I want to start by saying that the 2023 lambing season was a success, despite a couple losses. We ended up with seven lambs total, four ewes and three rams. In every case, I was surprised with lambs that were already cleaned and fed and mothers who had bounced back to normal. None of my ewes were first time moms, and all had previously done a great job with the whole process. We went into the season with four ewes bred to our ram Baldur, and one bred to a different ram off-farm.

As I said, our successful season wasn’t without losses. Betty is the only sheep left from the original flock, and this lamb would be her first despite Betty being three years old. In January, I noticed she was having some black discharge and immediately knew something was wrong. I sent pictures to a fellow shepherd and she told me to get the vet out as soon as possible. The large concern was that she may have miscarried and had a mummified lamb still inside her. The vet came out that day, performed an ultrasound, and said there was nothing inside her and that it was definitely a miscarriage. Despite it all, Betty was otherwise very healthy and doing surprisingly well. While it’s sad that she wasn’t able to lamb along with the rest of the flock, I’m grateful that she is healthy and strong. We will try again in the fall, but if she miscarries again then that will be the last time we attempt to breed her.

The first ewe due to lamb was Ulla, an unregistered polled four-year-old ewe given to me in December 2022 from Amanda at Woollyhorn Farm. Ulla was bred with one of Amanda’s rams before we brought her home. Her due date was March 30 and leading up to that day her udder was massive. Amanda had sent pictures, so I knew what to look out for as far as udder size/color/etc. and, as it turns out, Ulla was right on time—she lambed overnight and I went out on the morning of March 30 to see two vibrant, lively ewe lambs. Both girls were almost the exact same size, and have continued to grow in step and are inseparable. Chickpea is white with moorit spotting, and Queenie is solid moorit with “sugar lips” (silvery white around mouth and in ears). As of today, I intend to retain both ewes.

A lot of lambing season is spent following around the pregnant ewes and checking out their udders and backsides. If you know, you know! Based on this, I thought Ylfa would be our next to lamb. On April 6, Allen had to spend the day in Eau Claire while I managed the farm solo. I had checked on all the sheep three or four times with no changes, then went out after lunch to see a fresh new black moorit lamb drinking from Mara. His horn buds were impressive already! Mara’s ram lamb, who I named Ronan, is large and healthy, not unlike her previous ram lamb who was meant to be our 2022 breeding ram before a freak aortic rupture.

Next up was our lovely unregistered polled black and gray ewe Maple. Last year she had a single badgerface ram on our farm, totally unassisted, and this year she had two ewe lambs. First thing in the morning on April 7, just a day after Mara, Maple had her girls Sugar (white spotted, only a small bit of black on her legs) and Rosie (black and white piebald). Both were very energetic, though Rosie more so than Sugar, and both were already cleaned and fed when I made it out to them. Once again, Maple has proven to be an excellent mother, if maybe a little overprotective at times. I intend to keep Sugar, as she has become very affectionate and I prefer to keep multiple sheep with white wool for processing and dyeing purposes.

And finally Ylfa. We waited. And waited and waited. Her udder swelled so big she was waddling around, and still we waited. I started to get nervous that she would have triplets, which would mean I would potentially need to assist and bottle feed. Every time I went out to the pasture I would say to her “Ylfa will you PLEASE have your lambs?!” and she would look at me like “I’M TRYING!” On April 12, Allen went out to do morning chores before me and said “Get out here—you’re going to lose your mind” and boy was he right. Overnight, Ylfa had delivered two ram lambs, including one with a pattern called “flashing". I have always been obsessed with sheep with flashing and the new guy is no exception. Finn (grey with flashing) and Owen (grey with white spotting, overall looks white) were clean and fed and snoozing next to their mama. Every time I think about getting rid of Ylfa because she is so standoffish I remember that she is an outstanding mom and reconsider.

Just when I thought our lambing season was over, we had our first real heartbreak. I received Eir in December, along with Ulla, and was given the understanding that she had not been bred because she was too small and likely wouldn’t even cycle during the 2022 season. Again, Amanda offered Eir to me as a bit of a rehab because she was a 2022 lamb who spent all that summer sick with pneumonia and was TINY. I can’t say no to a “lost cause” like that, so of course I was happy to take her in. While she was exposed to rams at Amanda’s farm, and very briefly at ours as well, I was not concerned about her being bred based on the given circumstances. Unfortunately, we were wrong. On the morning of May 1, I was getting my coffee ready and looked out the kitchen window at the pasture and said to Allen “Oh my god Eir is lambing right now!” I was surprised but excited, grabbing my lamb midwife kit and running out. As I got closer to Eir, it was immediately clear that the lamb was not alive. Once again, I reached out to my sheep guru Amanda who said to pull like hell and get the lamb out of her. I pulled and pulled but just couldn’t manage it, and opted to call my vet for the assist rather than further traumatizing Eir. I’ve said it before, I really am lucky to have a vet who lives close and who has sheep of her own. She was so gentle and reassuring to Eir (and me), and after trying to pull the lamb out she said she was going to have to remove the head in order to get the body out. I think Eir and I both kind of disassociated while this was all happening. On the positive side, the vet said nothing in Eir was torn, so she should be able to lamb again when she is actually the proper size and age. I feel like a failure in a lot of ways, like I let Eir down by allowing this all to happen to her, but the fact is that some things aren’t predictable and sometimes really sad things just happen. We learn from them and do our best not to repeat the same mistakes in the future.

I’m already working on deciding breeding groups for next year! There is never a quiet moment at the farm, and as soon as lambing finished we went right into piglet season with our Elva having four piglets on April 21. Our other adult kunekune, Reba, is due around June 5! This year showed that our physical space and my mental and emotional space are more limited than I would like. But overall, I’m so pleased with how things ended and look forward to next year!

2023 Lambing Season Recap

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