Just in the nick of time!

I am not a religious person but today I really do feel as if a God of Shepherds smiled down on me.   Wikipedia lists several patron saints of shepherds, but only two of shepherdesses, St. Bernadette and St. Germaine.  The Roman believed both Pan and Pales looked after shepherds and I'm sure countless other people throughout history have prayed to various deities for divine assistance with their flock.
Whatever power may be out there certainly looked after us today.

 I was out all day and got home just in time to catch a birth.  After arriving home,  I went down to check on the flock and what do you know, there is a sheep laying on her side straining.   It was warmer today but drizzling and I can't have a  lamb getting all wet and chilled. Thankfully a scan of the area shows no other lambs.

All our lamb jugs are full and the ewe is near the gate to go into the barn.  I have to get the other sheep away from her to leave her in peace so I yell for Aria to throw them some hay, which she does.  They take the bait and run down to the other side of the field to eat.  The ewe in labor gets up and delivers her baby a few minutes later.  She gets right to work licking it and it doesn't seem she will have another just yet.  I want to get the lamb out of the rain but also don't want the mother to abandon it by getting in the way too early.  I let her lick it for a few minutes and then slowly approach the ewe and undo the electric fence.  Using a towel, I pick up the lamb and slowly walk to the gate, keeping it near its mother's nose.  She follows me right in and none of the other sheep seem to notice and come storming the gate - whew!  I bring them right into the main barn and then leave them alone.  It isn't too cold so I want to give them some time.

Meanwhile, Jay arrives and moves the other sheep so that there is an available lamb jug.   I keep watch to see if the lamb will nurse on its own or will need some help.  It soon seems as the though the ewe doesn't understand about feeding the lamb.  Like many of the other ewes, she loves her lamb, licks it, sniffs its butt, but moves away when it tries to latch on to eat.  This is not good when the lambs aren't that good at getting to the teat in the first place.   After a few minutes of this, we decide it best to intervene.  I swear its a miracle any lambs survive without human help.  I strip the teats to check that the milk is flowing and then we bring some grain for the ewe.  Soon she is still enough that I can assist the hungry lamb in finding the nipple.  After a few tries, he gets the idea and has a good long suck.  We repeat the process three times right away.  I am so relieved that he is getting his first colostrum within the recommended hour after birth.   Hopefully this will prevent him from becoming constipated and weak - a bad combination.  

After a few good feedings, we move them into the adjoining lamb jug.  It is our smallest jug and isn't attached to the house where we've had all our other newborns.  64 and her sickly ram lam are still by the house and we want to keep them there.  It won't be too cold so hopefully our newest mama Number 63 and her ram lamb will be fine out in the barn in their own private space.   After awhile, Jason weighs the lamb.  He is our biggest yet, weighing in at 11.4 lbs 1.5 hours after birth.  

63 with her ram lamb just after birth

I just can't believe how lucky we were.  If I hadn't gone to check on the sheep right when I did, we could easily have had a dead lamb out in the mud and rain.   Without our help, the mother wouldn't have nursed and the lamb would have gotten cold and weak outside.   At a minimum, we'd be tube feeding the lamb hours later because it didn't get its first feeding early enough.   It scares me to think how much of the time we are not really watching the sheep.  Checking on them every few hours just isn't enough.  We should probably be out there every hour.  We probably won't be.  I just hope that St. Germaine keeps watch for us.