Merry Christmas!

We were blessed with our second lamb born over Christmas.  This little ram lamb arrived yesterday morning, December 24, 2013.

Dam: Cocoa
Sire: Dodge

Christmas Lamb!

Mary, our two year old ewe, has thrown her very first lamb.

Born: December 21, 2013
Dam: Mary
Sire: Dodge

What Happens When You Nurse a Sick Lamb

My injured little lamb is recovering nicely.  She is attempting to kick out and leap with joy when playing with her brother who I have kept in the stall with her and her mother, but doesn't quite get the air her little brother does.  But she is happy and content and no longer traumatized.  Fingers crossed her physical condition heals just as wonderfully.

Stilts and his sister, Sabrina, along with their mother, play in the barn aisle.

One of the side perks of keeping her isolated from the rest of the flock is an unexpected bond has developed between us.  When I enter the stall now not only does Stilts come running up to greet me but so does Sabrina (the name we gave her), and strange of all she loves sucking on my fingers.  Something I thought was what only bottle lamb babies did.  Stilts is always sucking on my fingers hoping to get milk from them.  It's actually rather sweet to have her doing the same.  I have tried unsuccessfully to bond with the other lambs and so am pleasantly surprised that this ewe lamb, my favourite, who is not bottle fed, is friendly and curious and most of all, not afraid of me.

Injured Lamb

The other day we had an incident with one of the new lambs.  Ivy was herding the flock in from the far end of the pasture.  She was doing a great job and listening remarkably well and keeping a nice distance from the sheep.  But the sheep seemed more flighty then usual.  Our boarding dogs have started to make it a habit of visiting the pasture and getting pleasure out of chasing the flock around.  I hadn't realized how often they had done this or how bad things had got until I noticed the sheep flocking for a mad dash to the pasture gate.  Sadly, the pasture gate fails at keeping the sheep contained.  And when you have 13 sheep trying to squeeze through a small opening in the gate, a stampeded is created.  There's a lot of "out for yourselves" mentality going on in the flock at this point.  They carelessly barge through the small opening not caring who they run over.  Even a tiny little lamb.

From the distance I could see something small lying on the ground after the way had cleared and new instantly it was one of my lambs.  I ran as fast as I could to get to it's side and found it on it's back, kicking frantically to stand up.  I scooped it up and discovered it was Stilts's sister.  She's my favourite ewe lamb simply because she was the first to welcome Stilts back to the flock.  She had recognized him immediately and instantly the bond between them had been restored.  So I am devastated to find it is her who has been stampeded by the flock.  But she was still alive so I rushed her to a stall with her bleating mother behind us.

She was unable to stand properly and when she attempted to she would fall over.  There was blood in her nose and she was shaking uncontrollably.  I truly thought she would be dead within a couple hours.  But I left her and mom alone in the stall, crossed my fingers she wouldn't move much and hoped time would heal her.  After a couple hours I checked in on her and the shaking had finally stopped but she still had trouble keeping on her feet and keeping her balance.  I determined that she had suffered from some brain injury.  She peed a clear urine stream which indicated no internal injuries and she didn't drag or lift any limbs to indicate anything was broken there.  I did worry she had suffered from a spine injury but since she appeared more drunk then anything else, I figured it was head and probably got kicked several times making the brain bang around in her little head.  I truly hoped that keeping her still would help it settle and heal.

Ears pinned back and standing unsteadily on her feet shortly after the accident.

I left her and mom alone for several hours then went back into the barn.

I was relieved to find the lamb sitting quietly in the straw bed rather than lying there dead.  Her breathing was normal and she stopped moving her head as if it were sitting on a spintop toy.  However when she got up, she still was unsteady on her feet.  So I kept her indoors again today and I am happy to report she is recovery very well.  She can almost walk normal again, tho at times when turning to quickly looses her balance.  I think a couple more days of stall rest and she will be her old self again.

Pasture Raised Sheep

We've been shopping around for more replacement ewes and noticed almost immediately that the ewes on the other farms were skinny (or at least slimmer than my girls) on a diet of hay and grain only.  When I came home and brought my girls in for the night, I was shocked really how much bigger they were.  There is no replacement for pasture raised sheep.  Truly.  The difference is amazing.

My pasture raised only sheep.

Stillborn

I was hoping that last lamb death would be my one and only for the season, but sadly this morning when I went into the barn (nice and early before sunrise) I found my last expecting ewe licking up a pool of pink membranes.  At first I thought a sheep had vomited inside the pen but soon realized what I was actually looking at was the very thick deep pink membrane containing a deceased lamb.  It was premature hence why the ewe was still inside the sheep pen and not inside the lambing pen.  It was a good month premature and had some deformities.

Not noticeable at first but having called in my daughter's farming boyfriend, he was able to point out many I hadn't visually been able to see.  It's one foot was bent forward, one of it's eyes was larger and further down the face then the other, their was no bone or muscle on one side of it's hips, and weird of all, the membrane had grown into the side of the lamb's body.  It was definitely far smaller than even my small bottle fed lamb which could explain why I wasn't sure what I wasn't looking at first when entering the barn.  After I realized it wasn't vomit, I thought she had expelled the sack without any developing baby since it seemed so small and empty.  But when I came in closer I noticed little legs so helped her out by removed the sack from around it's face.  However, there was nothing to be done, it was already dead.

