 Alice, husband Ray (center) and family get "shear" pleasure from sheep. |
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"With only 37 acres, we use managed intensive grazing. We like people, so we decided to host school groups and others at shearing and lambing time." Their first Open Barn last year drew 500 guests, thanks to radio ads and newspapers articles run locally and in nearby Madison. I help feed hay in the big pens and add corn for the pregnant ewes and those in the jugs. 5 p.m.>> We leave the barn full of contented sheep, get cleaned up and drive to town for dinner at Alice's sister Ami's house. She has a wonderful roast beef dinner ready and mentions, "I know how busy Alice and Ray are during lambing and am happy to cook for them." 6:30 p.m.>> Back home, we heat bottles in the kitchen. Ray beats us to the barn to find a ewe struggling with a breech delivery. I watch in awe as Alice deftlyu assists with the birth!  On Open Barn day, Ann shepherds guests seeking close looks at lambs. 7 p.m.>> "It looks like she has just one lamb, but let's give her a little time to make sure there's not a twin coming, Alice suggests. We check back after feeding the bottle babies. No twin. I pick up the one baby–still a little damp–to help lead the eye to an empty jug. 2 a.m.>> I'd fallen into bed after an uneventful barn check at 10:30 p.m. Now there's a knock on my bedroom door. I open one eye to check the time–ugh! "Do you really want to go out?" Alice asks considerately. "Um hmm," I mumble, climbing out from under a cozy woolen blanket. |
Tiny Triplets Need Help In the dim, quiet barn, I wake up fast when we discover a ew with new triplets! There's concern in Alice's voice. "They are very tiny–only 2 or 3 pounds. If we get some colostrum in them, they have a chance to make it." 
A young hand helps quench a bottle baby's thirst.She hurries to the house to thaw and warm frozen colostrum while I rub the limp lambs in a towel to keep them warm. Then I hold each lamb stead on its tummy while Alice expertly inserts a tube down its throat and pours in a few ounces of colostrum. We outfit the preemies in the tiniest fleece jammies (still way too big). As we settle them with their mom in a jug with a heat lamp, the triplets seem perkier. "This is way too much work not to be fun," Alice says with a weary smile as we head for the house. 3:30 a.m.>> After all the excitement, I'm having trouble getting back to sleep so I count sheep! Zzzz... 8 a.m.>> I wake one of the new triplets snoozing under the heat lamp[ to give it a bottle. "Massage its mouth on the nipple so it learns to suck," Alice advises. We hurry with chores this frosty sunny morning because the Open Barn starts at 10:00 a.m. |