| January is the month of the lambs! The blog post for this month is going to primarily be about lambing season, but there are a few really cool things in the Woodland Adventures too. Enjoy! Amy | Table of Contents: Livestock News Garden Report Woodland Adventures Craft Corner Thank You! |
Livestock News
As mentioned in the last blog, we time lambing season to start after the winter solstice and to be finished near the beginning/middle of February. It barely kicked off Dec. 30th, but the bulk of the lambing happened in January!
Here’s the January babies:
January 1, 2025
2.5 year old, Registered St Croix ewe, Melva, had this 9lb ewe lamb sired by Registered St Croix ram, Leroy. Such a good mom, hoping for twins next year!
January 4, 2025
Almost 4 year old, Registered St Croix Ewe, Ivy, had 8lb ewe and 7lb ram lambs, sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Leroy. She’s always a great mom. Very happy with these babies!
January 12, 2025
8 year old Registered Katahdin Ewe, Sugar, had 13 and 12.5lb ram lambs sired by Registered Katahdin Ram, Archie. So happy she had twins this year, but unfortunately she developed mastitis in half her udder so has to remain in a pen until the lambs are a month old so I may supplement as needed. We did clear up the infection, but the udder is toast.
January 13, 2025
3 year old 66.25% Recorded Katahdin (though over 90% Katahdin) Ewe, Nutmeg, had 9.5lb ram (red), and 8lb ewe (white) lambs sired by Registered Katahdin Ram, Archie. Her udder seemed small but filled in more later. Hopefully these grow well!
January 13, 2025
3 year old Registered St Croix Ewe, Pearl, had 7.5lb ram and 7lb ewe lambs sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Titus. She’s a good mom but she struggled last year to have good enough milk to keep their growth rates up. We’ll watch her close this year.
January 13, 2025
3 year old Registered St Croix Ewe, Devany, had 10lb ram and 7.5lb ewe lambs sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Titus. She is an amazing ewe, good mom, good udder. Very nice lambs!
January 14, 2025
6 year old 93.75% Recorded Katahdin Ewe, Poppy, had 11lb ram and ewe lambs sired by Registered Katahdin Ram, Archie. Wonderful lambs, wonderful ewe, great udder. These should do amazing!
January 14, 2025
2 year old 28.13% Recorded Katahdin (is actually 64.84375% St Croix/27.34375% Katahdin/8.59375% Dorper/0.78125% Black Hawaiian/0.78125% Barbados Blackbelly) ewe, Pepper, had a 14lb ram lamb sired by Registered Katahdin ram Archie. He’s massive! Poor little girl. Glad she didn’t have difficulties.
January 14, 2025
4 year old 50% Recorded Katahdin (though actually closer to 85% Katahdin) ewe, Mouse, had a 16lb ram lamb sired by Registered Katahdin ram, Archie!!!! That’s the biggest lamb I’ve ever seen here! Great mom, good udder. I was shocked!
January 15, 2025
3 year old commercial Katahdin ewe, Lily, had a 9lb single ram lamb sired by Registered Katahdin ram, Archie. She’s a good mom and he’s a nice lamb. She’s not a favorite ewe of mine and likely going to go this year.
January 16, 2025
3 year old Registered St Croix Ewe, Gillian, had 8lb twin Ewe lambs sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Titus. She’s a great mama! Pretty girls!
January 16, 2025
4 year old 50% Recorded Katahdin (though over 95% Katahdin actually) Ewe, Sparrow, had twin 10lb ewe lambs sired by Registered Katahdin ram, Archie. Wonderful Ewe, LOUD babies. Super cute.
January 16, 2025
2 year old, Registered St Croix Ewe, Midea, had this 9lb ram lamb sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Titus. She’s a great little mama. Nice lamb too.
January 17, 2025
4 year old, Registered St Croix Ewe, Bedazzled, had a 9lb ewe lamb sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Leroy. She’s a VERY protective Ewe. Great mama and good milk. Too bad no twins, but next year we’ll try a different breeding.
January 17, 2025
6 year old upgraded Registered Katahdin ewe, Panda, had 11lb ewe (brown/white) and 11.5lb ram (white) lambs sired by Registered Katahdin ram, Archie. Only the second time in all her lambings that she’s given me twins. Glad to see it. She’s a good mom with a good udder too.
January 18, 2025
3 year old Registered St Croix Ewe, Darcy, had a 7.5lb ram lamb and a ewe lamb (who was put down due to intestines being on the outside of her body). Lambs sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Titus. She’s a good mom and was her first set of twins. Super unfortunate.
January 19, 2025
4 year old Registered St Croix Ewe, Tiny, had 9lb and 7.5lb ewe lambs early this am. Sired by Registered St Croix Ram, Titus. The bigger Ewe lamb has a brown foot and a quarter size brown spot on that leg. She also has brown tear ducts. Some color presenting not related to my other colored St Croix. Tiny did well this year. Great mom, nice udder. First time with twins so she earned her keep!
January 20, 2025
3 year old 87.5% Recorded Katahdin (will be upgraded this spring, is actually 96+% Katahdin) ewe, Selene had this 11lb ewe lamb sired by Registered Katahdin ram, Archie. Great mom, good udder. Wish she’d had twins like last year, but still happy with her.
Final numbers:
St Croix – 160%, 16 lambs out of 10 ewes with one twin ewe lamb fatality at birth. 4 twin ram lambs, 7 twin ewe lambs, 3 single ewe lambs, 1 single ram lamb.
Katahdin/Kat Cross – 155%, 17 lambs out of 11 ewes. 6 twin ram lambs, 6 twin ewe lambs, 4 single ram lambs, 1 single ewe lamb.
Super proud of my 14 year old daughter! She held the lambs so I could give shots and ear tag, then I tipped the mama ewes so she could do their shots herself. She did great! She gave shots to all the adult ewes, even filled the syringes herself!
Please check out our 2025 Hair Sheep Price List!
Categories include: Market lambs (those who didn’t make the cut as breeding stock), Commercial Unpapered (those that didn’t make the cut for Registration/Recordation, but were better than Market), Recorded Katahdin (these are percentage Katahdin that come with paperwork and follow the same standards as Registered animals), Registered Katahdin & Registered St Croix.
The St Croix rams decided to pose in size/generation order, even looking the same direction, and I couldn’t resist a picture!
On the chicken front – we sold off a bunch of young roosters, and our older rooster, so the hens could catch a break ! We are left with 2 roosters who hatched last spring. Foghorn, a Swedish Flower/Australorp cross and Jasper, a pure Swedish Flower.
Garden Report
Noticed some of my garlic has sprouted and is a couple inches above mulch now. Crazy since the weather has been all over the place. It seems to be doing well though!
Don’t forget!
The winter is the perfect time to start planting bare-root trees and shrubs.
I’ve compiled a list of planting dates for 2025 based on the moon phases:
2025 Planting Guide – Zones 7/8
Woodland Adventures
The bobcat is back!
The month was so busy with lambing season, not much time was spent in the woods. Trailcam caught some fun videos of the bobcat(s) though!
Craft Corner
Not much new to show here yet. I have some pictures of more Christmas presents for friends and family though:
Thank You!
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This cute Katahdin baby says she’ll see you all again March 1st
for the February Homestead Happenings!
Hollow Hills Ranch 