We don't know numbers because the lambs are on the larger side now and it was too bright for her to have a good reading on the screen. Here is Rebecca, our ultrasound technician. She travels Ontario east ultrasounding sheep, goats and alpacas only. I asked her if she would mind being photographed for our blog; she laughed and said "Heh, in my sheep pen best?". Here she is preparing the portable ultrasound machine for use. She's a lovely woman who is very involved in 4H Ontario and Scouts.
She did Kivu first. We were very surprised to discover she is pregnant, as you can see by Alison's expression. Very often first year Shetland ewes don't catch. She likely only has a single, which is actually worse for a first-timer than twins since the twins are smaller and come through a small pelvis with ease. A single lamb tends to be larger with more tendency to become stuck. If you click on the photo you might get some more detail from the screen.
We didn't get a photograph of Latifah, however here is Jasmine being done. We couldn't get numbers on either Kivu or Latifah; got a good head measurement on Jasmine and her lamb(s) are at 100 days. Latifah's are estimated to be slightly earlier; Kivu's a bit later. So we will start looking for lambs no earlier than April 5.
2 comments:
Very cool! Never knew there was such a thing as sheepy ultrasounds. Now you know.
BTW, when do you typically shear your sheep? We don't crutch pre-lambing because we shear (about a month before they're due). Wondering about your practices.
It's so reasonable ... $1.50 per animal and a site charge (which is dependent on whether you're a "big operator" or not; she pairs up big farms with people like us so she can offer cheap rates).
Many people shear before lambing. We might feel differently if we were lambing in a barn, but by the time the snow clears ... well, could still be snowing at lambing time. We tend to shear in July strictly because that's when our 4H lambs must be sheared so Dave is already here. Some of the larger operators shear in September ... great idea because you get enough staple for warmth by the cold weather, and the fleece stays cleaner when it's long in the summer. Rumour has it that the fleece insulates from the heat as well as the cold, and we noticed that last July when we sheared ... the ladies actually seemed hotter after shearing.
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