Lambing Season Well Under Way

I wrote a blog post on 2/27 about the beginning of lambing season. It’s ten days later and we have 57 lambs. I haven’t had time to share photos but I’ll do a few now.

Bessie had lambs #25 and #26 late Wednesday night (March 2).

I did a last check outside and found Patsy with lambs behind the compost pile. These twins were unusual in that one was 8 pounds and the other only 4.2 pounds. I brought them in to the barn and had to set up an overflow pen in the alley.

Terri had lambed the day before, but was not happy with both her lambs. I had to tie her so that she would allow one baby to nurse. Even then, I had to hold her against the wall part of the time. It was always the same lamb that she rejected. It is interesting that Terri rejected one lamb of a set of twins last year also. She is on my list to be sold.

It was after midnight, so the next day when Sandie lambed. From the ultrasounds we had done in December I was pretty sure she had only one lamb. I took advantage of that knowledge and decided to give Terri’s rejected lamb to Sandie. It’s not that simple—a ewe doesn’t want any lamb but her own, so there is some trickery involved. I tied the legs of Terri’s lamb so it couldn’t get up. There are two reasons for that—I wanted it to act like a newborn and not be standing right away, and I wanted to make sure that the new lamb would get as much colostrum as possible before the other one started nursing.

Terri’s lamb stayed down and I kept putting the new lamb on top so that both lambs were covered with the same mucous and fluids. Sandie was licking her just-born lamb and the other was right there so she didn’t know the difference.

When the newborn lamb was on it’s feet and nursing I let the other up. Sandie accepted both without a problem. Happy ending there! I went to bed about 2 a.m.

The next morning there was a glorious sunrise.

A view north west showed double rainbows.

Evelyn had lambed in the corral so she came to the barn with her lamb.

Betty had lambed on the other side of the barn. She had triplets but one was dead with the sack not cleaned off it’s face. The other was on the wrong side of a gate—maybe slipping underneath it.

Betty didn’t think that lamb belonged to her so there was another ewe to tie up so that the lamb could nurse.

Later that morning Zora lambed with twins.

Jingle was next. Lambing isn’t always the prettiest sight. Look at the horn buds on that ram lamb. This is the first lamb born sired by the new ram, Hillside Barrett—not that he produces horns bigger than the others. I have seen a lot of big newborn horns so far.

Jingle’s lambs cleaned up…sort of. This was a day that seven ewes lambed. We had a lot of other things going on at the same time that made for a tiring day, but that will be the subject of another post. Stay tuned.