Speaking of Fecundity

I used the word in the last advisedly.

Just to set up this post.

We have had a fecund week at Sweet Seasons Farm.

On Thursday my wife gave birth to a new farm hand.

Yesterday, in the middle of the torrential downpour of dying Hurricane Jeanne, one of my Tunis sheep gave birth to a ram lamb.

I went out to move the cows to a new field (they eat right through the rain) and saw "Wooly" standing over her son. He was very chilled and not very responsive. He couldn't have been more than a few minutes old - the rain had not yet washed away the blood of the afterbirth on her udder and he was still covered in gunk. I picked him up and took them into the barn. I was afraid he would die, but after I rubbed him down with a warm towel, he struggled to his feet, began moving around, found a nipple, and downed his colostrum.

I am excited that it looks like he will survive after such a miserable birth experience. On the other hand, I am disappointed that he is a ram because if he had been a ewe, I could have used another ewe unrelated to my ram. Additionally, I am concerned that he is a singleton; the historical farm that sold me Wooly assured me that she had delivered twins in her last three births. I hope that she is not one of those sheep that only delivers one at a time. If it costs $80 to feed a sheep for a year, and a lamb sells for $100, there is very little profit from a single-bearing ewe. But a twinning ewe would yield a net of $120 - six times better.

The new guy is a grogeous, deep red. I look forward to showing him off to the Maximum Leader's wee ones.