Category: sheep

Lambing season is over on this farm! Our last lamb was born Saturday afternoon. I had to help the mama with this one. I came home from knitting class to find her walking around with 1 foot and a nose showing. I tried to be patient and watched her push quite hard, off and on, for over 30 minutes. Then I decided it was time to step in. First, I felt for the other foot and found it just inside. I was relieved that both front feet were present but knew she still needed help so I consulted Managing Your Ewe. The book helped me figure out that the lamb’s elbows were probably bent and locked. Picture yourself with your hands up by your face impersonating a rabbit. That is basically how the lamb was positioned. What we want is more like a person with there hands up above their head ready to dive into a pool. Make sense? So I sloshed my hands in some disinfectant and felt around for those feet again. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had to pull really hard on each leg, both of which were very slippery,

Here’s what I came rushing home to find! I was going to write “he was mostly dry…” and just realized in all my excitement I never even looked to see whether it was a male or a female! I’ll get back to you on that! Anyway, it was mostly dry already. Mama was doing a good job standing over him so he didn’t get injured by the other ewes moving around. Every thing I’ve heard has said to let them lamb with the group, then move them to their own little pen or “lambing jug”. I had a little pen set up for her already so I gently picked up the lamb and carried him, at eye level for the ewe, to the new pen. They can still touch noses with the ewes and with a calf on one side. The goal is to give them a few days to bond on their own. My only concern right now is that I haven’t seen him nurse. I’ve seen him nuzzle around back there but not latch on. He did urinate but I’m not sure if that could be from his time in the uterus or is from nursing earlier. They

Lambing is imminent, I do believe. We’ll see whether it happens tonight, tomorrow, or Tuesday. I do have to work in the morning but only half the day. I hope it happens before my full work day on Tuesday! Bonnie’s due date is officially tomorrow, the 23rd. I’ve borrowed Storey’s Guide to Raising Sheep and Raising Sheep the Modern Way from the library. With the knowledge I gained from the books and the recent MSBA Conference I have put together a few supplies: -Clean, dry towels to assist with drying off the lamb, if necessary.-7% tincture of iodine to dip the navel-Dull scissors to snip back the cord. 2″ is the recommended length.-Glass bottle and nipple (we don’t have any pop bottles!)-60 cc syringe and size 8 french red rubber catheter, for tube feeding. I hope we don’t need this one!-Elastrator and bands. I won’t use these until 2-3 days for tail docking and again around 10 days for castrating.-(not pictured)We also have an ear tagger and tags to ID each lamb before they leave the lambing jug. That way we can know for sure who’s who. I’ve been crawling around in the pen like a fool trying to get