Emerald and her lamb
Blanch and her twin girls
Frannie and her lamb
I stopped at the post office after taking the boys to school but it was closed for Presidents day. The roads were a little slick. I went right to the barn to check on the sheep. I noticed Frannie was standing with her head facing the corner so I decided to stay and watch her for a little while. She started pawing and was head butting some other sheep. I called Jared to tell him that she was going to lamb. He had a busy day at work with meetings so I told him he didn't need to come home. It was 7 degrees outside at this time and was cold. We usually only need 4 stalls but all those stalls were taken so I cleaned out the the stall that we store straw and other things in. It was a mess and I was warm while cleaning it. Had to take off my hat. Got the stall bedded with straw. Frannie was up and down and pushing hard. It was now around 10:00 so I caught her and checked her. She was tight and I couldn't feel a lamb yet. I decided to go inside and warm up. I got some more layers on. After about 20 minutes I went back out and she was pushing hard and I could see the lamb coming in a normal position. Soon she lambed a large boy weighing 15.3 lbs. I dried his face and stuck a piece of straw up his nose to make him sneeze. The mom ran away so once I knew he was breathing I backed off and sat on a bucket by the heat lamb. I had also brought out the heating pad to sit on. She licked him for a while and then I towel dried him. Now she was ok with me being close. I clipped and dipped his umbilical with iodine. Then I dragged him by his back legs to the stall with Frannie's nose right by his head. In the stall I stripped her and then milked her so I could tube feed him some colostrum. Frannie stood nicely while I milked her. I helped this long legged lamb stand and he was feisty. He was ready to take off though his legs weren't ready. He is so cute! They were doing well so I went inside and got her some warm water with molasses. I also gave her some hay. Inside I took a shower and then sat under the electric blanket. I had about an hour before I had to go get the boys so I threw some mugs. When I got home from picking up the boys I went out to the barn to grain the sheep. I also took hay and water to all the mom's in the stall and the ram too. Jacob had a presentation to work on and Eli practiced his instrument. Adam was watching a video to study for a test and Wyatt kept pulling his earbuds out as he pawed at him. I helped Adam study and then I worked on laundry. Jared surprised me with a capuccino from Tim Horton's. He had stopped at Jack's to pick up lunchmeat and sandwich cheese. The boys played minecraft and Jared and I played 3-13. I won. This evening we had popcorn pop and ice cream since we had missed it last night. We watched Heartland.
1 comment:
The stalls are sure busy this year. Can't imagine having to take your hat off when it's this cold. You sure were working hard!!! Good idea to sit on the heating pad. Wyatt wants Adam's full attention. He is so funny pawing at him and pulling his ear buds out.
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