Lambs!

Lambing season has officially begun for 2013! The very first lamb was born Wednesday the 13th, which was about 10 days early. That one didn't make it. Yesterday the next ewe produced a set of twins, this time about a week ahead of "schedule." Many of the ewes have snotty noses and minor respiratory illnesses thanks to the weather continually bouncing around from 30 to 60 degrees, often within the same day. This ewe is one of the less healthy ladies, so that likely contributed to her lambing early. At any rate, when we returned from church and a lovely lunch with friends, we found twins in the drop pen. One was stretched out with an extremely stiff neck. At first I thought it was already gone, but upon closer inspection it was just very chilled...still breathing, but in very bad shape. The ewe and the other lamb did not appear to be so desperate, so I scooped the cold lamb up in a towel and headed for the house. Brian headed off to put out a round bale for the fall-lambing ewes in New Hope, to be sure they had plenty to eat in advance of the winter storm that was headed our way.

I held the cold lamb in warm water to try to bring up the body temperature as soon as possible. Then I toweled her off, fed her some colostrum via stomach tube, wrapped her in dry towels, and headed back to the barn to see to the ewe and the other lamb. I tried for an hour to get the lamb to nurse on his own, to no avail. So I ran back to the house for more colostrum and the stomach tube. Since I was up close and personal with the ewe and the ram lamb for quite a while, I had plenty of time to observe the ewe. She was not acting normal. Muscle tremors and grinding her teeth and not very interested in her remaining lamb. So I ran back to the house again. This time for a calcium drench. When I got back to the barn the ewe was eating some hay, which I took as a good sign. I treated the ewe, tucked the ram lamb back into the pen and left them alone for a little while.

Later last night the ewe and ram lamb both appeared more perky, but we put a sock over the lamb to help him stay warm through the night. After about four hours in the warmth of the house, the ewe lamb had also started to perk up. She nursed some colostrum but was not able to stand up on her own, even if I got all four feet under her she could not keep her balance or stay upright without help. By this morning she was doing better with standing once I got her upright, but still couldn't get up on her own. By mid-morning she was finally getting up by herself. This afternoon I took her back to the barn, encased in an old hunting sock. The ewe didn't put up much of a fuss about this new intruder in the jug, so we'll see if that holds. I haven't managed to get the lamb to nurse the ewe yet, but I'll give it at least one more try tonight. If she won't nurse, I'll keep feeding her milk replacer. I offered some to the ram lamb this evening and he gulped it down. It is looking like I'll be supplementing both of them if they'll let me. But I would much rather supplement them than feed them completely from a bottle. I'm just hoping the ewe can pull through and keep her end of the bargain. Bottle lambs are cute, but a lot of extra work.

Amid all of this drama, another set of twins was born this afternoon. So we are well underway!

The ewe lamb who spent 24 hours in our bathtub. Isn't she adorable? She is a tiny 5 lbs 9 oz. Long legged girl, but skinny. Let's hope we can get her over the hump and start her growing into those legs.