I think it died inside her womb which explained the deep pink membrane surrounding it.  As far as I understand, the sack is usually clear but murky.  My daughter's boyfriend thinks it was a deep pink because it had died inside her womb.  We'll never really know but she peed clear urine afterwards which indicated no rips or infections inside the womb.  There might even be the possibility of another lamb in there and fingers crossed could make it full term.

One More Ram Lamb and a Dead Ewe Lamb

I knew I had another ewe getting close to her delivery date, but since I didn't really know when my ewes were due, it was really a guessing game.  I judged them based on the size of their udders and how long it has been since they started bagging up.  This ewe I noticed bagged up suddenly about two weeks ago.  Her udder grew even more over the weeks but for some reason I thought I had at least two more weeks before lambing since the other ewes generally lambed about 30 days after bagging up.  I told my husband that very thing just yesterday and so didn't worry about separating her from the flock in their barn stall overnight.  Usually if I know they are due, I like to place them in the lambing pen where they have the place all to themselves and if they deliver then it is plenty of room for mom and lambs to bond.  But I didn't do that last night because I sincerely didn't think she was due for a while.  And this morning my bottle lamb was screaming hungry early in the a.m. so I didn't head out to the barn bright and early as usual.  If I had, I might have found the new lambs.  And possibly before the one died.

I really have no idea how it died but my suspicions are a) was rejected by mom but think it would have still been alive when I got in there or b) was sat on or more likely bullied by the other sheep to death.  Now let me explain the last point.  Sheep are not bullies, as a matter of fact they welcome any new sheep into the flock.  However, when a newborn is first born it searches for it's mother by looking for her nipple.  Other sheep don't like that.  And if the baby lamb continues this their rejection gets stronger.  They will gently nudge it away but then the nudging becomes more harsh and the baby can get slammed against walls, feeders or anything that could knock it out and kill it.  Hence why mothers and newborns are kept separate.  So I feel terrible that I hadn't gone out bright and early to check in on the sheep.  Even if I hadn't believed the ewe was ready to deliver, I had newborns in the barn and should have been checking in and making sure all was well.  But I didn't and whether the baby was killed or died at birth I'll never know.  I'm pretty dang angry at myself for not having separated her or at the least gone to the barn earlier than I had.  But what is done, is done.  Though I am doubly miserable because the dead lamb was a ewe, we are left with her huge brother.

I've got one more ewe to deliver within the month and will definitely be keeping her separated once I see her udder bag up.  She is already looking enormous so it could possibly be sooner rather than later.  And with this latest incident, I'll definitely be planning on sooner.

Two More

My personal favourite ewe, the Duchess, gave me two new lambs this morning.

Bottle Lamb

The ewe with the butt rug finally gave birth to her twins.  A boy and a girl.

We relieved her of her rug butt but sadly that didn't stop her from rejecting the ram lamb.

The poor little guy.  So he became my first bottle lamb.

It so cute having a little lamb living in the house.

New Lamb

We have a new lamb on the ground and it wasn't from the ewe we were waiting on.  Instead, it was from this big momma!

But, surprisingly, for her size, she only threw the one lamb.  A ewe lamb.

But she sure is cute.

Lamb Watch

We've got an ewe in the lambing pen.

She's the one with the rug on her butt.  The day before yesterday, her lambs were kicking wildly.  You could visually see them leaping all over the place in there.  Today, we found some blood discharge in the sheep pen.  After close inspection of all my ewes, this one was the only one with a swollen vulva.  So we kept her in the lambing pen today.  We went back every hour to check in on her.  One visit found some white discharge coming from her vulva.

Stuck to the underside of her tail.

I'm thinking we should have new lambs on the ground within 24 hours.

Waiting on More Lambs

We are suspecting that at least two or three more ewes may lamb.  I went into the pasture and snapped photos of udders and vulvas in order for me to have some type of visual referral in the future.

The Empress, she definitely looks pregnant but in all fairness, she's looked like this since the day she arrived.

That said, I do think she is pregnant.

This is the ewe I suspect is up next.  

Her udder is developing and her vulva is red and swollen.

The two suspecting ewes.

This is supect #3. She's wide and has an udder developing.

But her vulva looks normal, so this could be a while yet.

She is however wide and has that hollow between her back and stomach that Queenie had before delivering.

The New Lambs

The lambs will be almost a week old tomorrow.  This is my first time with newborn lambs and I haven't a clue what to do.  I figure I'll let mom, Queenie, lead the way.  I wasn't sure when it was safe to let them out of the "lambing" pen to join the flock.  Every morning when I sent the sheep outside, Queenie remained quiet and undistrubed by their exit.  Sheep are flock animals and need to stick together.  The fact she didn't feel the need to told me a lot.  So this morning when I let them out, and she called out after them and I knew it was time.

Heading out into the big pasture.

Comforting lambs in their first outing.

Keeping a distance from the flock.

Sticking close to momma.

Lambs are nice and strong.

Joining the Flock

Bit of confusion at first (wrong momma).

Ram already practicing his ramming.

Ram Wrestle

What does a homeschool kid do on his down time?  Why, wrestle young rams of course!