Tired after a long night

After spending all afternoon moving sheep and taking care of babies, I was ready to relax Sunday night but we decided we would go weigh Lilly and Lion before bed to make sure they were doing well before leaving them for the night.   When we got to the barn, we discovered that 67, who we'd been worried about all day, was definitely in labor.   I ran up to the house to get some towels and such when I discovered that 39 who we'd moved into the barn the day before was also in labor.  

On closer examination, 67 had a baby coming breach - rear first.  Jason pulled the lamb and then she went to work licking it.  This little ewe lamb seemed very weak and exhausted.  I went up to the house again and found that 39 had already delivered twins.  They seemed alright so I went back down to 67 who seemed to need more help.  While I was gone, 67 delivered a second twin breach - another little ewe lamb.  Mama then collapsed and didn't get up.  She must have been in labor all day which left her exhausted.  She still licked her babies but didn't have the energy needed to really care for them.   Jay left me with the lambs while he went to check on the other newborns.  

I didn't know what to do.  Both ewe lambs seemed to by dying - almost lifeless.  I rubbed them with towels and tried to keep them warm.  While I was worrying about this - I heard a noise from the other side of the barn.  54 was also definitely in labor!  It was overwhelming - almost comical.  

After another crazy half hour, we had a total of six new lambs.   I think five of them were born in 15 minutes.   Thankfully 39's babies needed little help and still are doing fine.   54 did well too without any assistance.

67's babies suddenly came to life just as we were thinking of giving them a dextrose injection.  All the time rubbing them with the towels and letting Mama lick as much as she could worked because they suddenly had enough energy to stand.  They wouldn't suck the bottle I had prepped for them but then Mama stood up after another hour or so, they both ate.   They are funny though - they would fall down seeming lifeless only to jump up again and go nurse.    It was crazy.  

Finally after running around in all directions and confirming that all lambs had at least most likely nursed, we weighed them all and went to bed.  We had to just trust that they would do what they needed to do.  

We dropped to bed exhausted at 2 am.  

At 6am, I woke up to check on all our new lambs.  Thankfully, they were all still alive and seemed OK so I went back to sleep.  

Monday morning, we did a more thorough check and weighed them all again.  Some lost weight but all were still alive and seemed OK so left them a few more hours and did another weight check on the ones that hadn't gained.  They all put on weight.

54 with one of her lambs resting

39's newborn lamb

39s newborn lamb

51 and her twins

Lilly and Lion

Thankfully we no more lambs born yesterday or last night.   Poppy and Petunia seem to be doing well.  We moved Giovanna and her two girls out to share a pen with 64 and her twin boys.  They adjusted well.  We moved 39, our next due up to the Giovanna's pen in the barn by the house.  67 has been acting strange all day and while we were worrying about her, 51 started labor right in front of us.

She delivered twins within 15 minutes - a boy and a girl.  Despite planning not to name boys, this one got the name Lion to go with Lilly his twin sister.  They were born at about 1 pm this afternoon and have had a slightly rocky day.  At first it seemed that neither were nursing but then the boy had a good long suckle while we pinned his mother against the wall.  After that he seemed to nurse on his own several more times.   

Lilly would not nurse so we pinned Mama again so I could pump a little colostrum.  Our handy Udderly EZ milker wasn't so handy so I had to hand express the milk.  Luckily I could aim it right into the bottle.  Lilly was thrilled with the bottle and drank all three ounces that I milked from her mom.  Since then, she got her strength and has been nursing all afternoon.  

Now her brother seems a little weak and won't nurse in front of us.  He also won't take a bottle but he seems warm and OK so we are waiting to see how he is.  

67 has been acting strange all day and shows little interest in food so she may be next.  54 was seen pawing the ground but then seems fine so we shall see who goes next.    It is nearly impossible to guess.

51 looking up at me with Lion and Lilly sleeping on top of each other

Poppy & Petunia

While I was writing my previous post, 45 was delivering her twin girls in the barn.  The kids discovered them.  Obviously the delivery was easy and quick and both lambs seem to be nursing well.  We are watching closely for the first few hours.

