Year One
We bought Sky in order to add genetic diversity to our flock. Sky
happens to be a Moorit, but that is not why we chose her. We already
had a Moorit, Cleopatra. We chose Sky because of her good solid
conformation, her bloodline, and her owner’s assessment of her
personality. We bred both of them to Arcadius, a ram we had recently
bought to bring in outside genetics to our flock.
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| Cleopatra |
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| Sky |
After a while we noticed that Sky and Cleopatra were spending a lot
of time together. This was particularly evident after they left the
breeding stall and had full range of pasture and barn. They would be
seen sleeping side by side, reclining and chewing their cuds
together, grazing together; basically just hanging out together. It
was not overtly clear to us just who was initiating all this
togetherness; whether it was by mutual agreement, or mostly initiated
by Cleopatra. In any event Sky did not seem to object.
Sunday May turned out to be a very bus day in the ewe’s big
stall. Nothing much was happening in the morning before breakfast.
After a breakfast of homemade waffles, we went back to find that
Collette had produced a little ram lamb. Not only was he already up
and nursing, he was already cleaned off, snow white and fluffy. We
put Mom and baby in the lambing jug and proceeded on with our barn
chores.
About an hour later we came back in to discover that Sky had just
given birth to a Moorit ram lamb. The little ram was still kicking
his way out of the amniotic sac, not even totally extricated from his
mother, who was still lying down. Meanwhile Cleopatra had raced over
and began to lick the baby . Actually she was in a frenzy of
intensity trying to lick the lamb dry as if his very life depended on
it. We tried to pull her away, but she dove back in with an even
fiercer determination.
We got worried that if she got too much of her smell on him, Sky
might reject him. We had been warned of this – even to the point
of not handling a new born too much ourselves at first. So we
decided that it would be best to put mother and son in the lambing
jug. First we had to remove the newly installed Collette and her
son, Balzac. I got Balzac and placed him just on the other side of
the lambing jug fencing where Collette would be sure to find him.
That done, now we had to get Sky and her lamb into the lambing jug
without Cleopatra.
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| Big stall seen from inside lambing Jug |
Sky was not ready to move just yet. She did not appreciate the
urgency. She was not co-operating. Her attitude was “What’s the
rush?
Can’t you see that I’m
busy?”
We finally had to put a
halter on her and practically drag her in. Meanwhile it was almost
impossible to stave off Cleopatra’s attentions. Her misplaced
maternal instincts were so fired up, that one might think that not
only the lamb’s future, but the genetic viability of the whole
planet was at stake!
We finally got Sky and her son situated in the lambing jug.
Meanwhile pandemonium was breaking out in the big stall. Collette
was racing madly about calling, “Where’s my baby?
Where’s my baby?
Who took my baby? He’s not where I left him!”
Cleopatra
was likewise in a panic! “Where’s that baby? I’ve got to save
that baby! The future of life as
we know it on
this planet is at stake if I don’t save that baby!”
We had had just finished tending to Sky and her son, when I looked up
just in time to see Cleopatra in the far end of the big stall giving
birth herself! Ah ha we thought! That explains it! Cleopatra had
been so close to lambing herself that her maternal instincts were all
revved up. Perhaps she had come in contact with some of Sky’s
amniotic fluid when her water broke, then upon encountering the same
smell on Sky’s lamb, Sherlock, she confused him as her own. Then
once she had her own baby, a Moorit ram lamb, she settled into happy
motherhood, and things proceeded normally after that.
We concluded that it was an unlikely coincidence that that particular
scenario would repeat itself, and so considered the matter closed.
Year Two
The mystery deepens |
| Ewes in big stall |
Fast forward a year to the nest lambing season. Sky was the first to
lamb that year. We came into the barn to see Sky nursing a little
moorit ram lamb. There was another Moorit ram lamb running around
the big stall. The mothers in waiting were all reclining, chewing
their cuds. He was scampering up to one after the other, as if to
ask, “Got something for me?
Got something for me? Someone have
something for me!” The mothers ignored him. When he approached
Sky, she rebuked him quite sharply. Sometimes butting him so hard he
went flying.
All
the while Cleopatra was hot on his heels licking him quite furiously.
It was quite evident that she had not given birth, nor did she look
as if she was planning to any time soon. So, although she was
encouraging him to nurse, she
was not a candidate as a surrogate mom.
We
had not expected this, since we had thought that, last
year
Cleopatra, being on the verge of giving birth herself, got confused,
and
somehow confused Sky’s lamb for her own. Well, now it was obvious
that that theory had a few flaws in it. Could it be that Cleopatra
just had an obsession for Sky’s offspring? Now
it was obvious that Cleopatra had succeeded in getting her scent all
over him, so that Sky now wanted no part of him.
We
could tell that they
had been born some time ago, since they were both clean and dry. It
was apparent that the little rejected lamb was very hungry. He not
only needed to eat, but it was important that he get his mother’s
colostrum while
it was at high levels in her milk. We set up the lambing jug and put
sky in it with her two lambs. Sky nursed and cared for the favored
lamb very tenderly. The poor little rejected lamb was banished to
the far corner with kicks and shoves.
Cleopatra
consoled him as best she could from the other side of the lamb jug’s
fencing.
Our
grandson, who was visiting us at the time, helped us with the nursing
challenge. He named the rejected lamb Coltrane and his favored
brother Thelonious.
