Final Lamb Arrivals

On Thursday Salem delivered the final lambs for the year here at Locksley Fields. I had been anxious for Salem to lamb all spring since last year Salem had lambs with tangled legs. It was a terrible way to end the season- with my first internally assisted delivery in all the years I’d been raising shetlands. Things went badly, partly due to my not realizing I was trying to pull two lambs simultaneously. They didn’t make it. The fact that Salem would lamb last this year as well seemed cruel , but fortunately she didn’t need my help and gave birth all by herself. She has the sweetest black ewe lamb and a handsome moorit ram with a star on his forehead.
It was definitely a ewe year, with twice as many girls as boys. The total was 21 lambs: 14 ewes and 7 rams. However, there will be 20 lambs raised here. Long story short, I had a ewe reject a lamb at 3 days old. Perhaps I petted him after handling Salem’s lambs on Thursday and transferred an odd smell to him? She did know she had two, because once he was removed, she got upset. However, after returning the little guy, she pushed him away. I questioned whether I could adequately take care of a bottle baby this year due to the time involved (and my lack of it lately!), so, as guilty as I felt, I think I made the right decision. He has gone home with Allena and family (of Three Ring Ranch) in hopes that their ewe whose newborn lambs died would adopt him. We hope that things will work out for everyone!

<--- Is this why my shoelaces are always untied?
First three photos are all Salem's lambs.

Photo below: Dawsen’s girl was intent on putting her head through the fence and trying to chew the ears of her next door neighbors who were trying to rest.. One of Myst’s girls decided that "two can play this game" and began mouthing back- which is what you see here.