ShepherdO's First Lambing - Pics included :)

[shepherdO]

Okay - so after the drama of Bonny's birth (first big lamb pulled but dead, followed by a tiny lamb I'm currently hand-feeding...) I eagerly awaited Bambi's lambing.

She was due on the 2nd, but was showing no signs of heeding the gestation calculations. Yes swollen vulva, yes udder, yes kind of dropped... but still no babies.

Anyhoo, last night I locked her in my lambing jug b/c she seemed to have dropped more, and was breathing a bit heavier than normal. I went inside to have a couple hours snooze to make up for the 2 hour nights (sleep) I'd been getting lately. Set the alarm for 11:30 to go check her, slept through it, woke at 1:30 and went outside to find Bambi all perky, with two beautiful healthy EWE LAMBS, one black with a funny ear that won't stick up all the way, and another dusty grey/brown like her dad. Both dry and suckling like crazy.

Wow... what a different experience to Bonny! This is my first birth with her, but Bambi is four, so I believe this is her third lambing, twins and trips in the past.

Anyway, I'm super pleased that she had an easy, unassisted birth and two ewes. It will be very hard not to want to keep all my ewes...

 

[shepherdO]

Newest lambs. This is bonny the giant rambouillet x Suffolk with the tiny ram lamb that survived... Barely

this is him at a couple hours old Below he is about 40 hrs old. He's grown into his wrinkles a bit! Still very lethargic though... Keep trying ..

 

[shepherdO]

And these are bambis twins born two days overdue last night, unassisted. They were up and dry and suckling when I went in at 1:30am. Very healthy so far and both are ewes! No names yet I forgot, the little guy above is named Jonathan. Check my other thread for the reason.

I really like the light dusty tan brown my ram is throwing. Almost Siamese cat looking.

 

[shepherdO]

Okay, so I had 4 days off from lambing, and tried to sneak in a few glorious nights of 7 hours sleep! I had obligations on Saturday morning, which is of course when Samba went into labour... she was due that day though, so it wasn't really her fault!

Anyhoo, my nephew came to the rescue again, and while I was gone she had a tiny 5 lb black as midnight ewe lamb, which she doted over like crazy. Then about 45 minutes later a huge ram lamb came out backwards, and I coached him over the phone how to pull him out - He was 11 or 12 lbs, so double the size of his sister!

Both were extremely vigorous, up and nursing within a couple minutes. My nephew said that the ram lamb (my first white lamb!) was actually trying to jump around before even nursing!

Unfortunately, the mum looked to be rejecting the white lamb - more so b/c she was so obsessed over the first little one. So I spent the day trying to get her to accept him. Tried sprinkling with salt, then molasses (neither worked), and then I tried 'Lavender Vanilla' air freshener on both the twins and the mom's nose. Apparently it's been working She still prefers the black lamb, but is 'suffering' the white one, and at least she's not butting him any more.

He's very good natured and dotes over his little black sister as much as the mum!

Anyhoo, I have three due in the next 48 hours, and then I'm done! We're at 9 lambs from 5 ewes thus far, only one dead, so pretty good so far. I think Freckles (due Monday) is having twins at least, first timer; Patty is having a single I believe; and then Nibbles is having either triplets or quads... hopefully not quads like last year when they were all tangled and only one lived...

But this time we're not going to let that happen!

Pictures to come.

 

[Baymule]

You are having a good lambing! What a bunch of cutie lambs. I have hair sheep, so no wool. There is a spinner's guild in the next county, but I have not inquired......I would have to get wool sheep, learn to spin, learn to crochet/knit....and have to learn to shear....you see where this is going? LOL Do you shear, spin, knit?

 

[shepherdO]

So mum is now accepting both teeny black lamb and giant white lamb (3 days old but almost as big as my 2.5 week old bottle lamb!), so that's good.

I currently have 2 girls in labour, and one who's due today. Aahh... Nibbles is due today, but has been in 'labour' since yesterday morning, on and off. Essentially no vulva swelling though... I'm a little bit worried, but I'm going to let things take their course. Big udder, she's huge herself (I'm hoping just triplets but thinking maybe quads again...), and she's been up and down, some pushing, straining, grunting, lots of heavy breathing for about 24 hours now. She's a small katahdin, and hew vulva's about 2 fingers long max. Here's hoping something happens soon.

The other ramobuillet dropped yesterday, and has been in early stage labour all night (trust me I know - I checked every two hours... ughh...), but seems to have 'un-dropped' a bit this morning. Weird. Same thing happened to her sister last week. I'm thinkint twins for sure, MAYBE triplets, and this is her first lambing.

And we just had a couple inches fresh snow last night, which the lambs are loving to play in. But temps are supposed to get up to 12 celsius within a week, so spring might be just around the corner!

 

[shepherdO]

Baymule - this is my first lambing, so I haven't been 'into sheep' for very long. However, my two rambouillets have had their wool used in the past by wool co-ops, apparently. I'm not really interested in pursuing that route, nor is my wife. We do have a friend who owns a wool shop, so I might ask her if she wants the wool when it's sheared. Her shop has become very popular since she opened it several year ago. Knitting has really become an 'in' thing!

 

[shepherdO]

Here are a few pics of Freckles and Nibbles, both currently in labour. Taking it slow both of them but hopefully will be pushing in a couple hours ...

Nibbles. The katahdin is likely having triplets or quads... Freckles... What do you think? Twins for sure but I think maybe triplets?

It's taking a looooooong time without much progress, but no waters yet so I'm just sitting back and waiting, for now. Nibbles vulva is finally starting to stretch out, and Freckles is super redenning now.

Here are my two bottle babies, TimTam, currently two and a half weeks old, and Jonathan, 8 days old. Both are on Jonathan's mum who hates them both but has lots of milk!

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Awwwwww

 

[shepherdO]

So... disaster #2. My other Rambouillet had a HARD labour for many, many hours. Too long. Anyhoo, in the end she finally passed mucus plug and worked hard to get the lambs head only to the vulva. I probably should have done an internal earlier, but she had no fluid show of any sort and was super sensitive. Anyhoo, we pushed the head back in and got a leg - could only find one after probably 20 minutes inside... pulled the lamb one leg forward. Dead. Nice big lamb, but she was SO tight. Cervicx was tight, and vulva was tighter.

Second lamb same. Barely got it out, also dead. Beautiful big ewes. Sigh. Lesson learned - don't breed first timer older ewes. I'm currently using both ewes as surrogate milking stands for 2 bottle lambs, and while they don't like it, they're letting lambs drink from them if we hold the mums.

So far 9 live lambs, 3 dead. 2 ewes of 8 still to go, but the little katahdin stopped labouring after starting a day early, and hasn't shown anything else since yesterday. happy as a clam. Vulva super small, can't imagine doing an internal. Not sure where to go next...

Hoping on Patty the 1 year old suffolk. Looks ready to go, here's hoping...

*sigh*