The skills of Observation

Observation is a skill that is a must with shepherds...better yet having great! skills of observation is a must to do this job.

This time of year that skill is needed more then ever. A shepherd must observe each and every ewe a few times a day to tell if she has had any changes in her physical state, her personality, her daily habit, her eating pattern, and even her bedding habit. Changes in any of these and what kind of change, can tell a shepherd if the ewe is close to lambing or sick.

We will focus on the skill to tell how close a ewe is to lambing since this is the month when all our ewes are due to lamb.

I am always watching the back end of the ewes whether it is for lambing or to see if they are in heat to breed. It is the business end of this job.

As the ewe starts to progress towards lambing her back end will pink up in color. It will start to get more bulbous.

Look at all those pink bottoms 

 Her udder will start to fill out, we call this bagging up. With first time ewes this may not happen till either right before they lamb or right after. Older ewes can bag up several days to weeks before lambing. So this is not always the best indicator. You really have to know the ewe and what her habit is. This is hard with large flocks so good book keeping and barn records are important.

 I watch to see if the ewe is eating, most ewes will stop eating about a day before lambing. They also start nesting, nesting is where they paw at the ground and walk circles to form what looks like a large nest out of the straw. This is where they are planning to have their lambs. If they are out in the open field or in large barns they will separate them selves from the other sheep.

They also get very sunken in just below their hip area. This is when the lambs have moved down getting ready to enter the birth canal. This sign can happen several weeks before, to a few days of lambing. Again barn records must be kept and referred back on.

Jasmine has had a sunken in area for weeks now

Some ewes will get very vocal .... baaing over and over. This doesn't work with our sheep. They baa every time I go towards the grain bags.

Then of course there is the obvious signs.... like a water sack hanging out the back side. YES! The lamb is coming, she did not swallow to much bubble gum here people.

This is what I came in to find on the 1st of February
Lily in labor
The first lambs of the 2013 season are about to arrive.

At this point in time the shepherd does not leave the area in which the ewe is lambing, in case their help is needed. You hope that the ewe does it all on her own. The less help she needs from the shepherd the better it is for all.  Well people this is where I stop blogging and start shepherding. You have to see the next blog to find out the out come....ahahah.