A Horrible start to lambing

[Sheepshape]

Thank you for your kind thoughts folks....I know some of you have been there....to all of you who have, I hope things improve for you all.

I have another ewe draining unhealthy birth fluids for about 24 hours. It will probably be best for me to take a dead lamb to the vet for analysis.

Womwotai....I have healthy twins born to one ewe and a healthy ewe lamb to a second ewe. these 3 are doing fine so far.

Here we had appalling wet weather up until about a week ago.....I'm really not sure if this was the cause.

It can be pretty hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes.

 

[promiseacres]

sorry you lost your lambs...never easy
for some healthy lambs

 

[Baymule]

Sometimes you get all the bad things up front. Sometimes things that can go wrong, just do. Sometimes you get discouraged and want to throw in the towel. Sometimes you could just sit down and cry from sheer frustration. Sometimes you wonder "why"?

But then sometimes you get that perfect moment that you have worked so hard for. Sometimes you see that elusive light at the end of the tunnel and you follow it to greener pastures, golden sunshine and healthy lambs.

Sometimes you come here to share your sadness and frustrations and we can encourage you. EVERYTIME you get up, dust off your britches and get going again.

 

[Sheepshape]

Unfortunately, that light is yet to appear.

My ewe draining the nasty birth fluids delivered a dead lamb. After antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, the poor ewe is looking a lot better. She is still with the dead lamb. I have found that leaving the ewe with the dead lamb allows them to come to terms with the loss, and after 24 hours taking away the dead lamb and moving mum to the 'dry ewe' field is done with no distress to the ewe.

Even one of my 'healthy twins' is unwell. I have given her antibiotics and am working my hardest to keep her going.

I'm genuinely praying.

 

[norseofcourse]

I'm sorry it's been such a rough year so far...

 

[Riva]

Hi Sheepshape

Sorry to hear about your troubles, we had a dreadful winter here last year and my first 4 ewes all struggled to have live births. After digging them out of the 5 feet snow drifts they were in a sorry state. We found the only way to keep twins alive was to take the smaller twin off the ewe and bottle feed it.

 

[bonbean01]

 

[Sheepshape]

At last, things have looked up.

My sickly twin born to pet ewe, Minnie, made a sustained recovery after I gave her an antibiotic (I suspected lamb pneumonia related to inhalation at birth) and spent all day making sure she got onto mom to feed.

3 healthy sets of twins and one healthy singleton followed. Another ewe produced healthy twins, but she had a very prolonged and difficult birth followed by her being completely exhausted and having very little milk (two days ago). A supplementary couple of feeds to one twin (the other won't take the bottle), analgesia and rest for mum, and she is looking better this morning. (This is what I'm sure we all regard as pretty normal lambing stuff).

How lovely is it to see spring sunshine and healthy lambs?

This is pet Minnie with her two lambs on the right and another ewe's lamb relaxing with them. Oh and this little ewe has the most appalling bleat.....sounds like a mixture between someone saying 'Oh' and being strangled.....and she loves the sound of her own voice so much she has gone a bit hoarse.

 

[norseofcourse]

Glad things have been going so much better! And I envy you all that wonderful green grass!!

 

[newgirl97]

So glad to hear that things are finally picking up!

Did you ever send one of the dead lambs in for testing?