Post by susaq on Jan 28, 2020 23:55:57 GMT -5
Lambing has started last week with one of my old ewe's having a single lamb. I got several Katahdin ewe's last summer. They were in bad shape because the guy wasn't giving them any hay and there was no pasture left for them. I fattened them up nicely and they are doing well this winter. One of the ewes was a larger one and bat poop crazy! If I got near her she would flee like she was going to be eaten! I told DH yesterday that there were a few ewes looking like they were close to lambing. She was one of them.
Today DH was looking at the sheep and came to get me. He said there were three babies by her and one was flat out like it was dead. UGH! I went to look and I saw the ewe and there were three lambs laying down but all had their heads up. We were expecting rain today thru tomorrow and cold temps tonight and I knew that we had to wrangle these babies and get the crazy momma into a small barn that I use for lambing. DH took two babies as they aren't very big and I took the third one and managed to get momma to follow me. Then a bucket of feed and the other ewe and her baby for bait I managed to get momma into the barn.
One of the babies is much smaller so I went looking for the colostrum and couldn't find any. Then I remembered I gave the extra to the neighbor. I called them up and they had saved some from their milk cow. I went and got over a half gallon of the liquid gold. I bottle fed the little one 2 1/2 ounces and he didn't finish all of it.The other two were nursing just fine. Four hours later I took enough to bottle all three of them just to make sure they get enough. The little one took almost 4 ounces! One of the others took just over two ounces and the third one only took 1 1/2 ounce as he had just nursed. They are all three ram lambs. I would have loved a ewe lamb to keep.
I'm just so excited because I've never had triplets before! I'm going to go down to the barn tonight around 1 am and bottle them again, make sure their coats (coats you put on small dogs) are dry, and that they are warm. I haven't gotten any pics yet because it was getting late. I'll get pics tomorrow.
I came very close to culling this ewe because she's so crazy scared of people. I'm glad I didn't.
Today DH was looking at the sheep and came to get me. He said there were three babies by her and one was flat out like it was dead. UGH! I went to look and I saw the ewe and there were three lambs laying down but all had their heads up. We were expecting rain today thru tomorrow and cold temps tonight and I knew that we had to wrangle these babies and get the crazy momma into a small barn that I use for lambing. DH took two babies as they aren't very big and I took the third one and managed to get momma to follow me. Then a bucket of feed and the other ewe and her baby for bait I managed to get momma into the barn.
One of the babies is much smaller so I went looking for the colostrum and couldn't find any. Then I remembered I gave the extra to the neighbor. I called them up and they had saved some from their milk cow. I went and got over a half gallon of the liquid gold. I bottle fed the little one 2 1/2 ounces and he didn't finish all of it.The other two were nursing just fine. Four hours later I took enough to bottle all three of them just to make sure they get enough. The little one took almost 4 ounces! One of the others took just over two ounces and the third one only took 1 1/2 ounce as he had just nursed. They are all three ram lambs. I would have loved a ewe lamb to keep.
I'm just so excited because I've never had triplets before! I'm going to go down to the barn tonight around 1 am and bottle them again, make sure their coats (coats you put on small dogs) are dry, and that they are warm. I haven't gotten any pics yet because it was getting late. I'll get pics tomorrow.
I came very close to culling this ewe because she's so crazy scared of people. I'm glad I didn't.