Sheep Gives BIRTH at Midnight! This Could have been Bad

It's midnight. Rebecca and I were woken up by bleating. Sure enough, I turned on the flashlight and looked out there, and then I heard little bleats, so I knew there had been some lamb babies, but something was wrong. So I took my light and went down to them, and sure enough, there were two lamb babies, and it was as I feared. The lambs were outside of the pen. It turns out there's this gap between the gate and the deep bedding that they were falling through. I was easily able to pick them up. Oh my goodness, their heartbeats! I could hear their heartbeats as I was carrying them over, and I put them back with Mama. But I had to stop them from getting out again. My first thought was to grab a couple of hay bales, and I did that. But then, I mean, it's midnight, guys. Then somebody— they started— the cow started eating the hay bales, and I'm like, okay. Give them more hay. Also, what about the other side? The other side is a bit open too. It's not as big of a drop. Oh, I'll put something over it. So I went and searched to put something to protect them from going that way. I found some plastic panels and I was able to use those. I think we'll probably eventually replace these gates with mesh. In all that time, I was glad to see though that They were nursing. She's been a good mom. Look at her licking them. That one's shaking its tail. Good position. That baby lamb has figured it out, that's for sure. She's turned around. She's She's letting him do it. This is really cool. One is nursing right now. The other one's about to find it. I think she's gonna be double nursing. Stout little guys. There's way more stuff than I imagined. Bigger too. Bigger. It was so fun picking it up though. So stout, but it's a little heartbeat. I could feel its little heartbeat. Oh look, the one's laying down. I'm sure that means it's happy. Who is Who's this? Okay, I'm having a good look at who this is. I think it's Ryder, which happens to be our wildest ewe. So I'm not going to try to handle the lambs or anything right now. Maybe wait until the morning. Bill is checking it out from the outside. The cows can't get in here, the big cows. That's a really good thing. Super happy. Everything was quiet. I went back to bed. Lily and I went on a walk and I went and showed her the lambs. Now we're back and she wants to tell her brothers.

Guys, it's a surprise!

We got a surprise for everybody.

Once you're done getting up, you can come see it and you need to get dressed.

Snowball waking up about every hour last night. The night before, good sleep. Last night, not so much. Everybody's hurrying. Boy, I need to have a surprise for you every morning. What do you think it is?

Baby sheep.

Something delicious.

Baby sheep.

Ah, Jonah thinks it's food. Uh, Josiah thinks it's baby sheep.

I think it's baby sheep.

Gideon thinks it's baby sheep. Can you see out there? Yes.

Is it baby sheep? The bright one. See the little sheep? I know.

All we're gonna do right now, because it's dark, is go look at them. A little later, we're gonna get Ryder and her babies alone in that stall, and we'll handle the babies a little bit, and we'll get Ryder an alfalfa treat. You ready to go see these things?

There's two baby sheep!

This—

she gave birth to two.

Yeah, she gave two. Anybody else got any?

Is that Ryder?

I don't think so. I think that is Ryder, isn't it?

Wait, I think that's Belle.

No, it's not Belle. Do you guys want to go see them closer? Okay, walk quietly around. Oh look, it's a mobile thing. Oh look, it's so friendly. Proud little thing. The plan is we're gonna— we're just checking on them now. We'll come down when it gets a little lighter after chores and maybe we'll see what it is. Do you think it's a boy or a girl?

I think it's a girl.

Does somebody want to go pick up a lamb and bring it over here?

I will.

Here's one in the corner you can get. You know, they're surprisingly strong though. I don't think they're getting crushed, and they're agile, not like a little baby calf.

Weighs like 4 pounds. Wow, that one weighs nothing. Oh, feel it, feel it. It's so soft too. Can I hold it?

All right, I guess since you have it, is it a boy or a girl?

Boy. White.

Yep, there's its testicles. Yep, boy. He asked if we're gonna castrate it. We're gonna save enough lambs that we can eat, but we're also gonna save some for breeding stock or for people to use as feeders to grow up themselves to eat. If everybody gave us 2 each, that'd be 10 lambs. I'm pretty sure I'm thinking we only need 5 or 6.

I'm pretty sure one's gonna give us like 4.

Let's hurry up and do chores. We can spend some extra time with the lambs this morning.

It's gonna be fun having baby sheep.

Why do you say that?

Well, because you can't really hold a calf.

Ah, that's true.

Gigantic.

Hi, Bucket.

Oh wow, I think he might have eaten a chicken.

Oh wow. He just ate a chicken, boy. I would tell you guys, don't get into Beefcake in the morning. Oh wow, there's remnants. Oh wow, okay, good thing I like pork better than chickens. What we're gonna do, this is Jonah's idea, I'm gonna get Cheesecake fed, she's smaller, and then I'm gonna throw the bucket over and that's gonna distract beefcake, and then Jonah can feed him nicely. He is getting big. Oh, it stopped working, huh? Okay, but we got the feeder over here. Here, here, here. Oh, I don't want to miss. Okay, okay, we missed in a place where there's no poop. Well, he ate that chicken. Hey, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Let's see if their water's staying pure. Oh, it is. He needs more water though. That got algae in it a few weeks ago, but we put lids on it and it seems to be working. Block the sunlight and the algae's not growing as good. Oh, is that for Ryder?

I guess so.

Or is that for the— I guess it's not. Yeah, that would be a good idea. But what was it for, the chickens? Yeah, okay, give them that and we'll get some for Ryder.

Yeah, there's a lot of green grass over there.

Throw it to the geese, they'll especially love it. Backtrack.

I'm gonna go get more for Ryder. Ryder needs nice green grass.

