08 « June « 2009 « Dancing Aspens Farm Blog

So whether it was all the jostling on Saturday or whether it was just her time Esja decided to finally lamb last night at about 9:00 to a large, single, black grey ewe lamb weighing 10 lbs. 6 oz. (average birth weight for Icelandic Sheep is between 6-8lbs) . She was well worth the wait. Tori has had the responsibility of feeding and watering her and reporting any changes, so yesterday after rushing through morning chores before church Tori told me she thought she would lamb later on that day.

(Sorry the barn pictures are a bit fuzzy and funky!)

Esja hours before birth...

So throughout the day we kept an eye on her and she went ahead and lambed when we were busy working in the garden so we missed the grand entrance, but that’s ok. So Tori was right and turning into quite the little shepherdess! Esja is a first time mom and we were a little worried how she would do as she is really shy and bit flighty but she is doing wonderfully! When we checked on her last night she was busily cleaning up her lamb and standing to let her nurse. We’ll probably keep them in the jug for the rest of the week until the lamb is a little larger before turning them out on pasture with the rest of the flock as we’ve had eagles and hawks and a pesky fox that has been enjoying chicken breakfasts and probably wouldn’t mind a tasty lamb, all visiting us daily.

Briar the newest addition...

Esja with her new lamb Briar...

Getting a quick snack...

The mountains socked in today...

On Sunday the weather was just right…cool enough to wear a long sleeved shirt but warm enough to wear sandals. And then in the middle of night I heard the rain tapping down on the roof and was still raining when we went up to do chores. So far we have gotten 4/10th’s of an inch of rain that we have badly needed. The pasture has been looking a bit stressed and this is perking it up nicely.