Saturday, February 9

Saturday Dose of Cute: Frenchie One Ups Eugenie

Frenchie's triplets (1) - FarmgirlFare.com
Frenchie and her four-day-old Frenchettes (taken 2/3/13)

The first lambs of the season inevitably get the most attention. So what's the next ewe to do? Have triplets of course.

8 more photos and a lamb report below. . .

Frenchie's triplets (2) - FarmgirlFare.com


Frenchie's triplets (4) - FarmgirlFare.com

Frenchie's triplets (5) - FarmgirlFare.com

Frenchie's triplets (6) - FarmgirlFare.com

Frenchie's triplets (7) - FarmgirlFare.com

Frenchie's triplets (8) - FarmgirlFare.com

Frenchie's triplets (9) - FarmgirlFare.com

Four-year-old Frenchie (a Katahdin/Suffolk cross) and her lambs are all doing fine, and so far there's been plenty of mama's milk for everyone. Frenchie is an awesome mother, and she had no trouble learning to count to three.

For a while I thought she was only going to have a single, but after more than an hour of cleaning baby #1 to within an inch of its life, she pawed the ground twice, lay down, and had baby #2 with one easy push. And then about three minutes later, she did it again.

There's nothing like watching triplets. What I love most about this set is how for the first several days they always slept together in a row, in the order they were born, with the teeniest one tucked in the middle.

Current lamb count: 9. Ram lambs: 5. Ewe lambs: 4. Number of mamas so far: 4. Sets of twins: 3. Sets of triplets: 1. Number of days since the last lambs were born: 7 (!) Number of ewes in early labor right now: definitely 1, maybe 2. Pregnant ewes remaining: definitely 6, maybe 7.

Number of calls to the vet in the past week about a sick mama: 5 (in the house waiting for another call back right now). Number of 80-mile emergency round trips to the vet's office for medicine: 1 (yesterday). Nights spent in the little shepherd's hut next to the barn (aka the farm hand cottage, aka the 18-foot travel trailer) since lambing season began: 10 (so convenient—and cozy, thanks to this dandy little space heater).

© FarmgirlFare.com, where our visiting farm hand vacated his quarters just in time—and some of us were hoping we'd be just about done with lambing season by now. Anytime, girls! Actually, give me a few minutes to finish this post and get back down to the barn. No satellite Internet or phone service in the shepherd's hut, though our invaluable two-way radios keep me connected round the clock to the big house. (These radios are one of our best farm purchases ever; we have four and have been using them all day, every day for years. They come with rechargeable battery packs but we also use them with these rechargeable AA batteries.)

12 comments:

  1. A moment of cheer in the middle of our blizzard here in Maine! Love the triplets! Sharon

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  2. What sweeties. So sorry to hear about sick mama, hope she is feeling better fast!

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  3. So sweet, all the little lambs. Be glad the births were not in New England where 2 feet of snow is blanketing the ground when it's not blowing and drifting.

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  4. I'm so happy to hear about the lambs and the photos are fantastic. It really is cuteness overload!

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  5. The little lambs are always so cute! I love the picture of them already starting to nibble on the hay! :)
    I hope the "girls" hurry up and finish lambing so you can get back to the big house!

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  6. Susan, glad that you both are healthy again. No lasting effects from the puncture where the snake bit you, I hope.
    The babies are the cutest ever, but I say that every lambing season !~!
    We start looking after a baby boy (born 11-29-12) Monday and I couldn't be more excited.

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  7. Oh my! So cute! Hope you both are feeling better, because that is a whole lot of work taking care of the Mommas and their lambs. Looks like the weather is great for lambing season. We had ten inches of the heaviest snow I have ever shoveled here in Northern Illinois.

    Debbie from Illinois

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  8. Hi,
    Triplet lambs. Does it get any cuter? Susan, if you have a spare second, remind me why you time breedings that result in lambings at the coldest time of the year? I know there's a logical reason, I just can't recall it. Thanks!

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  9. They are so stinkin' adorable!! I'm glad you posted about Frenchie taking care of all 3 of them- my first thought was "CAN SHE HANDLE ALL THREE?!" hee hee. And the teeny one is so little!!

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  10. Susan, do you sometime help the ewe with the delivery? I mean when she has difficulty giving birth naturally. I faintly remember my grandfather doing that. Do one needs a special training or just help by pulling out the baby? I'm hoping to have my own herd of sheep one day.

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  11. I think there is a whole lot of "cute overload" going on at the Farm.

    Best wishes to all the new moms and moms-to-be and to you two, too!

    Thanks for sharing!

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  12. gorgeous lambs. loved the pictures and really enjoyed your post. looking forward to reading more :)

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