Hi Kristi, it's great to hear from you! I'm glad you did fine with the cold, and have lambs due soon. We also fared well with -15 F, though had only 5-6 inches of snow. Our three ewes are doing well, had to de-worm one and the post-worming fecal test showed marked improvement. I'm going to test them all again. This Monday, we're having the vet come out to do ultrasounds. I thought this would be helpful for planning, especially being the first time. I'm really excited about the vet visit. Like you, I need to assemble a lambing kit. Have a few things so far and will step it up. I'm training the ewes to get on the milking stanchion (still a little hit and miss), but we're getting there. It's been fun learning about the characters of our girls, and they really like interacting with humans now. It's one step at time for us. So much to learn, but lots of fun so far.

@Kristi Salinas Thanks for checking in! The ultrasound showed that two of the three ewes were pregnant, very far along in fact! One might have twins, but it was hard to tell. (I tell little Polly that she'll be a mama next year.) I've been following guidelines from their breeder Eliza at Green Dirt Farm, and am now giving the expecting ewes 1.5 lbs. of feed daily (over two feedings, morning and evening) and two flakes of alfalfa hay morning and evening (for all three), plus all the grass hay they want -- access to grass hay all the time. The higher grain amount has been for the past two weeks or so. Before that, they were getting 1 lb./day over 2 feedings. Right now the grain is just a sheep feed I get from Buchheit. It is pretty similar to what they were getting at Green Dirt, which was 17% protein; this one is 16%. I'm watching for any signs of pregnancy toxemia (which would be a lack of nutrition), but so far they are bright eyed and active. We also provide free offer baking soda and a sheep mineral, plus a regular salt block. I would really like to figure out a custom grain feed that would be organic, with all the right nutrients, but now is definitely not the time to reinvent the wheel! I also gave them a CDT vaccine last week (while they were eating their grain on the milking stanchion... we all survived). So far so good! I'm nervous and excited about the lambing. The girls are very sweet and love to be petted and scratched, so hopefully they'll be mellow having me around at lambing. We're setting up a storage bay in the back yard for the lambing jug(s). Got most of the lambing supplies, and am reading a lot about how to use everything (most of which I hope I won't have to use). And looking at videos on YouTube. Another dairy shepherd in the Sedalia area, Maria Dietz, has been really generous with time and advice, for which I'm truly grateful. And my continued thanks to Ed, as I wouldn't even be on this journey yet without the sheep bootcamp!