Spring has Sprung!

Well, Spring is certainly here going by all the new arrivals we've managed to get in the last week.

I'd heard that one of the women I work with was giving away lambs.  So I spoke to her and on Tuesday last week, I picked up two one week old orphan lambs.  Roastie and Lucy.  I spent a small fortune on Milk Replacement Powder and understand completely why she's given them away.  

Roastie (bottom) and Lucy (top)

Miss Eight is determined to keep Lucy as a pet and as she's apparently from very good breeding stock, there's no harm in that.  Roastie however, well, his name should tell you what his end shall be.  Even though he's lovely and has brown markings that look like he's fallen over in mud.

Mildred, my Kune kune sow dropped a litter of five piglets over the weekend.  Three boys and two girls.  They seem to be doing well and I think she's a good Mum.  Poor George isn't quite sure why he's suddenly on his own and is rather lonely.  When we're in his paddock, he spends all his time at our heels wanting attention and a scratch.

Mildred with her five little ones.

This morning, I noticed two new lambs bouncing around the paddock by the house.  Nibbles has finally dropped her two.  I got as close as I could without alarming her.  They weren't fully dry yet, I'm unable to tell what genders we have at this stage but they're bouncing around with plenty of energy so I figure they're healthy.

Nibbles with her lambs - the second one is by her head.

We still don't know and can't tell if Sheepy is pregnant (in lamb?).  We can't get close enough to see if an udder is forming.  We weren't sure if she would as she is just a hogget, although a large one.  We left her in with the ram with the theory that if she did, then she did.  If she didn't, then that was fine too.

The cows aren't due to calve until around Christmas.  I know it's rather late, but that was when we were able to get a bull and that's what we had to work with.  They're all showing signs of getting big and Brownie, the only one who hadn't previously had a calf, is getting an udder.  Eddie's udder never shrunk much after Ron was weaned so that wasn't much help but she's getting wide.

Update - several hours later.

It would seem that Nibbles hadn't finished when I saw her with her lambs this morning.  We have triplets!

Nibbles with THREE babies, and Sheepy looking on.