Purplequeenvt - New Journal

[purplequeenvt]

Twig is too freaking cute!













Root is pretty cute too.

 

[SageHill]

Oh man - cute overload!!!

 

[Baymule]

Those faces are adorable! Little pink nose, they both are cuties!

 

[purplequeenvt]

I got the 2nd dose of lice treatments done on all the sheep yesterday. The boys (specifically the wethers) were stupid about it, but everyone else was fine.

I have a prolapsing ewe. One of the Shetlands. She was already on the cull list (she has a spooky personality and I don’t care for her fleece) so this seals it for her.

I’m not quick to condemn a ewe’s entire family for one incidence of prolapse. If I really liked this ewe, I’d give her another shot. My entire Shetland flock is made up from her mom, sisters, and nieces and none of them have a history of prolapse. In her case, it’s most likely a case of too much baby in too little space.

I prefer to put a couple stitches in the vulva to keep everything in instead of using a spoon/retainer. Unfortunately I don’t have any more umbilical tape to stitch her with right now so I had to use the spoon. She hasn’t managed to get the spoon out yet and everything is staying where it’s supposed to be. I did order more umbilical tape, but I might leave the spoon in for a while. We shall see. She still has 3 weeks before she’s due.

 

[SageHill]

Yeah - Sounds similar to what I dealt with the end of last year. Too much baby in too small a space. She'd be fine for a bit but as we grazed slopes she'd pop out. Eventually it was all pop out and I stopped taking her on the graze route. I just used the harness. Got the spoons later, but I think I should have gotten all that early and perhaps things would have turned out better. She's got one lamb (first large stillborn ram) and will be cull once the lamb is weaned. Two strikes - the prolapse and a little bit spooky.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Yeah - Sounds similar to what I dealt with the end of last year. Too much baby in too small a space. She'd be fine for a bit but as we grazed slopes she'd pop out. Eventually it was all pop out and I stopped taking her on the graze route. I just used the harness. Got the spoons later, but I think I should have gotten all that early and perhaps things would have turned out better. She's got one lamb (first large stillborn ram) and will be cull once the lamb is weaned. Two strikes - the prolapse and a little bit spooky.

If she were pretty much any other ewe in the barn, she’d probably get another chance.

We never had good luck with just the prolapse harness without a spoon, but we also dock tails on the Border Leicesters and the harness works much better when there is a tail. Shetlands have a tail, but they’re too small for the harness. I made a harness with baling twine.

 

[SageHill]

I made a harness with baling twine.

Good one. I used vet wrap before the actual harness got here.

 

[purplequeenvt]

My day off today did not go to plan. I managed to drag myself to town to get my allergy shots, buy Oskar Biteyface food and human food and was back by 1330.

My next-door sister worked today and my BIL called me shortly after I got home to ask for help with a sick ewe. She appeared to have pneumonia, but had not seemed sick at all a few hours prior. She was given Nuflor and banamine and seemed ok.

My sister had given instructions that if her breathing changed for the worse we were to put her down and take the lambs. When I saw her, there was no reason to think she was going to crash, but about an hour after I was over there, my BIL called to tell me I needed to ASAP, the ewe had died.

She wasn’t actually dead at that point, but she was on her way out. BIL quickly dispatched her and I cut her open. We had the 2 lambs out within 30 seconds.

Here’s the issue. Today is 140 days from when the rams were put in with the ewes. The lambs were in the “safe zone” assuming the ewe was bred right away. Based on her udder development, I would not have expected her to be one of the first due.

The first lamb never breathed on her own. She would take a big gasp when stimulated, but wouldn’t continue breathing. BIL didn’t CPR and on her for 10 minutes before I convinced him that she wasn’t going to make it. The 2nd lamb struggle for a while and then took off breathing on her own.

I wouldn’t say that the lamb is out of the woods by any means, but she is doing so much better than I anticipated. I almost tubed her just to get some food in her belly when she suddenly decided she wanted to try for herself. She chugged 3oz of colostrum and wanted more. She has since figured out her legs, more or less, and found her voice.

She weighs 9.9lbs and has a good fat covering so she’s obviously not very premature. Given her potential gestational age and her traumatic entrance, I was not expecting any living lambs and if they were alive, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they suffered oxygen deprivation and brain damage.

She’s a Katahdin (registered parents)

 

[purplequeenvt]

I put my 3 ewes due this week in big jugs this afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised at triplets from 2 of them and I don’t want to deal with mixed up lambs and confused ewes if they all decide to lamb at the same time while I’m working. Their pens are all in clear view of the cameras so I’ll be able to keep a close eye on everyone.

Finna is upset she’s by herself, but P-Ewe and Kindie are stoked to have a big hay pile and space to themselves. They’re lounging around like royalty.

 

[Baymule]

Great save. Tough to lose the ewe, but at least you saved one lamb. Beautiful lamb, Katahdin, right up my alley!