More lambing photos

Newborn twins

 

Single lambs

 

The twins again

 

The ten day old lambs in the field

In the bleeeeat mid winter......

From being unsure if our 6 ewes were pregnant a few weeks ago, we now feel like stressed out new parents in the maternity ward! We suspected the ewes were pregnant as they were getting rather misshapen  - they looked like walking barrels. They also recently gained boobs - some in a very big way - so we were pretty sure it was just a matter of time.

A few days before the first lamb was born we decided to make some preparations; namely we made an extra shelter out of straw bales and old corrugated iron held down with stakes, we acquired some second hand baby bottles, some fresh goats milk from a nearby farm (apparently better for lambs than cows milk if they are orphaned) and were donated some powdered colostrum. We were ready!


Several times a day we were doing a headcount and looking for signs of labour  - the ewes distance themselves from the flock and lie down only getting up between contractions. Some of the ewes' bellies drop just before giving birth so our poor ewes were being stalked by us - we think they gave birth to get a bit of peace. Having witnessed a couple of the births we have a profound respect for the ewes - especially when you see the size of some of the new-born lambs. Ouch.

The first arrival came on the evening of the 4th January and we had our last births this morning.  We now have 7 lambs (5 girls and 2 boys) and we lost two; one suspected still born and one that died after 48 hours from causes unknown (exposure perhaps) but we believe that the loss of a couple of lambs (notably twins) is unavoidable if, like us, you prefer nature to take its course with the lambing process.  We are not running a commercial farm therefore we do not want to intervene if at all possible and this way, the ewes will not become reliant on us in the future. Sorry ladies - no gas and air  and fortunately no need for the arm-length latex gloves either ......

It has turned cold the last few days so we have now started bringing in the new-borns and mums into the shelter simply to aid with bonding, monitor feeding and to keep them warm (the danger in the first 24 hours is the cold whereas from day 2 onwards, starvation is a major risk). The ewes are also all first time mums so it can take them longer to work out what to do.  Some are naturals, others are a bit clueless which coupled with clueless lambs is a bit of an issue and they need help. One lamb had no suckling instinct despite the mum having loads of milk. A combination of milking the ewe to ensure milkflow (that was a greasy and fiddly first!) and syringing the milk into the lamb's mouth seemed to get the lamb to its senses and it seems to be doing ok now. Our clothes now reek of ewes milk and dung and Bee got wee-ed on for her efforts. Charming, but it was worth it.

This one is minutes old and mum is licking it dry;

 

We had the last births this morning - twin girls born very quickly in the field and without us noticing until it was all over. One wandered worryingly close to the rain-swollen river so Al's lifeguarding instincts kicked-in and he opted for the dry-land rescue rather than waiting until the lamb tested its swimming ability. The mum was led to the shelter (after licking the lambs dry and giving the 1st feed) simply by us carrying the lambs at ground level and placing them inside. The lambs' umbilical cords were dipped in iodine and now we just have to monitor feeding. We have been keeping the lambs inside until they are a week old before turfing them out into the field.

The proud ram, by the way, is not a new age man - he just comes over when the messy bits are finished, sniffs the lamb a little then goes back to his ruminating. Typical.

With hindsight we will probably do things a little differently next year - firstly we will build a bigger shelter so that the whole flock can come in at night; hopefully then the ewes will give birth indoors and we don't have to do last-minute shelter building. Secondly we will separate the ram and release him amongst the ewes in October so then we will have our lambing period a little later on in the warmer spring rather than mid January.  We were lucky with the weather this year and are also grateful to have had experienced neighbours we could call for advice (and of course the internet for the those late-night questions!) Lambing has been an incredibly steep learning curve but a unique experience too. Nature rocks.