Those were Steve's exact words when I described the following scenario to him.
Let's back up a few days. Sometime last week, we had the sheep in the barn, and I said to Steve, "It's almost time to start locking them in at night." He disagreed, and none of the moms-to-be were side-splitting huge, so I didn't argue. We've been bringing the sheep in at night for feed, but not locking them in so that we have the opportunity to inspect the herd for new additions before they head out to graze in the morning.
This evening, Zeke and I were bringing the sheep in to the barn, and one of the ewes was lagging quite a bit behind the rest of the flock. I was concerned, so I moved to a better vantage point so I could see if she was hurt. She was not hurt. She had two little lambs with her! It's too early for lambs! Based on the gestation time for sheep, these babies were conceived sometime around June 20. Unfortunately, we have no idea who the father was. We had several wethers who were not actually wethers (we call them one-nutters), as well as our new Barbados ram, so everything born this year will have to be eaten or sold. No keepers in the batch. That said, they sure are cute. Photos tomorrow.
Let's back up a few days. Sometime last week, we had the sheep in the barn, and I said to Steve, "It's almost time to start locking them in at night." He disagreed, and none of the moms-to-be were side-splitting huge, so I didn't argue. We've been bringing the sheep in at night for feed, but not locking them in so that we have the opportunity to inspect the herd for new additions before they head out to graze in the morning.
This evening, Zeke and I were bringing the sheep in to the barn, and one of the ewes was lagging quite a bit behind the rest of the flock. I was concerned, so I moved to a better vantage point so I could see if she was hurt. She was not hurt. She had two little lambs with her! It's too early for lambs! Based on the gestation time for sheep, these babies were conceived sometime around June 20. Unfortunately, we have no idea who the father was. We had several wethers who were not actually wethers (we call them one-nutters), as well as our new Barbados ram, so everything born this year will have to be eaten or sold. No keepers in the batch. That said, they sure are cute. Photos tomorrow.
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