Luckily, 45 was the one we guessed would be next and was accordingly moved to a private pen last night.  She is skittish and was a beast to convince to come up to the barn close to the house but with a patient friend's help, we made it up in the dark last night.   I sure am glad we did.  It is much easier to deal with ewes and lambs when they have the right quarters.   We now have 5 more due in the next few days - all but one of which are now housed in a drop pen on one side of the main barn.

Three pregnant ewes in the drop pen (and a chicken too)

Here are the pictures of our newest additions.  Unfortunately, the heat lamp makes for very bad photographs but you get the idea.  The girls have decided on a flower theme for this year's lambs so these were named Poppy and Petunia.   The boys will not be named.

And here are some other pictures of our other lambs.

Rosie in blue, Posie in red

Rosie's star

64's twin boys napping

64 

4 lambs in 12 hours

By the time I had posted my prepping to lamb post, the lambs were here.

Last night, (at least one day earlier than expected) our first due ewe, Giovanna delivered twin girls.  We saw she was in labor and moved her into a private lambing pen.  We thought we'd leave her alone for half an hour and then see how she was progressing but 10 minutes later, we heard the bleating of a lamb.  I went out to check and sure enough there were not one but two tiny lambs.  Rosie is black like her mother with the same little white mark on her forehead and Posie is white.  Rosie is the smallest (and perhaps the cutest) lamb born at Aries Crossing yet.  She was only 6lbs 5 oz at birth!

Friday morning, we went to check on the new lambs and then my daughter went to check on the rest of lambs.  She came running back to tell me that one of the sheep had something handing from its rear end.

Sure enough 64 had delivered one and had another on the way in the main barn.  Thankfully the other sheep had left her alone in the barn while they went outside so we were able to focus on her.   She had two healthy ram lambs weighing in at over 12 lbs each.  They were a little slow to prove they were nursing but all is well.  

Prepare for lambing!

Written March 8, 2015: We are only a week away from our first due date at Aries Crossing.  I am nervous, anxious, and excited.  We have restocked our supplies and need to prep our lambing pens tomorrow.   Thirteen ewes are due in a roughly two-week period starting late next week.  Our first round of deliveries will be our second time mothers.  These will be likely to produce an average of two lambs each so we are going to be very busy.  We only had two sets of twins last year and we lost one baby who was abandoned by mom in the field before we could get there in time.  

Hopefully we have everything we need and all goes well.  We have lube and gloves to assist in delivery if needed though we have no experience with the obstetrical side of lambing.  We have dextrose.  We have our Udderly EZ milker to collect colostrum or milk as needed.  We have formula for a bottle lamb and colostrum replacer which we probably won't use.

Today I bought several yards of fleece to make little wearable lamb blankets.  The weather has been cold.  Last year March was in the single digits many nights.    We had a few lamb blankets but wished we had more.  This year, with perhaps 30 lambs coming during the cold weather, we will be better prepared.  We got more of the pre-made lamb sweaters from premier but I wish we hadn't.  It is a very simple design and i am making 16 for less than a dollar a piece.   I've got prettier colors than the plain red and blue that Premier offers.  I can't wait to see all the little lambs in all these colorful blankets in the field.

Poor 64

On Tuesday afternoon, we had another arrival.  I had been checking on the sheep through the window and saw that several were laying down but didn't think much of it.  A few minutes later, Jason looked out the window and saw a new lamb nursing!  We completely missed the ewe in labor while we were in the house. The lamb looked to be doing well and the Mama seemed to be letting it nurse and taking care of it.

We had lambs in all our "jugs" so we had to do some rearranging.  We moved 45 from the attached barn into the shed in the pen with Big Wooly and her two lambs and left Lanabelle with her one lamb in the smallest little pen in the big barn.  Thankfully, Big Wooly, 45, and their three lambs got on well and we didn't have to worry about them hurting each other's babies.  Jason worked to clean out the newborn jug near the house and I went down to check on the baby.  I didn't want the other sheep to go near it and bother it and was afraid if I went over the fence, they would swarm me and I wouldn't really be able to help.

