Lambing is almost finished. All that's left to lamb is two yearling ewes. The ewe that lambed in December may also have re-bred for early June lambs. I've got my fingers crossed. Her single ram lamb is doing well. Unfortunately, both of them have to be penned and fed alone.
It's been a good lambing season, except for the loss of two ewes. The first ewe had a partially dilated cervix. I ordered a c-section. The first lamb was dead. The second one was alive. According to the vet, the ewe's uterus was not salvageable. Not sure what happened. She was put down and I am raising her lamb.
The second ewe retained her placenta for a few days. I gave her oxytocin and put her on antibiotics. I was able to remove the placenta with a light tug, on day 3. After that, she went off feed and was very lethargic. She died, rather unexpectedly, when her lambs were 5 days old. I am now raising them. It was hard to get one of the lambs on the bottle, but now both lambs nurse vigorously and are growing well.
They were two good ewes, 8 and 7 years old, respectively. In hindsight, I wonder if the second ewe still had a lamb inside of her. She didn't give an indication that that was the case, but why did she die? I don't know what I could have done differently with the first ewe. I didn't feel all that great about the vet who did the c-section. He seemed to be indecisive. Oh well, it's necessary to put both deaths behind me.
Four of the yearling ewes have lambed so far. They are doing exceptionally well with their lambs, 8 ewe lambs among them. One of the yearlings had triplets, but I took the smallest lamb for artificial rearing. There is one black lamb in the group. The sire of all the yearlings' lambs is a ram I named Wilson. Wilson is a triplet-born ram, RR.
The rest of the ewes and lambs are doing fine. I introduced creep feed several days ago. I'll put a creep area in with the yearling ewes in a few days. Their lambs are a little younger. I also plan to put a group of ewes on pasture with an outdoor creep. I'll choose the ewes with the older, bigger twin and single lambs.
It's been a good lambing season, except for the loss of two ewes. The first ewe had a partially dilated cervix. I ordered a c-section. The first lamb was dead. The second one was alive. According to the vet, the ewe's uterus was not salvageable. Not sure what happened. She was put down and I am raising her lamb.
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| My favorite ewe (Ms. Piggy) had triplets, all red in color. |
The second ewe retained her placenta for a few days. I gave her oxytocin and put her on antibiotics. I was able to remove the placenta with a light tug, on day 3. After that, she went off feed and was very lethargic. She died, rather unexpectedly, when her lambs were 5 days old. I am now raising them. It was hard to get one of the lambs on the bottle, but now both lambs nurse vigorously and are growing well.
They were two good ewes, 8 and 7 years old, respectively. In hindsight, I wonder if the second ewe still had a lamb inside of her. She didn't give an indication that that was the case, but why did she die? I don't know what I could have done differently with the first ewe. I didn't feel all that great about the vet who did the c-section. He seemed to be indecisive. Oh well, it's necessary to put both deaths behind me.
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| Two of the yearling ewes with their twin ewe lambs |
Four of the yearling ewes have lambed so far. They are doing exceptionally well with their lambs, 8 ewe lambs among them. One of the yearlings had triplets, but I took the smallest lamb for artificial rearing. There is one black lamb in the group. The sire of all the yearlings' lambs is a ram I named Wilson. Wilson is a triplet-born ram, RR.
The rest of the ewes and lambs are doing fine. I introduced creep feed several days ago. I'll put a creep area in with the yearling ewes in a few days. Their lambs are a little younger. I also plan to put a group of ewes on pasture with an outdoor creep. I'll choose the ewes with the older, bigger twin and single lambs.
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