Welcome, Spring!

Happy Spring! What better way to celebrate the beginning of spring than with a visit to a local sheep farm to see all the newborn lambs! Everywhere we turned there were sweet little lamb faces...
It has been a busy couple of weeks for A-Z Farm, with a total of 167 births as of Sunday morning.

The ewes and lambs were separated into groups based on the lamb's age. Lambs less than a week old were in small private enclosures with their mothers where they nursed and sunbathed in the warm spring sun.

Lambs older than a week were in groups of 2-4 ewes and their lambs. They were fairly independent; prancing around, climbing of bales of hay, and snuggling in groups.

This mama must have been lamb-sitting for another mama. These were definately not all her babies!

Noah got to touch a little lamb. I don't know if he realized it was a real live animal. He thought that by squeezing its ear, he could make it bleat.

In another area of the barn we saw calves, ducks, turkeys, chicks and piglets. Curious Noah stuck his finger up a pig's nose. Yes, really.

Finally, we were lucky enough to see the birth of a lamb. Well, almost. Just as we saw the little nose coming out, another sheep walked by and stood right in our way. It was as if she were giving her friend some privacy. Moments later, when she stepped away, there lay a tiny, wet lamb in the straw. The little girl joined her brother, born just minutes earlier in their private pen in the middle of the flock. Here she is being cleaned off by her mother as her brother is greeted by a fellow pasture-mate.

We watched for a while as he struggled to stand for the first time with an encouraging nudge from his Mama. I was happy to see that although the barn's staff were nearby to help the ewes if needed, they pretty much stayed out of the way and let the new Mamas take care of her new lambs by herself.

A brand new life, taking his first wobbly steps! What a fabulous way to welcome Spring!

-Jen