Spring is coming

Spring on the Ranch: Shearing Season and Lambing Time
As the snow begins to recede and patches of green emerge across our Montana pastures, spring brings the busiest season on our sheep ranch. Or as I like to call it: the annual "Who Needs Sleep Anyway?" festival.
Shearing: Timing is Everything
Spring shearing is a tradition dating back generations, but its timing is far from arbitrary. We always make sure to shear our ewes before lambing begins, typically 4 weeks prior. This timing serves multiple important purposes.
Shearing creates a cleaner environment for the newborn lambs. Without a full fleece, there's less chance of matted, dirty wool that can make it difficult for lambs to find the udder. When a hungry newborn lamb can't find the milk bar because of mom's shaggy wool sweater, it's like watching a blindfolded kid trying to find the piñata – entertaining but ultimately unproductive.
Sheep must be shorn at least once a year for their health and comfort. Left unshorn, sheep can suffer from heat stress, mobility issues, and even deadly conditions like flystrike. And don't get me started on the wool market right now... let's just say we're not shearing for profit these days, but because our woolly friends depend on us for this essential buzzcut.
Lambing Through the Barn: Montana Weather Challenges
Spring in Montana is notoriously fickle. One day might bring sunshine and 60 degrees, while the next delivers a blizzard with subzero temperatures. Mother Nature seems to have a dartboard labeled with weather conditions and a serious vendetta against shepherds' lambing schedules.
Our main group of ewes move through a carefully organized barn system. We maintain jugging pens (small individual pens) where new mothers and their lambs can bond for 24-48 hours. This critical bonding time helps prevent rejection and ensures lambs are nursing well. Think of it as a sheep maternity ward, minus the flowers and congratulations cards, but with considerably more straw and a full buffet of grain and water for the ewe.
Bum Lambs: The Bottle Babies
Every lambing season brings its share of "bum lambs" – orphans or rejected lambs that need special care. These little ones quickly become the favorites around the ranch, especially with our two kids eager to help with bottle feeding.
Bum lambs result from various circumstances: a ewe might reject one of her twins, pass away during birth, or simply not produce enough milk. Whatever the cause, these lambs require round-the-clock bottle feeding with milk replacer.
These bottle babies eventually develop the remarkable ability to hear a milk replacer bottle being mixed from three counties away. Their persistent "MAAAA!" becomes the soundtrack of spring, and somehow transforms from annoying to endearing after you've stayed up all night saving their woolly little lives.
As challenging as spring on a Montana sheep ranch can be, it remains our favorite time of year. Each successful birth and thriving lamb represents the culmination of a year's worth of careful planning, breeding decisions, and animal husbandry – and the promise of another productive year ahead.