Surprise Lambing in July By Rachel Conlin On this particular July morning, with an overcast sk

By Rachel Conlin

On this particular July morning, with an overcast sky, Tim backed the truck up to the old log barn. Getting the first lamb in is difficult enough, but getting a couple more in without the first ones escaping is a challenge. We loaded three ram lambs and took a moment to look around in the dim morning light at the rest of the herd. They generally sleep close to the barn being guarded from predators by our guardian livestock dogs. Suddenly Tim called out, “there’s a baby!” My first response was to think he was joking around. Our lambs are born between November and February, with an occasional late being born in March or early April. This is July. Sure enough, amongst the herd, one of our Finn sheep-Gotland cross ewes had a very wet lamb on the ground beside her. Knowing that she may possibly have more, we lead her into the barn and put her in a stall with her lamb. There wasn’t much time to adore the new baby; Tim had to get to work. We drove down to the farmhouse and he headed out in his truck. [Keep reading…]