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Last night the thermometer was reading -16 F. This little guy got too cold to nurse and had to be brought back into the house, warmed up and fed. When it is this cold lambs use a large amount of energy to stay warm and need to feed often to keep that energy up. This 5 hour old lamb needed a little assistance to get a good start. Before bed he was able to go back to his mother and twin brother. He was doing great this morning despite the bitter cold temperatures. Lambing season 2015 has begun and it is going to be a cold one.  It is totally normal to have a lamb in your guest room, right?
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This past week I was been traveling for business. I am a bit of a homebody and never like to be away from home for too long. However, this trip I was away Monday - Friday. Unfortunately, while I was away I got one of THOSE calls from my husband. You know THOSE calls; you can tell the minute the person calling says hello that something is wrong. Me: "Hey, sorry I was in a meeting. You called, what's up?" Jesse: LONG PAUSE I know it is nothing serious with the baby since I would have been persistently called or texted if it was a true emergency, but I know from the pause that something has happened to one of the animals. Me: "What's happened?" Jesse: "Belvedere passed last night. I am sorry." Belvedere, my last remaining goat, left us just a little over a month after his lifelong companion Petunia. This is a loss I was not prepared for. I had just accepted the barn without the familiar loud protests of Petunia, I am not ready to not be greeted by Belvs as well. Belvedere the most affectionate of the goats, always wanting scratched and pet. When we would go on walks he would spend his time next to me begging for affection. He liked beer from the can and pine needles from the tree. A few years ago his horn grew back towards his scalp and needed to be removed by the vet. The most cost effective thing for me to do was drive Belvedere in my CAR in the BACKSEAT 20 minutes to the vet. I rolled the window down for him and so he could hang his head out the window like a dog, the other drivers were quite shocked to drive past us that day!  Today is Valentine's Day and my husband and I took off our wedding rings. This weekend we have no true Valentine's day plans, except getting the first 6 sheep ready for lambing. The husband and I set out to crutch the sheep before the cold front (40 mph winds and feels like -20) blew in. With it being cold we both left our wedding rings in the house, no one wants to lose their ring on Valentine's Day because their finger shrunk! Just a little more than a week until lambing and sadly it does not look like it is going to warm up much before then. Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at Whinmont Farm to you and those you love!  My view and my date for Valentine's Day. I would not have it any other way.
Today I bought a baby monitor. I am not pregnant! No matter how much my daughter insists on telling daycare that she's "getting baby sister" I am not pregnant. But I did buy a baby monitor. A baby monitor with 1000' range, a camera and night vision; this baby monitor is more high tech than the one I have for my actual baby. For the past few years lambing season has consisted of me waking up every two hours, walking to the barn and checking the sheep with a flash light. This year I plan to use technology to my advantage and only wake up every two hours to check in on the flock from the comforts of my warm bed. 
Bossy, laying down and doing nothing, a pregnant lady's dream! This is her 3rd pregnancy and she is due March 6th.
 The countdown is on, 14 days until lambing season 2015. With the unseasonal warm weather and sunshine we took the opportunity to clean out the barn and put clean straw in for the sheep and their upcoming babies. After getting the barn cleared of all the fall/winter bedding and manure we prepared to shake out the new straw.  Mini Mumps, waiting for the release into the fresh bedding. This will be her first lambing season; she is due February 24th.
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January 2018
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