain amount of stress and anxiety.  Is everything going right? Do I need to assist with something?  Do I need to worry about them getting enough milk?  The list can go on and on.  One of my bigger concerns is the passing of the placenta.  Neither Kit or Kaboodle passed their placenta.  This seems to be a very bad thing to me, but I am informed by several other sheep herders that this is somewhat common and not to worry.  I am keeping a close eye on the ladies.  Hopefully mothers and lambs will all be healthy and happy.

One week ago today, Kit had her first lamb.  A little girl that I named Ella.  She is doing very well.  Kaboodle has not yet lambed, but if my reading of the “signs” is correct, I predict Kaboodle will lamb either tonight or tomorrow morning.

The anticipation leading up to the moment of lambing has been high.  For the last month, I have been wondering if they are in labor, or just acting funny that day.  I searched the web for sites that would tell me the signs that my sheep were about to go into labor.  A few good sites include Sheep’s Creek Farm and Wool Farm.  Another great site for all things goats, which is similar in many ways to sheep is Fias Co Farm. 

Both Kit and Kaboodle are first time lambers and I understand that not all sheep act the same when they are about ready to give birth.  What I saw the day before Kit gave birth, and what I am seeing now with Kaboodle are as follows:  First, almost a month ago both of their udders started to grow and became a little baggy.  About three weeks ago, if you were to squeeze the teat, you would get a clear, very thick, sticky, yellow tinted liquid.  About a week before they lambed, the clear, yellow liquid turned milky.  Although their udders continued to grow, the most growth happens right before they lamb.  With Kit it was about two days before, with Kaboodle, I will bet it is only a few hours off.  Second, the day before Kit lambed, she was acting very strange.  Standing in a funny position and looking off into space.  She didn’t really move around much and when she did, it was slow.  Even when she ate, she ate slower and seemed to chew her food more.  Kaboodle is now doing this.  Standing and staring at nothing for long periods of time.  The strange behaviour also related to the noise they made.  Typically, Kaboodle is very vocal.  Right now she is very quiet.  Kit isn’t as vocal, but about 12 hours before she lambed, she was also very, very quiet.  Kit was interested in food right before she gave birth, but she ate slowly and not all of it like she normally does.  Kaboodle took a few bites of the grain, then turned her nose up at it and went off into the corner of the barn to stare at the wall.  Not typical behavior at all.  Third, their back side changes.  It has been changing for over a month.  But right before they give birth, it protrudes a little and is much more red than earlier.  With them both, it went from a kind of pale color, to a pink, to a darker pink, to almost red.  When it gets to be almost red, they were ready.  Also, right around their tails gets soft.  If you feel back there, you can feel the ligaments right where the tale meets the backbone.  Shortly before they lamb, you can’t feel the ligaments and it is all squishy back there. 

These are some of the signs I have noticed with my sheep.  And it is still unsure if Kaboodle will actually lamb tonight or tomorrow, but I wanted to post this as a challenge to see if the signs I saw are accurate descriptions of when lambing will occur.  If she lambs, we can be somewhat confident that when you see these things, lambing will come.  If she doesn’t lamb, I would argue that you never know and the little ones come when they come. 

Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well with Kaboodle!

Mother, Daughter, and Auntie Kaboodle Out in the Woods Together

The last few days Kit and her lamb have been kept in one of the nice rooms in the barn that opens up to a small fenced in yard.  They have done well here and both mother and daughter are doing very well.  But Kit seemed anxious to get out into the woods to find some delicious fresh grass to munch on.  Because the lamb seemed to do a good job keeping up with Kit as she walked around, I thought it was a good idea to let them out and explore a little.  Things looked pretty good.  Kit went off eating her way to bliss while the little lamb trailed right behind her.  I decided to head into the house for a short time, but kept going out periodically to check on them. 

