Lambing

umbrella category for everything about lambing (at least that I can think of)

Yet another update on ear tags small enough for Soay lambs

Yet another update on ear tags small enough for Soay lambs

Will the search never end? With Dalton’s wonderful little tags no longer available, options are limited. As I’ve said repeatedly on this blog, it is nearly impossible to find ear tags small enough and light enough to work in a lamb’s ear as small as heritage Soay sheep. Even the round white adult USDA tags […]

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One more word about lamb tags for Soay sheep

One more word about lamb tags for Soay sheep

With the decision by the new owners of Dalton not to bring back their wonderful Supersmall eartags, breeders of small heritage sheep are left to search yet again for a source of eartags small enough for their lambs’ ears. It is tempting to just put adult tags in and hope the lamb’s ear will not […]

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Never underestimate your Soay runts

Never underestimate your Soay runts

Every few years we end up with an unexplained runt in our flock, not the one who is slowed down by a touch of coccidia or the littler twin who has trouble competing for its mother’s milk supply, but an unusually small animal who for some unknown reason simply falls behind. We had one of […]

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Can a Soay shepherd “schedule” when lambs will arrive?  A case study

Can a Soay shepherd “schedule” when lambs will arrive? A case study

This post serves two purposes: to provide an example of trying to time the start of breeding in order to enhance the odds of having at least a couple, and hopefully several, lambings in a very narrow window of time the next spring, and as a fitting ending to the saga of Lamb Camp 2015 […]

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Lamb Camp Day 3:  . . . and the lambs came two by two

Lamb Camp Day 3: . . . and the lambs came two by two

I forgot to mention at the end of my report on Day 2 of Lamb Camp that just before we all turned in for the night, a final trip to the Maternity Ward revealed yet another cute new lamb, still pretty gooey and wobbly. Favoring practicality over husbandry perfection, and confident that the ewe had […]

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Lamb Camp Day 2: It’s all about the lambs and how to “work” and enjoy them

Lamb Camp Day 2: It’s all about the lambs and how to “work” and enjoy them

For those of you who landed on this post looking for how to “work” a newborn lamb, or how a Soay ewe manages to nurse her first twin while the second one is coming out the birth canal and greeting the world, let me reassure you that you have not landed in an alien universe. […]

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