we got a little surprise last night out in the barn! We had our very first lamb on the farm in our very first official lambing season! joe and i have been at a conference in downtown grand rapids every day (and night until like 10pm) and the sheep have been showing absolutely zero signs of labor so we’ve kind of just figured it would be at least another week. especially for bebe (bay-bay) because she was the smallest of the three pregnant ewes and the vet said her sheep seemed a little more behind than the other two.
last night joe went out to the barn to do chores and i had just started dozing off when my phone started buzzing. i didn’t even have to answer i knew something was going on in the barn. i threw on whatever clothes were on the floor and ran out to the barn. sure enough peeking up just behind it’s mama was a tiny little lamb. a little wobbly on all four legs but it was totally cleaned off and dry like it had been here for a few hours.
it blew me away how true animal instincts are. like how did bebe know that the second that lamb was born she had to protect it. she kept the lil lamb in between her and the wall the entire time we were in the barn. she didn’t get aggressive with us but was definitely telling us to watch it. we ooed and ahhhed over it for about an hour checking out bebe to make sure she was in good shape too. when it was determined that all is well we called it a night. joe pretty much had to drag me back into the house i could have sat there and just watched it all night wiggle around. if you watch my Instagram stories you can see it’s little tiny tail wiggling around.
this morning we went out to check and both mama and baby made it through the night great. the lamb seemed a little more sure on it’s feet and was being a little more brave. i didn’t want to handle the lamb too much because bebe was so nervous about us getting too close but we think it’s a girl. we are pretty green farmers but i’m pretty sure i know what boy sheep parts look like lol. however we will probably have to do more check ups in the next few days. we made sure that bebe’s milk had come in and the lamb started feeding as soon as we put it down.
we drove into work this morning both saying it’s mornings like this that just make living out in the country so worth it. 1 sheep down 2 more to go!