Our oldest lambs are nearly 6 weeks old now. They’ve grown enough that the later ones are catching up to the early ones and the singles have really jumped ahead of the twins, size-wise. You can also start to see that the ram lambs (males) are starting to bulk up faster than the ewe lambs (females).

The grass is just starting to haze the fields from brown to green. We’ve started weaning the adults off their grain supplement. Soon we’ll worm them and move them to the big pasture. Sheep have sensitive digestion, so you don’t want to change their diets too fast.

We start giving the pregnant ewes grain about six weeks before lambing, unless it’s been a super-hard winter. If we get more than one really cold snap before then we might start early. The cold can really sap their energy–which they need for growing those lambs!  We work them up slowly to a full portion about two weeks before lambing starts, then keep them on a full portion for 4-6 weeks while they are lambing and nursing newborns.

At that point (which is about now) we start slowly reducing their grain feeding. In about 3 weeks they’ll be on just grass and hay. And by May, they’ll be back on grass only–sooner if the grass comes in strongly. We let the sheep tell us when they are done with hay feeding. We leave it out free choice and one day they just aren’t eating it anymore because they’re too busy with the new grass.

The lambs are already nibbling on grass and hay as well as nursing. We’ve intentionally weaned lambs once or twice and found it’s not worth it. We just leave them with their momma’s and eventually the ewes will wean the lambs themselves. They just start walking away when the lamb comes to nurse. That usually happens around June. The lambs really only come to nurse for comfort anyway by that point. A clingy lamb might make it to July. But by the end of July everyone is independent without us having to do anything.

You’ll also see that most of their tails have fallen off. There is a late set of twins that I missed while the flu went through the household. They’ll just have to live with long tails. {sigh}

Some of our ewes are really starting to get gray in the face! I hear raising kids will do that to ya!

How are things around your place? Is Spring in the air, or are you getting some of that late Spring winter-ness?

We’ve got the Pine Car Derby for bible club coming up, so we’ve been sanding and painting and spinning wheels in the garage. I’ve got a TON of tips and cool car design ideas on Pinterest on our Pine Car Derby Notes board. Be sure to follow us on Facebook to get updates when we get to the race!

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