Second Lambs of 2010

The second set of lambs arrived this morning!  Another set of twins, giving us 4 lambs in 2 days!  Today's pair was an 8 lb 5 oz ram lamb, and a 4 lb 11 oz tiny ewe lamb.  Upon arriving in the barn this morning, it was clear that Sloan was ready to give birth.  You can see in the picture below the large fluid bag indicating that labour was well underway.

I rushed back to the house to put on my coveralls and grab the lambing supplies.  Of course, I also grabbed the camera.  It didn't take long before a little hoof was visible. See right in the middle of the photo there is a little white diagonal blob?  That's a hoof!

I was glad to see it was in the correct orientation, so the baby was facing the right way, but I worried why I could only see one hoof.  Fortunately, the other hoof soon appeared.

After the second hoof, there was a bit of a pause.  Kelly and our barn cat, Esmeralda, looked on with interest.  (she climbs up there all by herself)

There was a lot of really intense pushing going on...

...but soon enough, a handsome ram lamb appeared.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but he actually has light brown "socks" on, and if you look at the fur on his "ankles" and separate it, it's jet black underneath.

How interesting!  That seems to suggest he carries the coloured genetics that we would like to perpetuate.  His father, Craigsley, carries the coloured trait too, so I'm pleased to see that it was passed along.

Sloan immediately took to cleaning off her young son, and we wondered if she was finished, but she had looked a bit too wide to just have a single lamb.  Sure enough, a new fluid sac appeared, indicating another birth was soon to follow.

Unfortunately, the ram lamb was not very quick to get up, although he tried valiantly at first.  It was cold in the barn, and we could see him start to shiver.

This shivering progressed quickly, and he wasn't trying to get up any more. Meanwhile, the tiniest little ewe lamb that I have ever seen was quickly born.

At first, I thought she was stillborn.  Our little "squeeze bulb" device for removing mucus from the nose and mouth was in the barn overnight and it was essentially useless because it was so cold, it was basically impossible to squeeze.  I cleaned out her nose and mouth as best as I could, and finally she lurched to life.  My relief was short lived because she could not stand, and she was soon shivering as well.  Mom was doing a great job at licking them clean, but neither lamb was getting up to nurse.

We put Sloan onto the shearing stand and tied one leg to the stand.  She did NOT want to be milked, so tying her leg to the stand was the only way to milk out the colostrum for the lambs.  I got as much as I could, then took it inside in a bottle along with the two lambs.  When lambs get cold, they end up with hypothermia which results in them losing the instinct to suck.  Even after nearly an hour of using the blow dryer to warm these two up, neither of them had warm mouths (if the inside of the mouth is cold, it's a sign of hypothermia).  Finally, the ram lamb stopped his violent shivering and began to open his eyes.

He took the bottle and began to suck, which was a huge success after such a long time.  It was a weak response, but at least he was finally taking in some of the essential colostrum that is full of antibodies and nutrients for the newborn lambs.  I had to work with the ewe lamb for another hour or so before she finally began to show signs of life, and eventually she too, took some colostrum, but not nearly as much as her brother.  She was placed in a box with a blanket, in a sunny spot, to keep her warm.

I took some more time to milk Sloan again and gave both lambs some more nutrition a little later on.  I put the ram lamb in a coat and he went back out to Sloan.  So far, he seems to be doing well.  He's been nursing and bonding with her really well.  I would have loved to put the little ewe out there as well, but sadly, she was still unable to stand.  In fact, she just stood for the first time, for about 3 minutes, at around 6 pm.  That's about 11 hours since her birth.  There is no point to putting a lamb with the mother if the lamb can't stand up to nurse.

So, now there are two ewe lambs in the house - one from yesterday and one from today.  Yesterday's smaller ewe did not end up nursing at all, so she had to come inside.  She is to the left, the new tiny one is to the right.

To be honest, I'm not sure if today's little ewe will make it.  She's very tiny, and apparently quite frail.  She has had an oral vitamin supplement and the colostrum, but she's still really weak and not able to stand for long.  Yesterday's ewe lamb, on the other hand, is doing remarkably well, and is incredibly loud.  Persistently, constantly, loud.  In fact, she sort of sounds like a kazoo on legs.  Really.  And last night, that didn't make for a very restful sleep.  In fact, the ONLY way she would shut up, was to lay her next to me, which I confess that I did, because I needed to sleep.  Even then, she was only quiet for about an hour, and she'd start up all over again. I'm hoping that because there are two of them now, maybe they will keep each other company for the next few days while they are in the house gaining strength.  I want to put them back into the barn with the other lambs as soon as possible, so that they can have a "sheepy" upbringing.  I can still bottle feed them in the barn, but that way they can play with the other lambs and have a relatively normal existence with the other sheep.

If the tiny ewe survives, I will not put her out in the barn until she can walk confidently and make her way without always falling down.  It would not be fair to do otherwise.  However, here are some pictures of her a short while ago with yesterday's ewe lamb, both standing and exploring a little.

Keep your fingers crossed for both of them - they've had rough beginnings!