Baymule’s 2021 Lambing

[Sheepshape]

Good nutrition increases ovulation up to a point, but when they get too fat they become less fertile. Your squashes probably 'pumped out the eggs', Bay !
Most of my ewes were a bit fat this year on going to the tup and the scanning results for 77 ewes is Triplets....3, twins.....40, singles....... 32, 'empty (possibly very early pregnancy) .....3. lambing percentage 160% which is pretty good for the sheep type I keep. best never to count lambs until they are born though, as a lot can go wrong between now and then.
You really don't want to be having many triplets as the ewe often cannot make enough milk to feed all 3 and so bottle lamb numbers can get high unless you can get them adopted by a ewes who has lost her own lamb or a ewe who is having a singleton and gives birth at the same time as the triplet birth.
Good Luck.!

 

[Baymule]

@Sheepshape you will have a lot of lambs! I've had 16 from 9 ewes, with 2 more to lamb yet. You have lots of experience with bottle lambs, I'm on my first 2. They certainly are fun.

Both my sets of triplets had a very small lamb, I'm raising one on the bottle. The other ewe rejected a normal size lamb, but kept the other normal sized lamb and her "runt" lamb. One of the sets of twins from a ewe that NEVER has had twins, also had a small lamb.

 

[Baymule]

I got baby diapers yesterday. We got home only to find out they were too small. WAY too small! So we went back to town to get more. I went 3 sizes up. Even snuggled up tight, the diaper wanted to slide off Tiny, so out came the painter’s tape. It worked! Reject was another matter. The diaper was just short of covering his penis. Hmmm... I had those too small diapers, so one placed under his belly and taped in place did the trick! They chased me around the house, through the kitchen and living room. Around and around we went. They stopped to pee, diapers worked!

They finally fell asleep, exhausted. At 9:30 last night, I fed them, repeated their exercise until they were tired and removed their diapers for the night. This is going to work. There’s got to be a better way to diaper baby lambs. There were dog diapers, but sadly they looked to be sized for a tiny toy puppy. They will soon outgrow being in the house, so I’ll use the baby diapers for now. Maybe next time I can do better.

 

[Ridgetop]

Do you think you will have problems potty training? They look great. Better reserve a spot in preschool now!

 

[thistlebloom]

When I lived at home we brought the bottle kids in the house for convenience, but probably more for entertainment. They got diapered so they could play indoors. They weren't in for very many days, as soon as they could jump out of their giant cardboard box crib we had to keep them outside in the goat pen. They are so much fun!

 

[Ridgetop]

Since we started our livestock journey in dairy goats we always had bottle kids. When there were only one or two, my children would bring them into the house secretly to play with them. We did not have diapers for them.

BOTTLE BABIES ARE SOOOO MUCH FUN!

 

[messybun]

I love it! How have you gotten this far without having to bottle any? I want to know your secret lol.

 

[Baymule]

I love it! How have you gotten this far without having to bottle any? I want to know your secret lol.

Darn good mommas that surprise me with lambs the next morning! LOL

 

[Baymule]

Checkers just had her first lamb. That makes 17 and Scottie still has to lamb. I’m thinking she may have twins. Checkers looked to be in labor when I was doing chores, so I went to go check on her after supper. The head was out and it didn’t take long for the birth to be complete.

Sheba wanted to lick the baby SOOOO bad! I have no doubt that ALL the lambs would be bottle babies if she were present at their birth. The ewes would utterly reject those freaky dog slobbered THINGS trying to suck. EEK!

Can’t a girl get a little privacy?? Giving birth here! I jugged mom and lamb so they could get to know one another.

 

[Baymule]

Do you think you will have problems potty training? They look great. Better reserve a spot in preschool now!

Actually they both run back to their dog crate to pee! LOL LOL Bet they wouldn’t do that if I took the diapers off.