We are up to 5 ewe lambs and most of the lambings have been uneventful. Tess decided to throw a little twist into the smooth sailing when she tried to steal Dusty’s lambs yesterday afternoon. We have dealt with ewes trying to steal lambs in the past, but not to this extent.
We went to the barn to check on the girls and found Dusty and Tess cleaning a lamb – they were both very close to lambing that morning so it took a little detective work to figure out who it belonged to. Dusty was very hollow in the hip area, so she was determined to be the real mother but Tess was positive it was hers. The other issue was that there was only one lamb. I was sure Dusty was going to have twins.
I scooped the lamb up and moved her and Dusty to a smaller pen – fighting Tess the entire way. She slammed herself through the gate twice trying to get to ‘her’ lamb! During this craziness I heard a small baaing coming from behind/under a feeder. I had my son go check and sure enough there was the other lamb! She must have been hiding from the fighting moms. We reunited her with Dusty and her sister and all was well.
Say ‘hello’ to Unity and Wren.
Tess continued to talk to them for the next 4 hours until she finally had her lamb…
meet Amity.
Poor Tess will forever be known as the lamb stealer to my son 🙂
Stories from the Farm 
Atleast you were able to stop it before it got out of hand! Cuties… And love the name Wren. 🙂
Lamb Stealer, sounds like an appropriate name to me, those lamb stealers are so determined and I had one who even after lambing herself thought the other lamb was hers. Beautiful lambs Shannon.
All those little girls are adorable. I’m glad Dusty did better this year and shame on Tess. I have not had to deal with a stealer yet and hope I never do.
They are all so adorable! I am waiting for our BFL lambs to begin around Feb 16. Our Icelandics and others aren’t due until April/May. It’s waaaay too cold for lambing here, but the BFLs came bred, so we have no choice. We won’t even see the ground for at least another 6 weeks or so – too much snow in the way. Our Jacob ewes from last year are tiny – the same size as our 2 lambs born June 18. But the Jacobs were born in March. I doubt they will ever be full size and as a result, can probably never be bred.
What beautiful lambs! I still have 6 weeks or more to wait for ours.
Great blog, love the pictures! This is my first year helping on a farm during lambing season and it is a real treat!
Thanks everyone!
Terri – With all of your snow it is a good thing your lambs aren’t due for 6 weeks!!!
Cole – Thanks for stopping by! Have a great time helping out on the farm.