Silence of the Lambs

Lambs are not silent.  Ewes are really NOT silent. 

So, this year, we are sheep farmers.  Just saying that, because who knows if we will be sheep farmers next year.  We like cows better.  Cows aren't as much work.  You don't always have to wonder if a cow will up and die.  You don't have to worry if a coyote will eat your cow. Of course, with dogs like these girls, the coyotes probably won't touch our sheep either.

This is Sasha and Tibby, our livestock guardians.  Of course, I won't say more, because really, today is about sheep. 

It is interesting to raise sheep.  They are typically gentle and mostly just want food from you.  But I like to consider all of the Saviours references to sheep in the bible.  "Go, rather, to the lost sheep"  "If a man have an hundred sheep..."  "My sheep hear my voice"  "Feed my sheep"  "What shepherd, having many sheep doth not watch over them."  "I know my sheep"  These are just a few of His words, comparing His work to that of shepherding.  So I ponder those words, tend my sheep and begin to understand why Jesus used sheep in so many of His parables and stories.

"My sheep hear my voice."  The Bise sheep know my voice.  They come running when I call.  They are not fearful of me, nor are they protective of their young when I am around.  Of course, that grain bucket also entices sheep to come quickly.  Interestingly, lambs also know their mother's voice.  When 3 ewes and 5 babies are all in one place, the mommas will call until their respective baby(ies) are accounted for.  As followers of Jesus Christ, do we hear His voice when he calls?  Do we follow his footsteps to safety and peace?

"Feed my sheep."  Of course I feed my sheep.  Twice a day.  They really like alfalfa, but only the leafy part, not the stems.   They waste a lot of alfalfa.  Thank goodness for the cows.  The cows will eat the leftover stems.  The sheep love grain.  And bread.  They like to hog all the grain to themselves and use their heads and bodies to keep the other sheep away.  The Saviour, when He said "Feed my sheep"  meant for us to nourish those around us, both spiritually and physically.  We need to minister, to share, to love.

"I know my sheep."  I love this one.  Just as Jesus Christ knows each one of us individually, I know my sheep.  You may think that all sheep look alike.  Mine are Suffolk.  They have black heads and white bodies.  But I know my sheep.  Bella, Kipper, Pinky, Bluebell, Molly, Ducky, Baby and Curly.  Now there are 7 little lambs.  Zoe, Cathy, Chuck, Bertha Paintbrush, Francis and two brand new girls who don't have names yet.  And of course, there is Humphrey, also known as Rambo, our mostly nice ram.

One of  my favorites:  "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine and ... seeketh that which is gone astray."  When one sheep is missing, we go into full search mode til that girl found.  Usually she is just laying down somewhere, but sometimes a sheep will get out of a fence.  Luckily for us, our sheep don't stray very far.  They like to hang out at the barn where the hay and grain are.

We have several sets of twins at the barn and when it is time for a nap, they seem to seek each other out and lay next to or near each other.  Within a 3 1/2 week time period, our 4 momma ewes gave birth to 8 babies.  Kipper, the last to lamb, had triplets.  She had her first baby around one pm.  We went to check on her around 3 and we could tell that she had another baby to deliver.  She kept laying down, trying to push.  Sometimes a little hoof would come out.  But then she would stand back up.  Finally, around 5, Troy decided we needed to help her.  He told me to get her to lay down again.  I would like to say that I gently eased her to the ground, but that doesn't work with sheep.  I shoved and pushed until she went down, then I held her there.  Troy, my lovely husband who gags at the thought of cleaning up dog poo or barf, reached his hand up in there and grabbed the lambs head and legs and eased that stuck baby right out of there.  I was impressed.  He's like a sheep mid-wife (husband)...  Immediately a third baby slid right out.  What a surprise!  The 2nd baby wasn't doing so well. So Troy cleared her mouth and nostrils.  She still wasn't breathing.  He grabbed her feet and held her upside down.  Finally the breathing began.  We call her the monster baby.  She was twice the size of the other two.  Unfortunately, we lost the first baby.  We're not totally sure what happened.  Typically, a mother sheep cannot care for three babies.  So you take one away and bottle feed it.  Since we had seen the first baby nursing prior to the birth of the other 2, we decided to leave him with his momma overnight, so that he could get more colostrum.  Our plan was to take him or one of the babies in the morning.  But by morning, he was not doing so good at all.  We placed him in the warm tack room (overnight temps that night were -8), hoping to revive him, but he never regained consciousness.  Sad day.

It is a pretty funny sight so see all these little lambs kicking up their heels and running and running.  They love to play.  Even Cadie went into the stall and danced with the lambs (like dancing with wolves?)

Just so you know, Suffolk lambs are born black.  Usually, white wool is growing underneath the black.  When Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father created the world, they took into account predators and that's why those babies are black.  Not so easy to see in the dark.

Another thing that I didn't realize (really, I never even thought about it):  Lambs have tails...  Remember the nursery rhyme Little Bo Peep... "wagging their tales behind them"?  They have nice, long tails.  What happens to them?  Well, for reasons still unknown to me, you dock them.  We make it very painless.  We use the banding method, placing a tight green band around the tail, until it falls off.  The 2nd stanza of the nursery rhyme..."there she espied their tails side by side all hung on a tree to dry"?  Yeah.