Spring and Easter

Today its raining in the city and it makes me hopeful that spring is here. Normally associated with new life like flowers, green grass and leaves on the trees but here in Alberta it still looks pretty barren even though spring equinox happened awhile ago. Easter time has come and gone and we are pretty well done lambing (two ewes are left) even though most would think that now would be the time we would be starting since the weather is so much nicer. Along with new plant growth in Spring and chocolate at Easter, baby animals are also a traditional sign that spring is here.


While a spring lambing season sounds much easier we lamb earlier so that there are lots of lambs to choose from for 4-H market lamb projects. However there are always some that decide to wait to have their lambs, usually it is the first-timers that lamb after most of the herd. During breeding season ewe lambs may need a few extra weeks to mature before being bred and according to what I learned in biology last term their gestation period may be a little longer (especially when carrying twins) because their energy budget is different than a mature ewe during gestation. Ewe lambs will be putting more energy into their own growth and maintenance than a mature ewe along with the energy required for fetal development of their lamb(s), equalling more time being pregnant. However this is not always the case this year we had a couple of ewe lambs that lambed at the same time as the older ewes but the last 8 ewes that have lambed have all been ewe lambs.


Sometimes being pregnant as a ewe lamb can affect the ewes own personal growth because so much of her energy is being put into the lambs so it is important that they are very well fed during pregnancy and while nursing. We have left a couple of ewe lambs open some years to allow them to grow and mature to be ready to raise lambs next year.


Here are some pictures of the newest babies on the farm