~I am holding this little ewe lamb for Hubby to tag her ear and band her tail. She won't like this at all, but as soon as I put her back with her mother she will nurse and in a short while will be as frisky as she ever was. I need to get the new lambs tagged and banded before I take off for the weekend with my sisters. Hubby might need the lambing jugs ( temporary pens for mama and baby sheep for up to 3 days after lambing).I have 2 or 3 more ewes left to lamb and Hubby will probably need to have an empty pen for one or more of them. So as soon as this little ewe settles down after tagging I will release her and her mom out into the general pen, with the other sheep and moms and lambs.
~This morning I looked outside while sipping my coffee and noticed Naomi, one of my older ewes, behaving oddly. She is pushing against the shelter side panel. Hmmm....
~She passed a bit of birth matter and I eagerly awaited the gush of a new lamb ....I waited, and waited. Pretty soon she was laying on the ground and pushing some more. This went on for more than an hour, with intense contractions, grimacing, some baaing, pacing, and then repeating the whole thing again. To no avail. Uh oh.... I am home alone and there is no one to help me hold her, and check her out. But wait !~ I have the best friends and neighbors....I hope for all of you such friends and neighbors. Dirt's family is wonderful in this kind of pinch! I call and they are home. Even though Lanny is sick, she grabs her girls and rushes right over. Bet and Anna help me corner Naomi, and while I hold her, Bet reaches into Naomi and feels out the situation. The lamb is big, and breech, but Bet is able to carefully manipulate the lamb into a good position and gently ease her out of Naomi. A big ewe lamb!
~Anna suctions the nostrils and inside the mouth, getting out the suffocating mucous, then firmly grabs the lamb and flings her in a circle around her ( Anna's ) head. This helps force the mucous out of the lamb. ( This works for newborn almost suffocatingly dead puppies and baby goats too)The trick to this procedure is to make sure the slippery baby does not fly out of your hands, I usually need to use a towel wrapped around the legs.~At first, Naomi was tired and did not respond to her lamb. Oh no ! I am going away for the weekend and Hubby will have a bottle baby. I don't want a bottle baby. So we left the lamb and mom for a few minutes. When I came back, Naomi was cleaning her baby off....hip hip hooray!
~The baby was very noisy, baaing a lot, but not up and around. So I gave her some Nutri Drench, which is a nutritional supplement especially for distressed lambs, goats, sheep....and then I stood her up. She wobbled, and wavered, but she remained standing. She is going to be O.K.
~I am so thankful this did not happen while I was gone. I am so thankful my friend and her daughters could be here to help. I am so thankful the lamb and her mama are fine.~
~ I have kept Jacob sheep for about 18 years now and have only had to assist 3 or 4 sheep in all these years. Naomi is one of my favorite ewes and I would have been very, very sad to lose her and any of her lambs. Naomi is the daughter of one of my favorite ewes, Ruth. I will tell of Ruth sometime later. I loved Ruth......and now that Naomi is getting older I want to keep a pretty ewe lamb from her..."There are numerous breeds of multiple horned sheep throughout the world. Of the eighteen breeds mentioned by A.R. Werner in 'An Enquiry into the Origin of the Piebald or Jacob Sheep", thirteen of them are known to have the polycerate trait ( many horns ). Many of the spotted, horned breeds of Europe had become extinct by the turn of the 20th century." JACOB SHEEP IN AMERICA by Ingrid Painter
Blessings: Good friends, healthy lambs AND their mothers
Love this!
ReplyDelete