From the kitchen, I could hear the terrible shrill of Kit’s screams.  I put on my shoes and raced out to the barn.  There was Kit and Kaboodle, but no lamb.  Kit was making such a fuss that I couldn’t hear if the baby was crying somewhere out in the woods.  Kit and I ran off into the woods in search of the little lost lamb.  We started in the obvious placed, but no lamb was found.  Kit wasn’t calming down.  In fact, the more we looked, the louder Kit cried.  I made three or four passes, up and down the paths the sheep have eaten away, looking under bushes, branches, and anything where a little lamb could hide herself.  Nothing.  I was starting to panic.  I heard an owl off in the distance.  Was the lamb carried off?  My mind didn’t want to think about that fate.  I kept looking.

Finally, way in the back of the woods, off of every trail and away from all the tall grasses the sheep love, I saw a glimmer of white.  Just a little white fleck through the green brush.  I ran in that direction and found a sleeping little lamb.  I picked her up and held her.  As soon as Kit saw her, she became quiet and ran up to sniff, to make sure this was in fact hers.  She was satisfied and the three of us went back to the barn.  They are now back safe and sound in their small yard, where they will stay until the lamb is a little older.

Little Lamb Taking Her First Steps

Kit, the Icelandic ewe, gave birth to a healthy, albeit small female lamb.  After a lot of worrying, both mother and daughter appear to be healthy and doing well.  My biggest concern was that Kit wouldn’t accept the little girl, but she has turned out to be a decent enough mother.  Thankfully the lamb is able to nurse and is active.  I am sure there will be a lot more written on this new addition to Piscataway Acres.  Below are a couple more photos.  Enjoy.

Kit Being Motherly

Waking Up After A Mid-Morning Nap

"Where's my mama?"

Kaboodle Relishes The Cool Icelandic Like Summers!

After several days of very hot temperatures, we had a nice day today.  Most of the day was in the low 70’s and fairly low humidity with a nice breeze.  All the animals had a great time out and about, not having to hide under some shade.  The sheep were particularly grateful as they don’t have the heat tolerance the other animals seem to have. 

The pigs spent so much time enjoying the cool weather, that they didn’t get in their normal nap time under the maple trees.  So they came inside extra early to sleep.  I hope they don’t wake up extra early hoping for another beautiful day!

Kit And Kaboodle Cooling Off With Their New Fan

It has been a very hot spring and summer.  The animals are doing okay, but they are not happy with the high temperatures.  Because the goats come from Africa and the pigs from Southeast Asia, they are dealing with the heat a lot better than the sheep, from Iceland.  My plan is to sheer the sheep again shortly to make sure they aren’t wearing any heavy wool coats in the middle of the summer.  But seeing them out there panting in the sweltering heat, I needed to do something.  My first thought was to wet them down, but this is a big no, no as it turns out.  Getting wool wet doesn’t cool them down, it just makes it so the wool doesn’t breath and then the sheep suffer even more. 

The solution is a fan.  I went out to the farm supply store and purchased a nice outdoor fan for them.  As I sat out in the 90+ degree temperatures setting the fan up, the goats and sheep sat on the other side of the fence watching me in anticipation.  I knew they didn’t know what I was putting together, but I think they sensed it was going to be something of worth to them.  Once finished, I turned it on.  The two sheep and two goats huddled around the fan feeling the cool breeze against their faces.  Kit realized that if she turned to the side, more of her would be cooled down.  The goats cooled down and then decided they were ready to take some more heat, so they went off playing.  Not the sheep, they have planted themselves in front of the fan wondering what life was like before such an invention.  Now they want central air conditioning for the barn.

Finnemore Trying to Look Innocent

In  previous post, it was mentioned that Chesapeake dug up a piece of ground for his own garden.  I planted some corn and other items that I thought he would enjoy, then fenced it off with some left over fencing.  I knew the fence wasn’t very strong, but thought that it may give just enough protection to allow the small patch of garden to grow.  I doubted it would survive to full harvest, but I thought perhaps a few weeks.  I was wrong.  I came out to find the garden freshly tilled again, with all of the two to three inch corn gone.  I looked around to see Finnemore over by the tree looking very satisfied.  Poor Chesapeake was in the barn and was completely unaware of the garden breach. 

This is what their little garde is for, so I replanted some corn and squash.  I then made the fence a bit more secure by putting wooden poles around it.  Let’s see how long it lasts…

Darwin with his new friend Finnemore

Darwin the dog has enjoyed many different kinds of lives in his 10 years.  He has been a city dog, a suburbia dog, a beach dog, a mountain dog, and now he is getting to be a farm dog. 

