Saying Goodbye to Cindy

Each year, we save a ewe or two from that year's lambing to increase our flock size or replace lost ewes. It's not common, but there can be things that happen where we lose a ewe we weren't expecting to lose. Usually injury or illness. We do have some criteria where we determine who we might cull. Ewes that are bad mothers, consistently give small lambs, or skip breeding seasons altogether are ewes we don't want to keep. A history of lamb abandonment, stillborn lambs or birth defects can put them on the table for culling.

Sometimes we make this decision, often with a heavy heart, as it is difficult to say goodbye to our mama ewes. Aside from our dogs, we have long relationships with these ladies, and they give us so much. Sometimes the ladies tell us they are ready.

Cindy is telling us that right now.

Cindy came from a group of 5 ewes we purchased in our first year of being shepherds. Her 4 sisters (likely not actual sisters, but, you know) came from a local farm who was getting out of the sheep business. They were Suffolk/Dorper crosses and our only woolly mixed sheep. We named them Carol, Alice, Marcia, Cindy and Jan. Bonus points if you get the reference.

Carol died before she ever had lambs, having been chased by a German Shepherd, she died from the stress. Jan was let go many years ago, after giving birth to two stillborns and having blood in her milk supply. We weren't able to get a determination from a vet, so we let her go. We said goodbye to Alice only a few years ago, when she just could not recover from lambing and put weight back on. We suspected that her CL had gone internal and was damaging her digestive tract. Marcia and Cindy are the only ones left from that bunch.

They are great moms, produce lovely, large lambs. Their only draw back is their wool. They need to be shorn every other year, and they HATE it!

These two ladies are approaching 10 years of age. Shirley was our oldest girl, who we said goodbye to at around 11.5 years. Cindy is on track to beat Shirley in her production numbers, but I don't think we'll keep her that long.

She recently gave birth to a gorgeous little lamb, Oola. Prior to lambing, she's seemed so very tired. She was always the last to come out of the stall in the morning, and the first to be in there, ready to sleep at night. She gave birth with no issue, but didn't seem to want to stand at all after that. Her baby is bright, healthy and energetic. Cindy seems to have some joint pain. We weren't sure what it could be - possible ketosis, hypocalcaemia - from lambing taking too much out of her. So we drenched her with extra vitamins and kept her locked inside for a few days with some hay and sweet mix to herself. She seems to have bounced back some, but still seems lethargic, and just old.

I don't want to make her get pregnant again. And my last research on sheep birth control came up nil. So we will let Cindy feed her little one until the little one can thrive on her own, and then we will say goodbye to her. She's been a good girl for us, and we will hate to see her go. But we've become pragmatic on the farm, and I'd rather my ladies have a humane death, then be left to suffer with illness until they die on their own. The fantasy of her gently passing away in her sleep is not realistic. It's more likely that she will suffer, and I have a hand in preventing that. Maybe we'll keep little Oola as her replacement.