Good idea. All right, get that filling up please. Let's monitor, we don't want it to overflow. Let's check Cheesecake's. Okay, she's good. You're getting awful close, chicken. Oh look, you've got him some grass. Is Mama taking it?

Clover.

Look how darling. Oh my gosh, there's little sheep. They're little adorable. Oh my word, I don't know if there's anything as cute as a baby lamb. Well, say baby Henry, but Baby lamb.

He's such a cute baby.

They got it going on. I just want to cuddle them. I— yeah, I've always wanted to just hug one of these mama sheep, and I don't think I ever have. I think this is going to be my chance today. Hug them through their offspring. They're kind of eating our wall here. Give them more fresh hay, and now it won't be as likely to do that. The thing we have going for us is this was a wet hay bale. Our hay had crashed and some of it got wet, so it's not as tasty to them. So it's been a good wall. It lasted all night. Look at this, Maple found the, the, the greens. They just get along so nice. They're just laying there together. Look, they got a visitor. What do you think, Amy?

I love it. They're so sweet.

You ever been around any baby lambs? I don't think I have. I haven't been around any baby lambs. I know you guys haven't. How's it going back here, Josiah? How's mom and baby? Have you gotten them something to eat?

No, she's taking her bath right now.

Yeah, but she might want something to eat. This is second happy spot. Hey, there's only one thing cuter than a baby lamb, and that's a baby Henry. I just put the milk up in the house. The moment we've all been waiting for. Let's go cuddle these sheep and find out what they are. Have you guys already found out what it is? That one's a little boy. How do you know what the other one is? Let's bring it here.

I bet it's a boy.

That one's a boy too.

So one boy. Peter and Fleeter.

Oh my word, you are cute as a button. Oh, I get to hug one. Oh, have you hugged him yet? No. Oh, adorable. Oh my gosh, they want to be back in here. Sheep do not like being separated. All right, come on, come on. We'll have to get Mom out here and Henry this afternoon. There you go, everybody back together. Who's next? You probably just got 2. You probably have 7. You probably got 2 or 3 or 4. 2 or 3 or 4, because she wasn't that big and she had 2. I mean, I can even barely tell she was pregnant. Everybody's back together. Everybody's happy. Meanwhile, inside, Mr. Henry's looking out the window and he's very happy just laying here. You happy just laying here? Do you like the pacifier? We got Grandma and Mama and Farmer Henry all ready.

First time I've been out here since I had him.

I went ahead and got all the other lambs out.

They are so cute. Oh my word, I saw them last night with your flashlight. I was looking out the window when you were out here and I was like, oh, they're so sweet.

All right guys, let's see if we can, uh, pet them. Ryder, you're such a good mama. You're such a good mom. Aren't they fun? And who would have known? Look how little and skinny they're. So tall and skinny.

Here, Beck. Hey, one baby sees the other baby. Oh my goodness, it's okay, Ryder.

Oh, so cute.

Baby with the baby.

So sweet. I just want to rub my face on them.

And they come— they came to us this morning.

Yes, are you a sweetie?

Watch them wag their tails.

Oh, she sounds so cute. It's okay, Henry.

She's pooping. All right, he's pooping. Oh look, she's a big one. She's gonna clean him off. No, she's just sniffing it. I've never been able to get this close to this one. You're such a good mother. You're not gonna run from me. You're gonna stay and protect your babies. And she likes to get them in this pool corner or this corner. Oh, she does not like the cat in here. Oh, I'll never do that again. Yeah, Ryder went after him. Look, she's looking for— you are such a good mom. She's like, what's going on, Mom? What's going on? All right, round them back in. Who's next?

Big girl.

She looks like she has 8. I will say she might be next, or that one.

Belle's looking pretty big too.

Which one's Belle? The one on the right.

The one on the right.

Yeah, and this one's slightly bigger. Oh my gosh, who's going to give birth tonight? Anybody? Well, you can. We got everything safely blocked off. They'll be in there with their babies.

Bless it. I'm so glad we heard the babies last night.

Yeah, I mean, we're thankful that we— our bed is right there. We had our window open. I kind of like landing right here.

I know, I did too, because there's very— it feels a little bit more controlled as opposed to the pasture.

I mean, they could have, but it's like, what if it would have gotten tangled in the nets or something? Or what would have got out of the net? Well, the rain's not— it's fine for them. Well, but what if— entertaining— what if it would have gotten in the nets? I know, the electric net. I'd rather see them get trained to the electric net right here, wouldn't you? Yeah. You notice something missing? There's two things missing this afternoon. We decided to put the calves in here. They got hay and water. They weren't harmful, they were very gentle with the lambs, but there could potentially be 8 to 10, 12 more lambs in there. I just like a little more— can— let's just get some control and just get these guys up in here and we'll give them They'll go back to the mamas in the morning after we milk. This coming Monday, I'm going live with my friend Amy Fuell from Homesteaders of America. If you guys want to join us there on her network, she's selling memberships. Is not to be confused with my membership. She sells a membership, uh, you get early access to Homesteaders of America in Virginia. You get all those conferences. Say that you— say you can't go to Virginia for the homesteading conference in the fall Well, you can watch them all online with her membership. But anyway, she's just putting some extra content in there. Next week, Starting With Me live show Monday, so March 22nd. And then Joel has a show that week, and so does Jill Winger. So those are going to be 3 great live shows if you guys are interested in that. I told Amy I would tell, tell you guys about it, and the link for it is down in the description. I don't get anything from it. I'm just happy to support Amy and what she's doing with Homesteaders of America. We are speakers there in the fall and look forward to that event. So I think you might just want to go down there in the link. I'll leave a link down in the description. Check it out and see if it's something you want to be a part of, and maybe we'll see you on the live show.