Tuesday, April 29, 2008

This Time I'm Sure

This time I'm sure we'll be getting at least a few lambs. The ewes are noticeably rounder and they are just showing the beginnings of their udders. From my calculations we'll be welcoming our first lambs of 2008 anywhere from May 16 to May 25.

Take a look at these pictures of Ewenice. The first is from last year in August, when her lambs had been weaned for a few months already.

Notice how "streamlined" her sides are.
And these two show how much rounder she's become. Also you can see the beginning of her bag (udder).
Also note the sagging bottom line. I'm guessing she's carrying twins again.
Now pardon the following shots but they illustrate perfectly what I'm talking about.

Here is 3of4. This will be her first lamb(s). Her nipples are enlarged and you can see her udder is just barely starting to fill. Usually she's flat as a board. Also you'll notice the puffiness of the pink parts (the correct term would be vulva for the less squeamish). In another two weeks it will be twice that puffy.

And the same goes for Baby. Her nipples are close to the same size but a little larger. I can definitely notice the beginnings of a bag on her too. She's probably going to lamb later than 3of4.


We are going out of town this weekend for my mother in law's birthday. Can you believe she is going to be 80? Other than that there isn't a whole lot of anything going on. I'm hoping I'll be busy posting pictures of new lambs towards the middle of next month.

I know everyone loves to see pictures of the new lambs. That is the main reason I decided to continue with the sheep rather than just be done with them and sell them. It gives us so much pleasure to watch them cavorting about. And the side benefit we've discovered is that I can milk the sheep and my sister makes yogurt.

I am really looking forward to a bountiful summer!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ewenice... very cute name. I have an aunt Eunice so this amused me greatly :) Loved the photos, very interesting.

tina f. said...

We got Ewenice for free and she already had the name. Although, honestly, I probably would have named her the same thing! (I know, I know, not very original.)

Agriculture said...

Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made hives, by humans. Most such bees are honey bee life cycle in the genus Apis, but other honey-producing bees such as Melipona stingless bees are also kept.