Dear Curiosity Journal,
On Sunday, we brought home the Babydoll Southdown ewes from their romantic rendezvous on a neighbor’s farm who has a studly new Babydoll Southdown ram. They’ve thankfully slimmed down a bit, which has inspired me to start following a more regimented feed management plan with the Babydolls. They just gain weight so easily and become over-conditioned so readily that I can really see the logic in restricting their diet more than the other breeds. Of course, the Babydolls would beg to differ and happily eat themselves into obesity, so I must intervene if I want them to be healthy and reduce the risk of complications during lambing. My plan is to reduce the number of hours the Babydolls have access to hay and resist the urge to give them grain until later in their pregnancy and lactation. I’m hoping for 2-4 lambs from these 3 ewes. Here are my hypotheses. Although I would love to get a lamb out of Pearly, she hasn’t given us one in the last 2 attempts, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up because she may not be about that life. Joy Jr had twins last year, but one was stillborn, so I kind of hope she just has a single, but she might give us two. Birdie (Betty’s first baby) is a maiden ewe, but she is a twin and her mom always gives us twins, so my guess is that she will give us two. So my best estimation is that this group will give us 3 lambs, and oh, I hope they are girls because Joy Jr and Pearly will be turning 8 and retiring from breeding after this season. I know I said that last year, but JJ did so well, I’m giving them one last season.
~Joy