Darwin was planning on going to Alaska with his parents.  He had high hopes of participating in the Iditarod, perhaps even testing his strength against a grizzly.  But he wasn’t sure about the long flight out and thus decided to remain on the east coast.  Although he loves his house, he didn’t think it was such a good idea to stay near the Delaware beaches during tourist season alone.  So he decided to take a trip to Piscataway Acres.

 He wasn’t sure what to make of things.  Pigs sleeping in doors, who has heard of such a thing?  But he soon found that the two pigs would be more than just friends, they would be his body guards! 

The day begins a little earlier than Darwin is used to, but he doesn’t seem to mind waking up with the sun.  He even seems to enjoy the early morning chores.  The morning smells of honeysuckle and fresh hay quickly wake him up and he goes exploring.  The pigs are more interested in the feeding activities in the barn, but Darwin doesn’t want to waste one minute of the sunrise, so he remains out in the yard, sniffing the air.  He gets to play a little after feeding time with the pigs.  Mostly, they run around in the yard, sniff each other, and see if they can’t find something to do.  But then Darwin realizes that he is much older and not used to the early morning play, so he heads back into the house to catch a nap.  He awakens at about 6pm for more outdoor activities.  But this time, he has to be cautious.  This time, sheep and goats are loose.  At one point, Darwin would have been very comfortable taking on the whole lot of them.  Chasing them, herding them, keeping them in line.  But now that he is older, and the sheep and goats are no longer lambs and kids, Darwin has to keep a watchful eye out for any ruminants closing in on him.  They caught him off guard once, gave him a powerful head bunt that sent him yelping into the air.  Never again.  Darwin soon found an ally in the pigs.  He found that if he stayed close to the pigs, the sheep and goats would only give him an awful stare, but thankfully no more.  Although he would like to run around more, the pigs seem mostly interested in looking for little bits of grass to eat and sniffing various trees.  

Although Darwin feels a little let down that he is too small to herd sheep and goats, he is happy that he has made some very good pig buddies and that he is still able to herd chickens.

Cute but Destructive!

This evening, as I was watering the garden, I noticed several small trees missing from the other side of Piscataway Creek.  As noted in a previous blog, we have been seeing signs of a beaver.  As I continued to water the garden, I was surprised by the bold beaver, surfacing right in front of where I was standing.  “I suppose there is enough woods here for you my little friend,” I thought.  But I was even more startled when a second beaver surfaced just a few feet away.  I started to worry.  Perhaps it is a male and a female…  “I don’t want little beavers running around here, so no hanky panky,” I said to the beavers.  But as if mocking my comment, two more beavers, much smaller surfaced.  The four of them sat eying me, wondering what I was doing behind that fence.  If they only knew the tasty treats growing in the garden.  Fear set in.  I immediately set to work securing the fence.  Making sure every inch of it was staked down and covered with a thick bedding of straw.  The fence seems to be pig tight, but is it beaver tight?  Time will tell… 

Poison Ivy Muncher

I am allergic to poison ivy and unfortunately, there is a lot of poison ivy here at Piscataway Acres.  I really hate this noxious weed.  Years ago, I would go on poison ivy eradication missions.  I would suit myself up and go out with some toxic substance and spray the nasty plant until it was dead.  Then I got animals and the spraying of harmful chemicals had to stop.  I was at first very happy to find out that sheep, goats, and pigs all love to eat poison ivy.  I thought that I had found my partners in eradicating such vile vegetation.  But soon I learned that they eat it, walk through it, and lie in it.  They get the poison oils on their fur and then, want to play with me.  Needless to say, they are not eating it fast enough and I find myself with little patches of the itchy rash.  The sheep in particular are bad carriers of the oils as they cross the Piscataway Creek and go into the large ivy bushes.  The sheep are also known for being a bit pushy when it comes to feeding time.  They rub all over my legs and arms as I prepare their evening meal.  Washing up afterwards certainly helps, but I am afraid this is just one of the prices I have to pay for having loved animals.