Final Lamb Count

The final lamb for the season was born this afternoon (barring any unforseen circumstances). The final breakdown has been as follows:

29 Rams
17 Ewes

With 27 ewes giving birth, we lambed at 170% which is better than the 150% from last year. Unfortunately we lost 5 lambs, meaning our survival rate is 87% (slightly better than the average 85%). We had one set of triplets, 16 sets of twins (10 mixed, 5 all male and 1 all female) and 11 single births.

In all it was a fascinating experience yet again in which we learnt more than we could have hoped particularly assisting in several deliveries. We were slightly disappointed that the ram to ewe ratio was 2:1, but there are things we can try next season with regard to diet to hopefully alter that. We did get our 15 ewes which was what I wanted though.

Now we begin the task of deciding who we keep and who we cull. Unfortunately sentimentality only goes so far.

One of Life's Little Coincidences

We had 2 ewes lamb today. One was anticipated, the other was completely unexpected. The first, the anticipated one, delivered this morning fairly easily, the second, totally unexpectedly delivered this evening thanks to some handy work by the local vet (Dr. Barry Downie from Bailey Vet here in Roseburg). Being a yearling and with a lamb in the wrong position, it had got part way out and couldn't get any further. I thought it was dead having spent almost 30 minutes trying to pull it. It's head had swelled, its eyes were bulging and its tongue was swollen and protruding from the mouth. I thought I saw a couple of signs of life before the vet arrived, but even he at first thought it wasn't going to make it. Anyway, it did. It's shoulder had locked and that's why it wouldn't budge. It was a rather harrowing entrance to the world for a small lamb.

The coincidence is quite fascinating. Last year my daughters named a set of twins - one called Mint and the other Bambi - they were the first twins whose birth we experienced after we arrived here. In fact here is the first picture of them on the day they were born.

It was Mint and Bambi that lambed today, hours apart from each other, both giving birth to boys. Sometimes life throws real curve balls at you.

Sunny Days Are Here Again

I let the sheep and the lambs out into the far paddock today, having spent the day ensuring that all the little holes in the fenceline had been effectively repaired. I needed to install a gate betwen that field and the very back one (it only has wire fencing and not anti-sheep stuff so we can't let them graze there although I am looking to fence some of it off because the grass at the front is really good quality).

The little lamb rejected by his mother is now with the rest of the flock and as you can see from the picture he has mastered the art of self-feeding finally which means no late night or early morning feeds from me!

This week we finally begin the task of finding contractors to renovatethe milking barn and turn it into a cheesemaking facility. We'd like them to start around the beginning of next month so that everything is ready to go by May/June.

Ups and Downs

The Lacaune that lambed on Friday rejected her little boy pretty much straight away. Over the last day or so he had begun to go down hill so at midnight last night we were putting feeding tubes down his throat and giving him some milk to try and revive him. Poor little guy was cold and we were stoking the fire well into the wee small hours to keep the room nice and warm. This morning he is standing and has taken another feed by himself and the cold has now gone. He's with us now in the office and the dogs are all looking after him and being extremely well behaved. Good news.

On top of that good news we had our first set of twin girls born this morning to one of our East Friesians. One is very small but both are feeding and look strong and healthy.

Lambing 2009: Progress Report

As of this evening we have had 36 lambs born with only 2 that didn't make it. considering the mortality rate amongst sheep can be as high as 20%, our rate of under 6% is extremely good. We still have 11 ewes penned in the nursery field but we believe only 7 of them are pregnant. With our current lambing figures of 180% that means we will get another 12 lambs. One disappointment is that we have had a male:female ratio of almost 2:1 (23 males and 13 females), but I originally wanted 15 females to give us the right flock size goig into next year and with a dozen or so left to be born we should do that nicely.

We are also going to pick up another 6 Lacaune yearlings next Friday from the same place we got our others. They are downsizing and we got them for a really good price. Judging by the fact that 4 of the 6 we originally got have lambed so far, all had twins and all had a boy and a girl, they seem to be excellent sheep.

Once lambing is completed and we have picked up the new Lacaunes, I'll be able to determine the flock composition for the end of this year, but as I mentioned in an earlier post we are getting rid of all our wethers and all but one of our older ewes. Feeding the extra mouths isn't cost effective and more sheep eat through the pasture quicker.

A Local Promotional Interlude

As we take a breather for a few minutes with one of our ewes in labour (UPDATE: She had twins, although the first was an assisted birth - only one leg was forward - and the second was a rear presenation that we had to monitor - but all went fine), a New York Times article from this morning has prompted me to present a series of local links to give regular visitors a better idea of this wonderful little town called Roseburg.

First, the article A Perfect Pear by Stephen McCarthy, an excellent stroll down memory lane for a successful entrepreneur making spirits near Portland who grew up in Roseburg. The comments by visitors are particularly interesting.

Next is the Lookingglass Store, a building that has a wonderful history to it. The article was written by our next door neighbour.

For those of you interested in the local activities and sites, here are a series of links that show the area in its uniqueness.

City of Roseburg Site
Umpqua Valley Wine Tours
Oregon Wine Country Tours - Personalized tours of the Umpqua Valley Wine Region
Music on the Halfshell
Crater Lake
Umpqua National Forest
Winston Wildlife Safari Park
Douglas County Museum

Follow some of the links in the above web sites and you will get a great picture of what this part of the world has to offer, from amazing waterfalls and river rafting, to hunting, fishing, and the beauty of the great outdoors. Oregon is a lovely spot in the USA that many visitors miss. It boasts two of the five greenest cities in America (Portland [#1] and Eugene [#5]) and is now developing a wine industry (around Walla Walla and the South Umpqua regions) to rival Napa Valley in California.

As the original NYT article alluded to, there is great pride around Roseburg in the production, support, and availability of locally grown and made products. Most of the (what I call) pointless larger chain stores have not made it here thankfully and the local council seems to be quite serious about keeping them out. OK unemployment is high (over 12%) perhaps as a result of this, but people are friendly and many of those around have been here for more than a single generation.

I am constantly told that moving here, into the farming business, and living a healthy and partially sustainable lifestyle is becoming more and more a desirable future amongst city folk. I can completely understand and can only offer one piece of advice - if you really want it, do it!