Happening in the Herd

Our first lambs this year were born on February 14, Valentine's Day, and lambing is going well! As of the end of February, 13 ewes had their lambs (25 babies so far), and we've got 51 more ewes to go. We'll start milking this month, and our first milk delivery to the creamery is going to be March 8! We continue to adapt our milking schedule to what works best for our animals, and this is putting things about a month earlier than last year. Our sheep tend to do better in cooler weather, both with lamb growth and milk production, so I'm hoping that pushing lambing/milking up by a month will give us even happier, healthier sheep. So far, it's working well, and the moms are enjoying the cooler weather for lambing.

March 2022 will be our third milking season since we restarted the program in 2020. We'll put about 59 ewes on the milking line, so it will be an increase in the number of ewes and the amount of milk produced from last year. I've been selecting the best ewes to keep on the line and retiring some of the others, so the milk yield per sheep should also be higher this year as we continue to improve our flock. Building up our flock doesn't always necessarily mean increasing our numbers, but increasing the health and productivity of our animals by keeping lambs from the best sheep to put into our breeding program.

When the lambs are born, they stay with their moms for a while in a lambing barn with a lot of other ewes and lambs. When it's time for the ewes to start being milked for the year, the lambs stay in the lambing barn and are weaned onto bottles for a few extra weeks. When the lambs are weaned, they go out to live on pasture with our donkey, Sally, who protects them. They'll stay in their lamb group for about 18 months, at which point they'll join the main flock of sheep for Fall breeding season the year after they're born. We start milking our sheep when they're two years old. When the lambs are grown and rejoin the flock, they remember their mothers and the other sheep that they knew as small lambs, so they follow right along with them when it comes time for them to be milked. By that point, they all know what grain is and are excited to go inside of the parlor to get a treat. Of the approximately 59 ewes that will go on the milking line this year, 32 were born at Blackberry Farm. The oldest of the milk-line ewes that was born on the Farm is Delilah, who was born March 10th, 2015, and the youngest is Magnolia, born April 11, 2020.

– Christen Waddell, Assistant Farmstead Manager