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10th ANNUAL HANDS-ON
LAMBING SCHOOL WORKSHOP
Held during lambing season
every spring since 2006...
2015
Workshop Date: Saturday
April 18, 8:30am-4:30pm
NOW BEING HELD at Ramstead Ranch, Ione WA (about 90 minutes north of Spokane, WA)
Longtime shepherdess/instructor Melissa Lines
helps Lambing School participant
feed
her first-ever bottle lamb
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Yep...I've retired the sheep portion of my farm business (to focus on the beef & the pigs) and I'm still conducting
my popular Lambing School. This year is the 10th year for this fun, educational event!
The flock was purchased by the wonderful shepherds of Ramstead Ranch, and they're expecting around 100 lambs this year.
In 2015, for the second time, I'll be presenting my Lambing School at Ramstead Ranch...and
you're invited!
Read on for details about Lambing School...feel free to write me if you have questions about content...and
then visit the Ramstead Ranch website for registration. Hope to see you there! Melissa
TIP: As
background for Lambing School, you may want to see SkyLines Farm's
Management
Practices
for in-depth discussion of my organic & sustainable approach to sheep
production.
WORKSHOP
OVERVIEW
Whether you're just thinking about raising sheep or have already started your flock, this daylong event will give you
the knowledge and hands-on experience you need to manage a successful lambing season. We'll spend the entire day in the lambing barn working with the farm's 60+
breeding ewes and their newborn lambs. After a fun and rewarding day of lecture, real-life demonstrations, and hands-on work with the sheep, you'll leave
with the skills and the confidence you need to ensure your own happy healthy ewes and babies (and shepherds too!)
What to
Expect
Lambing School is always scheduled in the middle
of lambing season, so it's very likely that one
or more ewes will deliver their lambs on workshop day.
Click
for 3 short videos
of a ewe named Greta delivering her twins during Lambing
School.
Lambing School features
lecture and discussion on all the major topics related to a
successful lambing, plus a chance to get hands-on experience
with some or all of these important lambing time
activities:
- Checking a ewe to
determine if lambing is imminent or if she needs help
- Helping a ewe deliver
her lambs
- Caring for newborn
lambs
- Reviving a chilled and/or
unconscious lamb
- Giving a lamb an
identifying ear tag, banding its tail and
castrating
-
Teaching a nervous new mom to nurse her lamb
-
Milking a ewe to save colostrum for another lamb
- Hand feeding a bottle
lamb
Three-day-old
ram lamb
lounges in the morning sun
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Discussion topics and hands-on work in
the lambing barn . .
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Pre-Lambing
- Pre-breeding basics, breeding, nutrition during gestation, importance of exercise for pregnant ewes
- Preparing for lambing season
- Styles of lambing management (pasture lambing, shed lambing, hybrid systems)
- Setting up the physical lambing area
- Lambing supplies and equipment
- Management of ewes before lambing - feeding, exercise, low
stress handling
Lambing
- Barn checks -
frequency, what to look for
- Labor - stages, signs, when to intervene
- Normal delivery & possible problems
- Care of the newborn lamb
- Chilled lambs - tube feeding, warming
- Colostrum - collecting it (milking the ewe), saving it
& using it
- Banding Tails, Castrating & Tagging
- Possible lamb health issues
- Bottle Lambs
- Udder management
Post-lambing
- Ewe and lamb management - mothering up, flocking up,
feeding ewes
- Lambing time record keeping - why it's so important and
what to record
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Shepherdess/Instructor Melissa Lines
explains to
Lambing School participant why and
how
to treat newborn lamb's navel with
iodine.
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Cost
* Registration fee $100/person (Children 9-12 $50)) including lunch and reference materials.
Two people registering and paying together $180/two.
* Nonrefundable deposit of $50/person/workshop to reserve your spot.
* Space is limited to ensure a quality hands-on experience, so be sure to reserve your spot early. Minimum number of six
registrants per workshop.
To Register
The 10th annual SkyLines Farm Lambing School is being held at Ramstead Ranch, Ione WA (about 90 minutes north of Spokane, WA). Visit the
Ramstead Ranch website for registration.
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Lambing School participants say...
Melissa...Thank you for
taking the time during your busy lambing season to
give us a real world look at a sheep operation!
I went home with a new energy for my own
little endeavor, and without the sense of being
overwhelmed that I had been feeling up to that
point. I was amazed at how calm and well-adjusted
your flock is...it was a battle not to scoop up and
carry off one of your little bummer lambs. They
absolutely stole my heart! Please keep me on your
mailing list for any additional classes you may
offer. Thanks again for an informative and very
pleasant day!
Felicia Gast
Fruitland (Boise) ID
Thank you so
much for opening your home and sharing your passion
with me! I greatly enjoyed Lambing School and
learned lots. You inspire me - especially since
you're a former city girl too! :) If you ever need
help bottle feeding just give me a call and I'll be
there! I'm looking forward to the summer workshop.
In gratitude,
Kristen Koenig,
Moscow ID
Thank you!
I learned much about the dedication and careful
thought that goes into tending a successful flock.
It is a big undertaking. It is clear that such work
is not without its rewards. How gratified you must
feel to survey your fields filled with ewes and
their lambs after a successful lambing season! What
a treat it was for me to walk among your sheep and
have up close contact with the adorable little
lambs. Thank you for a special day and treasured
memories. I look forward to news of the next
workshop day.
Tamara Graber,
Troy ID
Once again,
thank you so much for the weekend! I love
experiences that turn out to be much more than I
knew to ask for. I'm sure we're now at well over a
hundred potential scenarios of how we might apply
the knowledge and include sheep in our newly
purchased small farm.
I have been on your web site this morning and it is
a wonderfully informative piece of work. We'd like
to start a modest herd, with a conservative number
of highest quality sheep, that can expand with our
knowledge. Might we reserve a ram and some of your
ewe lambs for next year?
Stan Hayes
Lewiston ID
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Motherhood can
be so exhausting!
SkyLines ewe Pearl naps alongside her twin
lambs.
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Melissa Lines' Hands-On Lambing School is endorsed by the
University of Idaho/Washington State University/Rural
Roots "Cultivating Success: Small Farm Education Program"
www.cultivatingsuccess.org.
SkyLines
Farm 4551 Highway 6 Harvard, ID 83834
208.875.8747
Purebred Romney & Romney-Cross
Sheep
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