Lamb Coats

My friend, June, from Starshire Ranch is new to sheep but she is selling these cute polarfleece lamb coats on her website for sheep producers. At first, I have to admit, I wasn't too sold on the idea of coating the lambs. I don't know but it seemed a bit silly to this farmgirl, BUT...I witnessed the results of these on her first crop of lambs last year. The lambs were busy eating to grow instead of using that energy to keep warm and she only left them on for a few days. So, she gave me a couple as a gift and last night I found a large remnant of polarfleece I bought at a yard sale last summer ($2) and decided it would be perfect for the lamb coats. I don't have pink and camo like June's, which are adorably cute for little boys or girls (sheep) but I wasn't going to buy anything to go that far. Ha. You know, I'm a practical girl and a bit on the cheap side too. You probably have figured that out already, huh?



So, I got 7 coats out of this remnant using June's for a pattern and we'll just see how it goes. It's the first I've sewn in a few weeks to be honest. I've had the winter blahs and I can see I'm coming out of it, thank goodness. Super easy, cut on the fold for the back section, 4 slits for the legs and only sewing is the front chest seam. I used my rotary cutter to make the leg slits. I made all 7 in about 15 minutes. I am wondering what my ewes will think of having their lambs in these coats. I have a few sheep friend folks who use them also and they tell me it doesn't matter if you wait until the lamb is dried off to put these on. Just in case you don't know, newborn lambs are wet and gooey and mothers like to lick and lick and lick on them. Their tongues are very warm and it actually helps the lambs to get up and nurse. So there's the sheep lambing lesson for the day and my confession that this old dog can learn new tricks!