We
put a halter and lead on Sky. I held her head, and my grandson
blocked her hind quarters up against the barn wall, thus keeping her
relatively still. Coltrane set to work guzzling
milk
with his little tail whirling like a helicopter blade. Meanwhile I
was doling out sweet feed to Sky kernel by kernel from a plastic
bottle. Coltrane continued to nurse ravenously, despite the fact
that Sky would try to stomp on him from time to time.
After
Coltrane had his fill, we left the three of them in the lambing jug,
hoping that things would sort themselves out over night. When we
returned the next morning Thelonious was
snuggled up with
Sky, while
little
Coltrane was still ostracized to the far corner. Next
to him, on the other side of the fencing, was Cleopatra, as close as
she could possibly get to the object of her desire.
I
had an idea. I went and found Sky’s afterbirth, broke it open and
rubbed what I could all over Coltrane. Sky immediately started to
lick Coltrane all over. I thought that I had solved the dilemma.
But
alas no, just as I was starting to feel pleased with myself, Sky must
have reached the point were she had removed all of her scent and
discovered Cleopatra’s scent again, and she soundly rebuffed him.
So
we had to go back to the forced nursing.
After
a few days Cleopatra finally gave up, and other mothers had started
lambing, so we let Sky and her lambs back into the big stall. We
also started supplementing the nursings with bottle feedings of lamb
formula to be sure that Coltrane was getting proper nutrition.
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| Ewes in big stall as seen from middle hay stall |
Around
midnight we would all (our grandson, daughter, and I) would go to
the barn for
the final feeding of the day. We would tip toe into the middle
stall, where the hay and feed is kept. It would be dark except for
the ambient light from the stars and sometimes the moon that came
through the sky lights. A
four foot partition separates the hay stall from the big stall. A
low door opens into the big stall. As we quietly make our way across
the hay stall toward said door, we can see Sky’s silhouette,
equally
silently, making her way around the big stall. She is followed by
several smaller silhouettes. They don’t just cut across to the
door. That would be too obvious. Rather, they all tip toe in single
file around
the perimeter of the big stall, nonchalantly picking their way around
the mothers and lambs scattered about drowsily chewing their cuds.
(Had I mentioned how smart and clever Shetlands are?
) If the other mothers knew that certain sheep were being allowed
into the coveted pantry, pandemonium would break out, as
they would all try to rush through the door as well.
When
Sky finally reaches the door, we would crack it open, and
Sky would slip in followed b Coltrane, sometimes Thelonious (the
brother), occasionally Horus ( Coltrane’s special friend), later
in the month there would be the lady Alea, the tiny triplet (but that
is a whole different story). Once
everyone was in, we would close the door and turn on the flashlights.
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| Coltrane |
We
would stand sky against the far wall. I would hold her halter and
feed her the sweet feed, grain by grain. My grandson would stand at
her flank to keep her flat to
the wall. Sky’s agreement with me was that as long as I kept the
sweet feed coming, she would allow
‘the alien spawn’
to nurse with out trying to stomp on him too many times. After he
had nursed a sufficient
amount,
we would top it off with his bedtime bottle to make sure that he did
not go to bed hungry.
So
the lesson we learned this second year, was as lambing time
approached, to make sure that Sky and Cleopatra were not kept in the
same stall until one of them had lambed.
Year Three
It may require a sheep psychiatrist to figure this one out
Year
three and we followed our plan. A few weeks before their due dates,
we removed Cleopatra from the ‘pregnant stall’ and put her in
with the unbred ewes. Being a clever lady, Cleopatra figured out how
to get the extra nutrition she needed for her pregnancy. In the
mornings we would let the unbred girls out into the front paddock.
Cleopatra would wait until the coast was clear, and
make her way to the back gate. If I didn’t spot her right away,
she would give a low call. I would
wait until none of the other ewes were looking and open the gate.
Cleopatra would slip in, so that I could give her portion of grain
and extra ration of second cutting hay.
Mid
April is shearing time, weather permitting. Since we have to empty
out the middle stall where we store the hay, we try to time our hay
delivery around that time so we are not over loaded. During
shearing, the
middle stall serves as a holding pen, first for the ewes, then for
the rams, as they await their turn.
The
big stall becomes the shearing stage. We put a big tarp down to
cover all the bedding hay. On top of the tarp we place a 4’ by 8’
piece of plywood. That serves as a platform for the two shearers.
They would open the door between the big stall and the ‘holding
pen’, get two sheep and set to work. As
they were finished, the sheep would be let out through another door
to the appropriate pasture or paddock. The shorn fleece would be
put into 30
gallon clear plastic draw string bags along with their name tags to
await evaluation and skirting (removal of the soiled locks) at a
later time. Then two more sheep would get their turn and so on.
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| Shearing Day |
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| Shearing Day |
Sky
was seated on her rump in the process of being shorn. The second
shearer, having just finished with his previous sheep, went and
opened the door to the holding pen to get his next sheep. No
sooner had he opened the door when in rushed Cleopatra! She raced
straight over to Sky (who as you may recall was sitting in a somewhat
compromising position,) and
stuck her nose under Sky’s tail as
if investigating to see if anything was going to be emerging any time
soon. Sky
who
was
still a month away from her
due date, could do nothing more than just sit there, until the
shearer was done. Then she high-tailed it out the side door!
We
were left with our mouths open in amazement! Cleopatra had tried
twice to claim
Sky’s lambs. Now it appears that she can’t even wait until they
are born! Needless to say, from then on we have not put them in the same stall until they have lambed!
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