We try to lamb and kid in April or May because we have an 80ft pole barn, steel buildings are not known for retaining heat and we like the lambs to have some milder weather as they arrive in the world. We have pasture ground but no crop ground so it is also to our advantage to have lambs feeding on grass as they grow rather than having to buy extra feed, again April lambs work well with this in mind. This year, or should I say last autumn, all went according to plan and the bucks were introduced to the ewes on November 1st. They did a fabulous job because 5 months later in a 4 week period all our ewes had lambed with the live lamb percentage being a little higher than 100%.
We have a system in the barn where they spend the first 3 days in individual pens, then they are allowed into a larger pen with all the other mothers and babies until there are only bucks and isolated ewes out in the rest of the barn with access to the corrals. Weather permitting the day comes when we open the gate and allow them all the freedom to roam out to the corrals and the round hay bales we use to feed out there. It is a noisy affair with ewes calling their lambs to stay with them, lambs losing sight of their mothers and screaming loudly to attract their attention. We have found it is best to open the gate and walk away or we end up as nervous wrecks too. Experience has taught us that the chaos lasts a couple of hours and for the most part the lambs get used to their new freedoms in a very short time. The older lambs usually claim their independence first and run like crazy back and forth, ignoring the calls from their mothers to come to heel, their mothers knowing they will come when they are hungry enough.
The kids are slightly older than the lambs but we couldn't let them out of their part of the barn because of all the melting snow and mud....goats neither like water nor getting dirty. Yesterday the water had drained, the mud was a little firmer and I put planks over the worst parts to act as a bridge for their dainty little feet. If we thought the lambs exit from the barn was chaotic the goats was even more extreme. Daisy, as the matriarch gathered her clan and started off over the planks, closely followed by Hyacinth and 4, oops no, 3 kids. One refused to leave the safety of the barn and peered round the gate. Daisy called out repeatedly and while the kid replied, she wasn't budging. Hyacinth ran back to encourage her causing the other 3 kids to follow and leave Daisy alone on the planks. Amidst much screaming Daisy returned to the barn to gather her clan and set off again, this time she was a little more eager to reach the fresh hay bales but a different kid refused to budge from the barn. It got to the point where Hyacinth ran to the barn, jumping up and down in front of the baby, lowering her horns and shouting what were obvious caprine profanities. We left them to it and a few hours later the kids were enjoying their new surroundings and leaping and bounding around the hay bales.
There is so much to do around the place, gardens to be tilled and prepared for planting, machinery to start and get ready for the coming season, the annual tidy-up after winter and the start of the 'to do' list of spring and summer. It can easily become overwhelming at the beginning of the season but we have a secret weapon for stress........... we go out and watch the lambs or play with the kids. It never fails to bring a smile to our lips!
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