Our House, Lambing Time

APRIL 4. Outside early morning -21C. A ewe lamb somehow managed to get  out of the barn shortly after birth in the early morning, before our first check. One of triplets, she was found lying in the snow on her day of birth. Another lamb was also outside, chilly but still in good shape. The mother was inside giving tender loving care to the third lamb. This little one was not doing well so we brought her in the house. I dipped her limbs in warm water, towelled her off and set her by the fire, alive but...time will tell. 

Her responses were poor so RB stomach fed her and we left her to warm up. When she began to perk up I made a bed for her in a Rubbermaid tub & spent the remainder of the day coaxing her to drink from a bottle. By evening she had figured out the relationship between sucking on the bottle and getting food.

APRIL 5. She’s perky, noisy, finally able to get up and walk around but not out of the woods yet. Her back legs are swollen, don’t seem to work all that well, probably frost bitten. We are sharing the mostly unspoken reality that she may have to be euthanized. Life and death struggles/decisions are not uncommon on a farm. We are not insensitive, just realistic. Here’s hoping the damage to her limbs is not too great. Today is warmer on the thermometer but humid, snowing, no sun. Hoping for better weather, a successful lamb crop, and not too much heartbreak.

The mother of the triplets decided that the other lamb that was found outside was not hers and has been refusing to feed her. This is not uncommon when lambing is disrupted and confusing. So she is now confined in a stanchion, keeping her from batting the unwanted lamb away from her teats. This hungry lamb had a happy and long session under her mother, sucking happily, tail wagging, filling up her belly. After 3 or 4 days the ewe is expected to change her mind and decide this is her offspring after all. Her smell after ingesting her mom’s milk will change, become the same as the accepted lamb’s smell. This process is also used when fostering another ewe’s lamb if the mother ewe is unable to feed it.

APRIL 6. The lamb in the house is eating well but seems to be having a harder time getting up.... I’m worried.

A sad thought - in many countries throughout the world during this pandemic, doctors are forced to make the same life and death decisions for members of their flock - prognosis poor, save those who have a better chance. What a terrible, disheartening position to be in for a person who is dedicated to saving lives.