Pasture Lambing!!!

 "How'd you get sooo BIG?" Newborn Shetland lamb and a month old Shetland X Coopworth.

 Same little guy. Spots sure are cute! He is probably a katmoget or modified as he is grey, but his dam does not carry AG and neither does his sire Gilroy.

 Triplet kids. The two blacks are both does and the "white/red" is a buck. I wasn't expecting to actually GET black DOES! The sire is a homebred buck out of my TX AAGBA boy and China. These are actually my first kids out of a homebred buck. (The dam is also my breeding.) Both these girls will stay at least until next spring and then I may sell one.

No this lamb is not an alien with four eyes! My camera is dyeing dying hence the lines and four eyes. This lamb is a black ewe lamb out out Gilroy and Funzie. She will most likely be a keeper as she is very nice.

So far as far as lambing is going pasture lambing is easier than lambing in a bard or shed. The lambs have all been delivered without assistance so far and all of them learned to nurse, didn't get lost and only needed the navel dipped. The only "dead"lamb was a "twin" that died about 1-2 months along and was only 6 in. long. That was out of a 10 year old ewe.

I have had 12 ewes and 1 goat lamb so far. 4 more ewes and 2-3 (1 may be open) more goats to go. The lambing percentage so far is lower than the first group's percentage. That may be due to being bred late and then being fed poor quality hay shortly after breeding. Or just being bred late. I'm not sure.

I am not going to make a judgment yet. I want to see how the lambs grow and how their wool grows. If I do like pasture lambing I will try it again, but make sure to feed better hay for a longer time. If not I have to buy a shed for about 20 ewe to go in or sell a lot of sheep. The last really won't happen....

More picture when I have time.

Note: I have gotten all of my cross girls, all the boys and all the goats sheared. I'm just waiting on the rise on several ewes.