Sunday, May 26, 2013

By Katy Plasse
Published: March 26, 2009

The Whiting Farm in West Tisbury hasn't lost a single lamb this season, but at the evening feeding on Friday, March 13, there was one little one who needed a little bit of help.

"We've had 19 so far, and God willing, haven't had any problems, even though we've had some pretty nasty weather," said Tara Whiting, explaining how smoothly things had gone this spring despite some less than optimal conditions. Just then, she noticed an ewe that was in labor.

Bea Whiting handles a baby lamb at her family's West Tisbury farm.
Photo by Danielle Zerbonne

"You see that one, right there? She is about to have one," Ms. Whiting shouted. "Once you see them really start to push like that it should be pretty quick. A birth usually only takes around 20 to 30 minutes from start to finish. If it takes longer than that you want to start keeping an eye out."

Ms. Whiting watched as the ewe, lying on her side, went into a contraction. "Usually they don't look so agitated," said Ms. Whiting, taking out her cell phone. "I think I might need to help her out."

Ms. Whiting called her cousin Bea Whiting, who arrived quickly, having already been on her way for the evening feeding. With gloves on, they laid down the ewe. The feet of the lamb were clearly visible, but the head had yet to emerge. 

"It usually doesn't take this long once you see the feet," Tara Whiting explained. "The head is usually right there with them, and it only takes a minute for them to plop out."

While Tara held the ewe, Bea knelt down, gripped the lamb's legs, and pulled him out, wrapping his small body in a towel. The mother wandered over to the corner, looking dazed.

"He's alive," Bea exclaimed, a bit out of breath herself. "Now let's see if she will take him." She walked up and presented the tiny lamb to his mother, who began cleaning off the afterbirth immediately. "That's lucky. They should be fine, but we will check on them later."

Hoping for comfort or a snack, a lamb trails a ewe at Whiting Farm.

Throughout the labor, a small lamb with a blue mark on his back had been following the ewe around the pasture.

"The blue mark lets us know he is one we have to bottle feed," said Tara, explaining the ewe was not his mother. "Sometimes the mother just rejects them. It happens mostly when they have twins, but still not very often. The older ewes seem to know they are having twins, and go into the corner to have them so the first one can't wander off while the second one is born. But sometimes, the younger ones will have the babies out here, and I think that one just wandered off and the mom forgot he was hers."

The lambs at the Whiting Farm are among the first to be born on Martha's Vineyard, partially because the farm has a large barn where the newborns can keep warm at night.

Some farms choose to have their lambs later, when the weather is milder. Clarissa Allen of the Allen Farm in Chilmark doesn't expect her lambs to come until the end of April. Explains Ms. Allen, "I do it so they can be born outside. I like them to be born when the weather is less severe, and the grass is better. It means they might be a bit smaller when they go to the butcher, but we lose less in the better weather."

A lamb at the Whiting Farm explores its new home.
Photo by Danielle Zerbonne

The Allen Farm follows in the Martha's Vineyard tradition of breeding sheep for wool as well as meat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, wool was a key part of Martha's Vineyard's economy, serving as its most profitable export for most of that time. The Allen Farm breeds Corriedales, which are known for being a good duel-purpose sheep, both for wool and for meat. Sheep farming appealed to Ms. Allen and her husband, Mitchell Posin, because it gives them the option of going to a direct market - selling directly to customers - through a small store situated on the farm.

"Direct markets are good for smaller farms," said Ms. Allen. "It allows you to make a higher profit by selling directly to the customer. You also have a lot of control over what you are selling, which appealed to us when we were deciding what we wanted to do. I like the idea that you can make something, and sell it yourself."

With many working sheep farms across Martha's Vineyard, all with lambs arriving different times, there is still plenty of time to enjoy them. There is still time to pull over, lean on the fence, and watch the giddy dance of the first of Martha's Vineyard's baby lambs, bounding across straw-colored pastures, bouncing and frolicking on spindly legs, and coming to rest beneath their watchful mothers, whose thick winter coats speak of the chilly nights that haven't departed just yet.

Katy Plasse is a freelance writer living in Chilmark.