Two in the morning comes awfully early...

In previous posts, I've mentioned the "marking system" to know when a ram has bred a ewe.  It's a simple mixture of crisco and chalk.  It helps in creating a calendar for timing when 150 days will mark the due date of the ewe.  The deed is completed, and you have a greasy colored chalk spot on her back side.  Every woman's dream for true romance I'm sure. 

However, there are a few variables that can occur; such is the case this year.  Clearly marked (and witnessed I must admit), the due date was set for this past Saturday, March 5th.  I began "lamb watch" on Thursday night, looking for the signs of an early labor from my three suspected ewes.  This led on into Friday night, which was a much more realistic chance of delivery, which created the need for a 2 am barn watch.

Two am rolls around and my cell phone lights up the room, with it's ever cheesy alarm call.  It's whatever the standard ding-a-ling ring is when you first buy the thing; I never was motivated enough to change it.   However, after four nights of this ringing, the jingle is now deeply embedded into my head.  I can't seem to shake it, and the annoying call is giving me anxiety.  Every bell, tone, noise seems to match some element of this tune, and I instantly sigh for another 5 minutes of snooze.  I find myself laying there in bed thinking... how long till the next barn check?  Thinking about it so much, I can't seem to fall asleep. 

Friday, Saturday and Sunday all came and went.  The girls continued to eat and eat and eat some more.  Entitled to? Of course they are, but it just means that labor isn't starting any time soon.  The entire household is growing tired of this now nightly routine.  The early morning wake up which used to have a vibe of a vacation no longer feels that way (remember the excitement of getting up early to leave for a trip?  I somehow have forgotten what it is like).  The dogs don't even bother to get up, they just lay there and gamble that I can stumble around them and out the door without stepping on a limb or tail. 

Then the fun really begins.  Without any neighbor's porches or city lights to light up the clear winter night, I am dependent on keen eyesight and cat like reflexes to overcome the pitch black darkness combined with the obstacles of ice patches on the driveway.   I have to walk downhill to the barn door, slide it open, flip on the switch, and listen.

All the ewe's have their own sounds. I can tell a Mary Jo from an Artemesia any time of day.  The light switch to them means eating time, so its no surprise the light is often followed by bellowing of hungry sheep.  However, at two in the morning during lambing season, its no ordinary call I'm listening for.

And there it was.  A few days late, and a few annoying alarm calls later, I hear the unfamiliar yet recognizeable fait "bah" of a new born lamb.  Like coming down the stairs at Christmas, I run to the gate and peer over the stall to see Lisa had given birth to a lamb.  She was vigilintly cleaning and pawing at it.  No enabling here, these sheep mean business and get their little one's up and nursing in no time.  In fact, I stood and watched in awe as Lisa, our veteran ewe, worked to clean her little one with another set of hoofs exiting her rear.  Her second lamb was already underway.  Labor, while cleaning and feeding. That's how we roll at Windy Knob.

Not exactly.  I stood there for a half an hour with my lambing equipment (stethoscope, Iodine, Cotton Balls, Scissors, Scale) ready to help out at a moment's notice.  Lisa just looked at me.  "I got this," she seemed to say to me with her eyes.  It's a miracle.  Life in any form is spectacular, and I get to watch it unfold through the seasons; time and time again.   And just like that, with these two born, the 2011 lambing season is underway. 

Their ear tags will read #1101 and #1102 (2011, order of birth), but their names will be more fitting.  The theme this year you ask?  After the highly anticipated inaugural year of Presidents and First ladies, I am proud to annouce the 2011 theme.  Something local, something to acknowledge the beautiful area I am lucky enough to call home.  In my opinion, it's one of the best counties in the country; with long winding roads, private little bays around every corner, and endless views of water and islands.  This years theme we connect to our roots here on the farm with all names refrencing places in Leelanau County.  Look for an "Omena" and a "Leelanau," perhaps an "M22," or "Manitou."  The lambs this year will donn names of some of my favorite county roads, bays, islands and landmarks of the county Windy Knob calls home.