Lambing Unwillingly

We have had so many lambs! Nine lambs, now, alive and well, though some of their mothers seem unfit and insane.

This is Corvette. Corvette always jumps the fence, and I had decided to never breed her, because as cute as it is to see a sheep gracefully hop a fence, like a dream sheep above your head in bed, it’s a good thing to be able to control your flock. I didn’t want any future sheep to inherit her athletic abilities and tendency to wander.

But, mysteriously, she had a lamb! Since having the lamb, a ram, she has rammed him, flipped him, and then jumped the fence and run away and left him. But, I didn’t give up. I caught her and brought her back and gave her a little more space and a little better fencing. This morning, after a wicked thunder storm, she let him nurse without me even tying her to a fence post! Progress.

Her lamb is a jumper, too. He just jumps around her in circles.

Corvette and her lamb. (We named her Corvette to remember that she is Corva’s daughter. We named all of them variations of their mother’s names. Yoko’s mom is Chyoko. I did not name her Corvette because she was like a fast car, but she kind of is.)

This poor ewe (Yoko) is huge preggers and has something going on with her muscles so she can’t stand up. I’m supposed to keep her comfortable until she’s ready to give birth, and then (according to the vet) “wash your hands well, take four deep breaths, reach your hand in and pull the lambs out.” Easy! I’ll let you all know how that turns out.

She’s so … heavy. I did not name her Yoko because I thought she would have difficult pregnancies like Yoko Ono, but there you are.

This morning, after our big rain, Yoko was lying in some real soggy hay. So, I half dragged/ half walked Yoko to higher ground (she’s so heavy), wiped her off with baby wipes and put her on a pile of hay and an old comforter, with a sun umbrella and some snacks (lawn clippings from the first mow.) Yoko seems comfortable. The whole time I was moving her, I had this song “She’s so Heavy,” going thru my head. John Lennon wrote it about Yoko Ono when she was pregnant.

There is one bottle lamb. Z named her “Tulipia.” (Which actually sounds like a fish to me. Maybe she will like swimming?)

Mandatory adorable animal selfie.

Going out to feed the bottle lamb has made me go outside during every time of day. Last night, I met a little frog:

Early this morning, I saw our chickens have escaped their fencing:

They do this all times of day, but this really was taken at 7 AM.

And now for some pictures of what are probably terribly inbred lambs:

See the one with the white face? I actually delivered him. He was stuck. My first sheep midwifing!

He’s really adorable, I swear. You just can’t see him because he’s black!

Resting under a tree. The wool on the branches tells you their moms have been there.

Maybe we should hire out our castrated rams as studs.