Postcards From the Barn

Twelve days of lambing has passed at a remarkably sedate pace.

Marking time in relative comfort.

Thirteen moms have produced fifteen ram lambs and 9 ewe lambs.  A 'boy year' so far.  There is one set of triplets who are doing fine and not needing any supplementation (.....yet.  Have to hedge my bets.)

Triplet babies sleeping together

The middle lamb is sooo comfy and happy - that's gotta be a smile.

In fact, he was dreaming happy dreams of breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Watch his lips.

Only one colored Cotswold so far although to be fair none of the colored moms have lambed yet so that should certainly change.

"Why yes, this is my first lamb.  I think I did a rather good job."

I'm supplementing a pair of twins whose mom was slow on milk production due to the stress of a back injury that seemed bound to cripple her, but once she wasn't carrying those big boys she started to improve right away and looks to be on the way to taking full care of them soon.  The last three weeks of gestation was actually pretty miserable for her and she lost a lot of condition despite being penned in a small safe area where she wouldn't get jostled by the other ewes.  She always kept a good attitude and appreciated the daily pep talks we gave her. 

Heroic Maureen - thin but getting better - and one of her boys.

We also lost a ewe to complications of pneumonia.  We all struggled for a week, had the vet out twice, tried two different antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, calcium chloride and propylene glycol for the resultant ketosis from lack of eating, B12 supplemetation, rumen yeast, oral fluids, subQ fluids.....  she just couldn't kick it despite everything and died.  Her two boys had been on the bottle since she became ill and so they are doing fine.

Yesterday a ewe had twins and while we were having lunch decided that she didn't want the second one. That was very unusual but she was adamant and rather than risk him getting hurt while we tried to make her accept him I added him to the bottle lamb list.  Of course he's very sweet but not the brightest bulb in the marquee if you get my drift.  Maybe she knew he was a bit lacking in instinct but he'll do fine with the bottle.

We've started the first mixing pen and the lambs prefer to rest around the perimeter of the area so they have a wall to lean on and feel secure next to.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

And of course they have to investigate everything and everyone.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Holly is bored out of her mind the soul of patience and naps near the door in case I should develop a sudden urge to go walkies.

Kittin says....

"You feed the lambs, you walk the dog..... what about us cats?! The quantity of petting has been sub-standard lately!"

I better mend my ways before the quarterly performance reviews are made!