4-3-12

Ewe (#514) with her triplets!

Around 3am I went outside to check on the ewes and found that one was just about to give birth. I called for Jared and Kenzie to come out. It wasn't long before she had her first which Jared and Kenzie took care of. We moved them into a stall. Kenzie finished drying the lamb in there. Then she clipped and dipped her umbilical. She also stripped the ewes teats. The lamb needed a little help standing up so Kenzie helped her. About 30 minutes or so later she gave birth to another lamb. This one came out in the sack which it broke immediately when it hit the floor. Jared dried it off and took care of its umbilical. We were surprised to see a third lamb coming. This one also came out in the sack but it didn't break. I quickly broke the sack and cleared its mouth/nose. Jared had to get ready and leave for work at 5:00. Kenzie was in the house with the boys while I took care of the sheep. I gave the new mom some warm molasses water and hay. The lambs were all up and doing good at nursing but we still tube fed them some clostrum as a precaution. Kenzie came out and tube fed all the lambs a couple oz each. Jared came home for a little while and we gave Gladys some antibiotics. We let the sheep and lambs outside for the first time.They were fun to watch outside. Soon after Jared left it started to rain and got windy so I brought them all back inside and dried off the lambs. After about an hour the sun came out and it was really nice out. We spent time in the paddock watching and playing with the lambs. It was still windy so we had a inside picnic on a blanket in the living room. The neighbor lady and her grandson came over with Nik and Megan to see the lambs. Around 5:00 I looked in the paddock and noticed one of our lambs had just given birth. The lamb was already up and nursing. We kept and eye on her to see if she was going to have any more. After an hour or so we took the sheep in and then I put her and the lamb in the large stall. Kenzie clipped and dipped the umbilical on the lamb and stripped the ewe. After awhile the ewe delivered the placenta. Kenzie thought it was really cool and wanted to wash it off. She and the boys put on gloves so they could check it out. After the boys were in bed we watched a movie. Tonight were going to go out every 2 hrs. We have two more ewes that are pregnant.