Lambing starts (in theory) in just over a week and so today we began to get the barn ready for the first ewes to come in. As our lambing is so spread out, we are going to bring the ewes inside in small groups according to their due dates: first up being Mrs White, Mrs Brown and Lamorna due on 6th, 7th and 8th March respectively! The end goat stall will now become the main lambing pen with Onion and Garlic (the Boer girls) now having the stall vacated by Curds and Pickle. We also have set up our small ‘hospital’ stall as a potential bonding area for any ewe and lamb(s) that need to be totally away from the others. There are lots of ways to organise indoor lambing but commonly all the ewes go into a communal pen and then depending on space and how well births go, some or all may get moved to individual stalls. A first time mum may need an individual area in order to focus on just her lambs and not get distracted by other things around her. Some ewes may need to be moved because another ewe (usually an older one) tries to steal her lamb. This is called mismothering and in a shed with lots of lots of sheep is something to really watch out for. We recall last year when Mrs Brown gave birth to her twins but because we missed the birth itself, when we arrived on scene (maybe just tten minutes after the second one had popped out), Mrs White had already stolen the first and was rigorously licking it dry. We put hurdles between the two sheep and made sure Mrs Brown was able to look after and bond with both her new-borns. It then took Mrs White another TWO weeks to have her own. Talk about keeping us waiting!!!
In the photo we have brought all the sheep in as we had to give the next set of injections to the next group of sheep due in just over four weeks (Ness, Noss, Whalsay). This was all ten in a half of the stall that the three (Mrs W, Mrs B and Lamorna) will have when they come inside in the middle of next week. It will be plenty big enough!!