We gave the flock some extra hay to keep them occupied and I went in.  Sadly, there was another lamb, laying dead in the hay.  She may have gotten too cold.  Perhaps 64 forgot her while giving birth to the other or just couldn't keep her warm enough.  She was still in her amniotic sac.  Maybe she couldn't breathe?  We'll never know exactly what happened.  I handed the dead lamb over the fence to Jay and he ran up to the barn to try to revive it - bless his heart.  He tried rubbing it all over, hanging it upside down, clearing its nose, and even injected it with dextrose to give it some energy.    But nothing worked.  It was limp and non-responsive.  If only we had been able to help it when it was first born!  It's hard knowing that we were right in the house the whole time.

Meanwhile, the other lamb seemed to be doing great.  I kept an eye on them in the field but of course they had to be moved too.  Finally Jay gave up on the little lamb and wrapped the little body up and put it aside so we could focus on the the mama and her living ram lamb.

We brought them in the barn and we remarked at how well the little guy seemed to be doing.  I think we jinxed ourselves.  Within an hour of being in the barn, the little guy was obviously not well.  He had no energy and didn't seem to want to eat.    We didn't know what had happened.  He had seemed so strong.   But they say the bigger lambs sometimes have the hardest time once they run out of their initial fat reserve that they are born with which doesn't last long.   He must have been out in the wind and cold a bit too long even for a strong little guy.    We started worrying about him.

I went to check that 64 had milk flowing and was shocked that the milk that came out was BROWN!  Milk is not supposed to be brown.  Jason stayed with the sheep while I ran inside to seek the infinite wisdom of the googles.  After more searching than expected, I finally found out that this can happen as a result of mastitis and that it is still OK for the lamb to nurse.  Hopefully if he suckles enough, the infection will clear on its own but just in case Jay picked up some antibiotic.  The ewe seems to be doing OK so we haven't given it to her yet.

But the lamb still wasn't doing well.  We brought him in the house after he refused the bottle.  We used some colostrum we had saved from another ewe and tubed him.  We gave him four ounces or so and hoped that would give him the energy to get back to nursing.

He is surviving but has no energy.  He is always curled up in a corner fast asleep.  At least he can be roused. We go out every few hours and wake him up and literally force him to nurse.  He just doesn't seem to have the energy to get up but once he is in the right spot, he'll suckle if we tickle his but with straw.  (This induces his sucking reflex).   He has newborn scours (diarrhea) so we tried giving him Pepto-Bismol as well as electrolytes.  We couldn't get any of it into him so we just keep bringing him to the teat and hoping he'll get better.   He has gained some weight but just doesn't ever want to get up to eat.   It's like he doesn't have the will to live - poor little guy.  

The poor ewe! She lost a lamb, her living lamb isn't eating much and she has mastitis.  The poor thing.  She yells at me most times when I go in the barn.  I feel bad for her but we hope that he little guy will make it and they'll live happily ever after.   But we're not there yet.  

I am looking forward to warmer weather so we won't have to worry so much about newborns.  I hope the other ewes wait for a few days so we can focus on 64 and her little guy.  I have a feeling that either Giovanna, our black sheep or 54 will be next.   I have a feeling about 54 but we'll see if I'm right.

Sunday Dinner

Haven't had a chance to post about our newest lambs.    I was right and 45 was the next to give birth.  On Sunday afternoon, I happened to look out the window and noticed one of the ewes standing up and then laying down, then standing up and laying down, over and over.  It didn't seem right so I ran out to have a closer look. Sure enough, there was a hoof visible.    I ran in to change clothes and called Jay.

The lamb was born within half an hour I'd say and I was actually able to catch it on video.

Michael Jackson is one of our rams.  I didn't want anybody trampling the baby.   After a few minutes of Mama licking her lamb, I grabbed it with a towel and we started the process of moving 45 and her lamb into the barn.  All went fairly well and after a few hours, we were satisfied and went to have our Sunday Dinner at my in-laws.

The ram-lamb was named Timothy by Lilah and he has been doing well.

