Morning Surprises

We lambed a good chunk of the ewes outside this year - a first for us. Of course there were losses, there always are, but the vast majority of lambs thrived. It was common in the mornings to go to the field and find a few new lambs and their mummies.

I was pleased one morning to find this ewe with a healthy lamb. She lost both of hers to snow that blew into the lambing shed during a storm last year. She's very fussy over this one.





Here's a chunky lamb!



We'll know which lambs were born outside because they'll have long tails. It'll be interesting which lambs do the best in the long run.

This Mule lamb was very fresh - less than an hour old. A sign of a healthy, happy lamb is a big stretch - and this is a great one!







Fussy mummies like these are wonderful to see.





Another change for this year is that we have the quietest tips I have ever seen. It's never a good idea to be friends with a tip but... these guys are just so friendly!? I want to be their friend. The quietest is the young Texel that my dad bought as a lamb last year. He must have been used to getting fed with a bucket or something because he's always coming over to us.



Hello.







His clam nature has rubbed off on the other tips - they all come over to see us now.









SunnyJim are never far away from each other - it's sweet.



Sometimes the lambs born in the field need some help. This ewe had a lamb just before a rain storm, so into the shelter they came.









Just a few minutes after we got her in, she pushed out another one. Welcome to the world, twin girls! Mum got to the job of licking them clean straight away.





















The pet lambs in the pen opposite were enthralled.





Even though I am glad that the lambing is over, I actually miss going out and seeing that a new lamb has appeared. Ah well, next year!