Viking sheep can lamb outside but we put our  sheep in an open pen (actually a dog cage) to keep the lambs safe from any predators.  As we have only been on the farm for a short time we are still not acquainted to all the types of natural predators that visit the farm.  (Lynx are common in Spring during lambing season.)  So we thought it better to be safe than sorry.  Then we had to wait for the lambs.  Because we didn’t shear our sheep, as they needed warmth for outside (and they are natural shedders anyway), it was hard to tell who was pregnant and who wasn’t.  Lifting up their tails and seeing if their vulvas change size and colour was our best bet.

After three of our ewes had lambed it seemed like the other two were not pregnant.  Our black ewe, Ba Ba, as we have now discovered, is a ‘runt’.  When we picked her she was the same size as our other ewe-lambs but over the Winter the lambs grew and she didn’t.  It is unlikely that she will get pregnant in the future if she doesn’t grow bigger.  But there is still hope.  Only 60% of ewe-lambs get pregnant the first year so she has one more year to prove to us that she can get pregnant before being culled.

I had been checking Panda’s vulva, our other ewe who hadn’t given birth yet, every day, but there were never any changes.  One night Panda was laying down in the grass.  I sat down beside her and put my hands gently on either side of her tummy.  I could feel big bulging movements in my hands, into my right hand and them moving into my left.  Panda just lazed there eating her cud.  I was very excited thinking that she was pregnant but after two weeks of waiting it seemed I was mistaken.

The other ewes and lambs were etching to get out to some pasture grass.  We couldn’t keep them in any longer.  We were a little nervous as to how our ram, Ramstein, would treat the new lambs.  No amount of research told us if Viking rams do well with new lambs.  But we had to know and the only way was to allow them to mix and see what happens.  We opened the pen door and the ewes ran into the feild.  ’Born Free’ burst into my mind and then it was chaos.  The ewes had forgotten about their lambs when new grass was offered.  The lambs chased after but were confused with all the ewes around them.  They desperately searched for their mothers.  The ewes didn’t help, they all clumped together as if to greet each other.  The new lambs were under their feet trying to sniff each udder to find the right set.  It took about 20 minutes before things settled down.

Ramstein just watched and I think I saw him shaking his head.  But he has turned out to be a great father.  The lambs love him so much.  Ramstein is very happy to have his flock close to him.  I think using the dog cage with square wire really helped the bonding for Ramstein to his new lambs.  He was able to touch and smell them without getting too close to buck.  He was very good at protecting his ewes and constantly visited each ewe and lamb in their own pen.  Every night he slept agains Josie’s pen.  Josie, our yearling ewe, is special to him.  When they run free they are very affectionate with each other, grooming, plucking off wool and leaning against each other.  It is her two lambs that run under Ramstein’s feet.

When all had settled we sat down to reignite our relationship with them.  The ewes had been in the pen for a month so we wanted them to get to know us again with their new freedom.  The bonding process, with a little bit of bread, was a hit!  For a while I was in a wool-swamp.

The sheep had no issues with getting to know us without pens again.  In fact, they were even more accommodating for us to touch their nozzles and pat them.  We could even groom them by plucking off twigs and pulling off loose wool.  It was great to see them all together again.  From a distance we noticed that we had grey sheep and black lambs.  Coincidence?  Maybe these sheep are born black and then grow into grey.  Who knows – there is no information anywhere about it so we will just have to wait and see.

I have never known sheep until our Viking sheep came to the farm.  They are so lovely and endearing and I think it is because they have retained some of their wildness, maintaining their graceful intelligence.