Morning Suprise

Now that the weather is a bit warmer, we've been less worried about lambs freezing and we've been less vigilant about checking the animals in the middle of the night.  By less vigilant, I mean we haven't been checking onthe animals in the middle of the night.  We may have to rethink that.  This morning, Jason found a newborn lamb on its feet in the barn.  Our last named Ewe, LanaBelle had a single ewe lamb.    The lamb seemed strong and when weighed, was the biggest so far.

The two were moved into the shed where Woolamina and Una had been staying.  By afternoon, it seemed like the lamb wasn't doing well and wasn't feeding.    She had no interest in sucking on the nipple or the bottle so we started to fret.   After some discussion, we decided to try the enema that we did with Bunny.  Two hits of that and she seems much recovered.  I was just outside and saw her have a good long nurse.  Whew!

Confirmed nursing

LanaBelle and baby

Meanwhile, Woolamina and Una had their first full day with the flock out in the field.  Una has gotten so big!  She has been gaining about 1lb per day and now looks quite substantial.  She seems to be getting along just fine out with the others. It is funny to watch her do what everyone else is doing, running from place to place in the group and even trying to eat some grain and hay.      

Now we'll just have to see who will be next.  Both Number 64 and Number 45 look ready to go.  I've got my money on 45 but we'll have to wait and see.   We had no idea LanaBelle would be coming so who knows?

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.

first twins

After a brief respite from winter, the cold has returned.  Thankfully Woolamina and her lamb Una have been doing just fine in the barn by the house.    The last few nights, we've segregated Big Wooly our other heavily pregnant ewe with a friend in another small shed so she'll have more room and is easier to monitor in case she gives birth.  This morning we brought her into the barn with Woolamina and Una.

Lambs are so silly.   With Big Wooly in the barn with her, little Una got confused and tried to suckle the wrong ewe.   Big Wooly didn't seem too keen about that but within an hour was in labor.  I have to wonder if the teat stimulation brought on labor?    Anyway, at about 11 am, my daughter reported that she had a water bag hanging out of her and by the time I got to the barn, a foot had appeared.  I went upstairs to get on different pants and by the time I got back, the lamb was delivered and a second was on the way.  The second was born quickly too and soon we were hard at work trying to warm them up.  Big Wooly paid more attention to the first one but both had to be toweled off and warmed under the heat lamp.  Soon we had the second one on a heating pad on a towel in a laundry basket and a hair dryer going back and forth between the two.   It's hard to dry off a newborn lamb as they are covered in a mucous that is thick and doesn't get absorbed by a towel.  It's so cold, our biggest concern is making sure they don't get hypothermic right off the bat.  Jason gave them each some Nutridrench to give added nutrition and we set up an electric heater outside the pen in the hopes of warming the whole area.    

The second lamb is weaker than the first but both are doing OK.  The weaker one got our only blanket to wear.  Little Una is wearing the other and I hesitate to take it off her since she is out in the cold without any heating lamps and is still vulnerable herself.  

Big Wooly is paying attention to both lambs but not always letting them nurse.  The stronger one is definetely getting some milk but I'm not so sure about the other.  Both seem to have some energy and aren't shivering but we're still keeping a close eye on them.   

And there goes my day!  I had planned to get many other things done but with focusing all my energy on two newborn lambs, I've little else accomplished.  Oh well!

OMG - Our first lambing!

11 pm - Jason went out to check the sheep before we go to bed ourselves.  I hear the phone ring and know something is up .  He is calling from the barn to ask me to bring out the lube and other supplies.  Woolamina, our favorite, is delivering her lamb.   The head is presenting with only one foot so Jason makes a weak attempt to find the other foot.  It is too crowded in the barn with all the sheep so we put them out in the field, much to their loud displeasure.   By around 11:30, the lamb is delivered unassisted - whew!  Woolamina goes about licking off the lamb as it squirms around.  We try to decide when and how to move them to our "lambing jug" in the barn attached to the house.  After some deliberation, we carry the lamb in the carrier next to Woolamina's nose and are soon in the barn.  The lamb seems cold but Mama keeps licking her but won't seem to let her nurse.   Jason has to hold Mama still while I help the baby find the teat before she gets a few minutes of sucking (at least we hope).  We are praying that Mama and baby will figure this out on their own soon.