All lambs, all the time

(Easter babies - how they sleep)

That's pretty much the story of my day to day life right now.  Twenty seven lambs, out of twelve ewes is a paltry sum when I consider that my friend, Kathy, has had 150 lambs born in the last two weeks.  Oh,  but mine do seem to fill my days.  Right now I'm bottle feeding 5 lambs, 3 of them 4 times a day and 2 of them 5 times a day.  Yes, that's right .... twenty two bottles.  I'm well on my way to dishpan hands!  The ewe that lambed on Easter has been struggling to gain her strength and her lambs were just not getting enough milk, so they are getting bottles.  Two other triplets from separate ewes are also getting bottles.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  I love raising bottle babies because they are so much fun and so easy to manage as they mature.  (Remember Luna and Birdie from last year?  They are still lovely and sweet girls.)  They've become ambassadors for the farm because they are perfectly comfortable being social with humans.  (Oh yeah, they are the two that were so good, they got to visit with Santa Claus!)

The good news is that help is on the way with bottle duty.  A lovely young woman, Hannah, is coming to get three of the bottle babies this week.  She has purchased lambs from me before and is building her own fiber flock, so these babies will be going to a wonderful home.  I do become attached to these little ones that I visit with so many times a day.  Five bottle babies are too many to have out and following me around, but two ..... well, that is much more likely.

The ewe flock spends nearly all their time eating.  They are especially ravenous now,  partly because they're providing milk for growing lambs (and partly because everything around here loves to eat).  If you are still watching the lamb-cam, you can see how the lambs are getting bigger and bolder in their play when they come in for the night.  The straw bales are like jungle-gyms (are those things even still called that?),  providing endless hours of jumping and climbing pleasure! And when they're worn out from all that play, the bales make a handy napping spot.

Tomorrow is shearing day for the alpacas.  It's a little stressful for me because I'm always afraid something will go wrong.  It never has, but still I worry.  I'll be loading my seven alpaca fiber boys and two llama girls into the trailer for the ride to Seldom Scene farm.  My friend, Lindy, has scheduled a team of professional shearers, who travel all over the United States in the springtime, to shear all of her alpacas and is gracious enough to allow me to bring my small herd.  Hopefully, I'll have a chance to take a few pictures and post a little about our day.  Wish me luck!