The cliché asks if March will enter like a lamb.
Actually, they appear much earlier.
Like January.
March is the end of the lambing season.
Ask Kent Langemeier of Mead.
Langemeier carefully monitors about 140 head of ewes as they “drop” their lambs. It starts around New Year’s Day.
“We have seven ewes left,” Langemeier said as he looked around in a barn full of newborns. “This week should see the end of it, I guess.”
All of the pens hold woolly moms and wrinkly-skinned lambs.
A couple of twins near the door.
A set of triplets at the back.
Six ewes with nine lambs in a community pen.
There isn’t much more room at the inn.
“It’s a strange year for lambing,” said Greg Williams of Colon, who has seen seven lambing seasons working alongside Langemeier. “We had as many sets of triplets as we did singles. Even had a yearling ewe bring triplets. Must have been something in the water last fall.”
Twin births outnumbered singles 2 to 1 this spring. That ratio brings satisfaction to this portion of Nebraska agribusiness that has shrunk in recent years. Multiple births create a profit margin when placed against the cost of caring for the adult flock for a calendar year.
“We even had two quads this season. That is very unusual,” Kent said.
Lambs born as triplets and quads weigh 3 to 5 pounds each. Singles can weigh up to 8. A ewe can raise triplets, but normally Langemeier delivers the extra newborns (in excess of two) to people who bottle feed them.
The babies will begin to eat alfalfa in two weeks and are weaned from their mothers at two months.
Ewes typically are not overly sensitive to people touching their offspring. There is a calmness in their demeanor. An occasional front foot stomp indicating displeasure is about the extent of their complaining about visitors.
So on this sunny, 50 degree day, is there a more beautiful picture of a farm?
“You should have been here two weeks ago when there was six inches of ice everywhere,” Williams mused as he poured some water into a bucket in the pen. “Wasn’t fun then. Our attitude improves a lot when it turns 50 outside. The winter weather turned sour right as the ewes started dropping their lambs in earnest. It’s been a tough year out here in the barn.”
Langemeier lambs only in the spring, though some members of the sheep industry have achieved moderate success with fall lambing.
“All of our sheep are sold as 4-H clubs lambs. County fairs are held various weeks in the summer. So we just work the schedule to have early, middle and late season lambs. We want to have the age of lamb that fits all customer needs.”
Almost all of these lambs will be standing, shorn, washed and polished, before a show ring judge in four months. In the heat of the summer.
Sweaty fingers will clutch at their throats. Prayerful whispers of “Please behave, just for a few more minutes,” will reach their ears. The humidity will be so intense that the very bleating of their voices will seem to drown in their throats.
Moms and Dads will cringe at every flinch of the animal or their child.
But that’s all in the future. This lion’s share of stress is reserved for July and August. Weeks away. Today in this warm, sun-filled barn, March is very much like a lamb.
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