Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Bummin' around....

 There is only one more ewe left to have her lamb.  All the others have done their jobs -- some more proficiently than others -- and it has been a lambing season well-done.  Above is a picture of Miss Peach playing with the bum lambs.  (Check out the adorable polka dot Boggs I got her!)  It's still in the "teens" for high temperatures here, so we continue to dress in our warmest clothes when we are out at the sheep shed.  Bum-mer!

We are up to 8 orphan lambs now.  That's 8 bottles, four times a day.  I'm reading up on ways to wean bum lambs early, can you imagine why?  The kids and I have raised many bum lambs through the years, but we have never weaned them early like some folks do.  The idea is to get them on solid feed as soon as possible.  I'm going to make a feed mixture of soybean meal, cracked corn, alfalfa, and salt and sprinkle a little milk powder over the top to entice them to start eating it.  They will get this mixture along with milk.  The thing I'll have to watch is sickness due to the change in diet and over-eating.  I'll keep on bottle feeding for a few weeks and continue to add in more of the grain mixture.  Eventually, we'll quit the bottles.  In the meantime, we vaccinated the little fellas with Clostridium perfringens, C&D which is an over-eating vaccine.  Too bad they don't make it for humans!

This is one of the most spunky lambs of the bunch.  I think I'll just call him Spunky!  The kids used to always name each and every bum lamb we had.  There were some unusual names too like...
Jack knife, 
Mother Teresa & Gandhi (when we studied India) 
Anthony Grey, Barny, Starbright, Brown Eyes,
Odin, Vili, and Ve (three Nordic Gods we had studied)
and many, many others I cannot remember.

Here's a short (very short) video clip that someone accidentally took of HP and me feeding the lambies.  You'll get a brief (very brief) *feel* for feeding bum lambs.


I got to do a little bummin' around of my own today.  After lunch, I drove to town for a haircut and went shopping for a few baby things for the next baby-on-the-way.  There will be a baby shower for Cupcake this weekend so I had to be prepared with gifts.  I've been a busy Gram, sewing up cloth diapers in my spare time so there are enough  when the baby comes.  Oh, there are lots of other baby goodies to sew yet.

10 comments:

  1. Babies are everywhere at your place! Love that video and getting to hear the sound of the little lamb (so loud!) and see you feeding them. I guess it takes longer to get it all together than it does for them to suck it down. That is pretty much how it is with kids, too, huh? HP's boots are so cute! I contend that they make the cutest shoes for little people! I want some in my size.

    I just have to tell you that the word verification for this comment is sitypeem. Isn't that a funny word? It is probably going to be going through my head the whole time I load the dishwasher here in a minute. =)

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  2. The lambs are darling. I can't imagine feeding all the little bums so often.

    Looking forward to seeing the sewing for the Cupcake, too.

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  3. Awwww, the little lambies are sooooo cute -- it's so sad that they're orphans. And the video isn't really that short -- if you hit the replay button over and over again LOL!

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  4. Spunky is so darn cute and your little granddaughter looks so sweet in the midst of the lambs! Have fun this weekend celebrating the coming of a new little one!

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  5. Why doesn't the video show up on my screen. I'll keep trying. Oh, I love the lamb pictures so much!

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  6. I had a little problem with the video, but it's fixed now. I hope you try to watch it again.

    Jody

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  7. I love that baby lamb sound. Oh I wish I could come help. You could stay inside and I'd take some lamb feeding duty for a while.

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  8. Okay, that does it! I'm never eating lamb again.
    And congratulations on the new grandchild -- so much love!
    Blessings,
    GG

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  9. Gigi,
    Don't stop eating lamb. It's good for business and just plain good-eating! We eat lamb here -- grown lamb, not baby lambs.

    Jody

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  10. I loved your two-second video! Oh, those little lambs (yes, I mean Hazel Peach, too!)--darling!

    xofrances

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