Well, today marks day 142 from “the day the sheep got married,” as our younger children refer to it! The average gestation for Icelandic sheep is 142-144 days. Barb at Jager Farm told us when she brought us our little starter flock: “in at Thanksgiving – lambs for Tax day!” So apparently income tax day has been delayed this year until April 18th – did someone tell our ewes that?!
We see no signs of an impending lambing at this time, although on close inspection last night, I was surprised to see that Molly’s udder is bagging up. We were expecting Millie to lamb first, however Molly may just win out! It’s so hard to say at this point. Thunderstorms and heavy rain are predicted for Saturday night, so I hope our first lambing doesn’t happen then!
It’s a riot watching these girls waddling around. And just when you start feeling sorry for their bulging bodies, they fool you and race over to the fence when they see you coming, hoping to get a little snack! As tempting as it is to comply, though, we do have to watch their girlish figures at this point, as an overweight ewe at lambing time can make for difficult deliveries. That being said, we can’t exactly put them on diets, as they really need good nutrition during this time to go through labor and delivery and nursing lambs!
And so the race is on…who will have the first lamb? Millie or Molly? How many will she have? Will it be in the dark of night and we’ll miss the whole thing? Can you tell I’m getting excited!? All I know is that these girls aren’t talking, so we’ll just have to wait and see!
Morning Star Meadows Farm 