It is starting to look like spring has come early around here, even though it is cold, and we are about to have a very wet, cold week. Our maiden ewes are half way through lambing and are facing a tough week with all this rain and cold. And foxes. And crows. They have shelter and plenty of feed, and baiting for foxes is an ongoing process.
Our merged mob of older ewes are due to start lambing from 26th August. We didn't scan for multiples, just wet and dry, but it looks like we have many twins and triplets coming judging by the size of the girls. Some have their stomachs touching the grass and look like they'll pop any minute. They can only waddle when walking.
Below are the photos of our weaners, now in Delta paddock. This was day three for them in that paddock. Even though they are growing bigger and eating more, the grass is growing faster. Paddocks are also recovering much quicker now from grazing. By the next rotation, the grass will be past the 3-leaf stage. It'll only get worse if we don't get more sheep as the days are getting longer and spring is coming. Our peak pasture period is October, so there is a lot of feed ahead of these sheep, and trade sheep hopefully.
Even though we have all mobs down to zero with worms, and will try and keep them at zero for a year, more and more are starting to scour, I presume because we don't have any more roughage to give them.
It is my aim in the future that when we see sheep scouring, we take them out immediately into a containment area and they will stay there on feed until they go to market. We are not in a position to do that at the moment. We have also tagged rams that are the first to scour and they will not be used again.
