Tasting some hay with Mom.  (They aren't actually eating hay yet.)  But nibbling on food introduces
bacteria into their gut and gets their rumens started.  This is a very good thing.

The lambs are growing really well.  Yesterday we let the lambs and moms all out into "the lamb pen", a small paddock attached to our barn, where they could have a little time running around together.  The nice thing about this pen is we can give them some freedom but still keep them under close supervision in case a lamb tries to get into trouble.  Also, the babies can't get too far away from the mom.  They still panic at first, but it is quickly resolved and mom and babies get some practice in finding each other again.

At first Eeva was a little concerned about Mara's lambs getting too close to her lamb, but she started to settle down after a while.  Mara is an experienced mother.  So while she did a good job of keeping track of her lambs, she wasn't so overly dramatic about anything.

Eeva's white lamb is 3 weeks old today and Mara's black triplets are 2 weeks old today.  Eeva's lamb is big and fat, so she has already outgrown my larger size lamb coats. 

Some Finn breeders seem to make a big deal out of the fact that a single grows faster since it has all of the space in the womb and gets all of the milk.  (It is like they think a breeder is going to cheat buyers by selling them a single lamb which is going to look bigger than the others.)  I have found that while the lamb might grow larger and faster at first, in the end, its genetic potential can be best predicted by looking at the size of the parents.  If the parents are large, the lamb will grow up to be large. (This is assuming that all of your sheep are fed well and you start your lambs started eating 20% lamb creep as soon as they are able, along with eating very good quality hay or grass with their mothers.)  So if you are looking to buy sheep look at the parents, and if possible the grandparents, for your clues on what the lamb will grow up to be.

Singles are not typical in Finnsheep.  I have only had singles in a ewe lamb mother (1), lambs conceived with AI (2), and in a ewe who was chased and possibly aborted and reabsorbed the others (1).  But a single is always an easy lamb for the shepherd and I always have a least one litter of quads that needs my help.  And I have more than enough genetics for prolificacy in my flock.  So I don't mind the single.  If you keep good records, then you can track traits (such as prolificacy and mothering ability) in whole lines across several years and not base decisions on one litter of one ewe in one year.

Here are a few photos of the lambs from Sunday and yesterday (Monday).  Be prepared for overwhelming cuteness!





Yes, the lambs are the left are airborne!