Lambing

Oh yes, my friend tells me "never and always are words reserved for God" and I believe Murphy sets out to prove us wrong with his Law.  I'm so glad I've not stood on my soap box and said, "I am NEVER lambing again"......like I did  few years back.  I've told my friends, "I'm not lambing this year" and now here I am.....lambing.

I actually love lambing; using my nursing skills with lawyer-less patients that might not appreciate my help but really don't have a choice.  I love bottle feeding babies although I never really had to use that skills as my bummers were rehomed to a good friend's farm every year.  I can pull lambs and sort out tangled legs; I can tube lambs and insert paddles for prolapsing ewes.  I owe a lot of my lambing skills to a fellow in eastern Oregon, who allowed me to come help him lamb years ago.  I've attended three lambing schools at OSU which were held at ranches around the valley.  I enjoyed seeing the different set-ups and learning to band lambs.  Most of my experience has come from the school of hard knocks....the years I lambed at my place.  I think my biggest issues came from over feeding and the big singles that resulted.  But for the most part, I did not have to deal with ketosis or prolapse and my lambing seasons were successful.

I find myself lambing again year, and I'm loving it!

It's the best of both worlds for me....I get to lamb and it does not come with all the worry.  I'm lambing for a friend.....I think there are 1500 ewes that will go through the barn at the end of the season; the first timers come in at the beginning of April.  It's good fun for me.....and secretly I enjoy the bottle babies. I'm the Girl Friday....on call for the times a helping hand is needed.  With a big operation I am learning to let go a little....all those things I cannot control do not allow for obsessing as the lambs keep coming.

Here's to the lambing of 2015!  The perfect scratch to my itch.

Seize the day!