A weekend of births and babies

The last week has been one filled with new births, babes and new beginnings.

So, I will start with a sort of,
not quite expected,
yet not totally unexpected birth.

 After the fire to our barn, our female Sarplaninac Lucy came into heat.
Having just lost most of the litter of pups we had at that time in the fire,
I was not really ready for another litter.
I debated and uhmmed and aah-ed and calculated days,
deciding if I should breed Lucy or not.
I eventually had placed her in with Vuk, and saw her bred,
however her heat was nearly over so was not sure if she had "caught".

As time progressed I could see that she started to fill out.
A few weeks back she suddenly filled up with milk, but it being way to soon to whelp.
All the milk stopped, she dried up and she stopped growing as such.
I assumed perhaps a false pregnancy.
She was still heavy, so on Friday last week, I  started thinking that perhaps something went wrong with the pregnancy, I decided to wait and see until after the weekend.
The female was not in distress and did not show any signs of an imminent birth.

Low and behold, on Saturday morning , she has whelped.
We  now have a lovely litter of 6 babies.
We have 4 boys and 2 girls.
Born almost exactly on the same day, as her first litter from Vuk last year.

If anyone is looking for a robust LGD,
or a home and family guardian, we have some pups available.

The next announcement on my births and babes
is to wish the first litter of pups from Vuk and Lucy,
a happy first birthday.

Here is birthday girl Shara,
looking lovely as always.

Our second lambing time is also in full swing, with new lambs popping out daily.
We are expecting about 25-30 to lamb now.



The lambs from March, are getting pretty big.



Calving is going (too) slow, all the calves are healthy and happy,
we still have a few to go before we are done.

As for new beginnings:
 the builders have been working on our barn now for one week,
here is what they have done:
pulled out the old posts,
hydrovac-ed the gravel out of the old holes,
placed the new posts,
strapped the sides,
placed the rafters
 and strapped the rafters.

Tomorrow, they start on the second half of the barn.

Finally, the last birth I want to mention is one from 19 years ago.
This day 19 years ago I became a mom to a fantastic daughter.

I think Eric and I out did ourselves!