3 lambs doing well

Thankfully, it has been an uneventful weekend.  No new lambs were born so we've caught up on sleep.   All three lambs are doing very well.  Our first lamb Una is outside with her mama in a private pen.  They had some company a few days but Woolamina has since decided she doesn't want to be with anyone else for now.  Una is growing nearly a pound a day!  No worries there.

Little Una with Woolamina

 In the other barn, closer to the house, Big Wooly and her two lambs are still enjoying their privacy as well.   Bunny was the smaller of the two and had a rough start.  I worried about her all day Thursday and by Thurs evening, we brought her in the house for some warmth and a better feeding.  She wouldn't suck the bottle and had no energy at all so we had to tube feed her.

Bunny in a laundry basket

Bunny after being tube fed

Tube feeding is a scary process.  If you don't feed the lamb, it will die BUT if you insert the tube wrong and it goes into the lungs instead of the stomach, you will drown it and it will DIE.  This is terrifying to us newbies.  With no other options we insert the tube and hope we've got it right.   She doesn't drown instantly so we must have done it right and we give her several ounces of colostrum replacer.   It was only 9 degrees and there was no way she was gonna make it through the night so we kept her in our tub and fed her every few hours.  She never did take the bottle but was tube fed each time.  

By morning, she seemed much improved and was brought back out to her mama. Thankfully,  her mama took her back and they lived happily ever after (at least so far).  Both she and her sister, Cute (I know that is a ridiculous name but that's what you get when a five year old does the naming) are in the barn with their mom and gaining weight.  They haven't gained as fast as Una but they seem to be doing alright.

Bunny on the left, Cute on the right

Bunny and Big Wooly

Bunny and Cute

Outside in the field, the rest of sheep are doing fine.  Several are being watched for signs of lambing but nothing has happened yet.  Jason had good instincts on the other two so hopefully that will continue and we'll catch them so we can help them. Hopefully the weather warms up so we won't have to worry so much about the lambs when they do arrive.