Lambing officially finished at eleven this morning with ... yet another set of triplets. That's three out of four giving a grand total of eleven lambs this year - enough for a football team (or soccer, if you're from the left side of the pond)

Here's one of the latest arrivals - barely two hours old - learning the joys of a good nuzzle.

Here's one of the older triplets demonstrating how useful mother's are - especially when the hay net is just out of reach.

It doesn't take lambs long to realise that the warmest, most comfortable bed is their mother's fleece. In a month's time most of our ewes are going to have lamb hair:)

And finally we have a lamb demonstrating what the best dressed lambs are wearing this year - thigh high brown boots with matching eye and nose markings.

For the interested, the lambs are Suffolk crosses - a Suffolk ram crossed with a 'sheep of the region'.

Tags: animals, baby, cute, lambs, sheep, suffolk

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Twin Triplets!	Apr. 1st, 2008 @ 12:11 pm

Lambing continues apace. And what a pace. Last year was the first year we ever had triplets. This year we've had two. And in between the triplets came twins so the maternity stables are somewhat full at the moment and we've had to take both stables from the horses.

Rhiannon is not amused at having to give up her warm stable but Saffron is the bigger problem. She likes sheep, she's curious and she has big ears - which block the LambCam when she pokes her head over the stable door to watch the lambs. And she's taken to nibbling the wooden box that houses the LambCam.

Anyway, here's the first of the pictures. These are the twins resting after a hard day being stared at by a giant horse's head.

Here are the second triplets when they were four hours old. We've got them pencilled in for the Olympic Synchronised Lamb event this summer. Two are naturals, the third needs some work.

Here are the twins trying out their new overflow accommodation - a summer house on the lawn.

And here's one of last week's triplets wondering where his summer house was.

Tags: animals, baby, cute, lambing, lambs, sheep

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Triplets!	Mar. 27th, 2008 @ 10:43 am

The lambing season is officially underway. Nice Ewe, who was due yesterday and had been on the point of exploding since Monday, gave birth to triplets at eleven last night. For the interested, she had two girls and a boy weighing in at three tons each (according to the mother - who should know:)

Here they are at age nine hours and a quarter. Nice Ewe's eye says it all.

Even at nine and a quarter they're fast and inquisitive. Point a camera at them and one's off exploring and headless by the time the shutter opens. Here's one of the few non-headless snaps.

They're pretty much the same at ten and a quarter. Here they are outside on our lawn. We give them a couple of hours outside each day if the weather's good then release them back into the field when they're big enough.

And finally a close up. Note the patented newborn woolly jumper - several sizes too big to allow plenty of room for expansion. And in two months time they'll need it - they'll all be the size of large woolly beach balls.

Now I'm off to pack for my trip to Dublin. There'll be more lamb pictures on Tuesday.

Tags: animals, baby, cute, lambing, lambs, pictures, sheep

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Lamb Pictures!	Mar. 15th, 2007 @ 11:08 am

As promised here are some pictures I took yesterday. First up we have the oldest and boldest lamb - a three day-old girl born Sunday morning - who has already mastered the art of leaping on top of large rocks. She had some difficulty at first but now her favourite game is 'King of the Castle' and she stands on her rock - there's a granite block in her compound - and lords it over her brother who has yet to master the ovine art.

And now the youngest. This picture was taken minutes after her birth and already she's up on her feet. We had two lambs born Tuesday night and another two Wednesday morning. This is one of Wednesday morning's. They were both much darker than the others - we have a black-headed Suffolk ram so we get a good variety of markings from white through brown to black.