4-2-12

No lambs were born during the night. The new boy lamb was up and nursing this morning. I gave the girl lamb another tube feeding. I went to take her temp and noticed she was blocked with hard meconium. Jacob came outside to help me this morning. It was a beautiful day and we spent the morning outside. We had a picnic lunch outside. Vikki and the babies came over this evening. We went outside to check on the sheep. Adam and Eli made ewe #47 nervous and she butted both of them, knocking Eli to the ground. This evening we watched The Black Stallion.

4-1-12

New lambs born

Kenzie got up with me every 2 hrs to check on the sheep. None of the ewes lambed during the night. Gladys seems to be doing a little better and is back eating and drinking. The boys had fun teasing us with April fools. They thought it was so funny when Daddy got me by saying, "Whats a lamb doing out in the paddock?" After church we stopped at meijer for a few groceries. After lunch Nik and Megan came over to visit. We made rice crispie treats. I tucked Eli in for a nap. When I looked out in the paddock I noticed a sheep that was in labor and pushing. We sent the neighbor kids home. Adam and Jacob went up to play on the sandhill. We sat in the barn and watched to ewe. She walked around and was having contractions. Then she would lay down and push. After over an hour she just lay down and stopped pushing. We caught her and I checked her. She had four legs in the birth canal coming out together. Two were hind feet and the other two were front feet. I held the sheep and let Kenzie and Jared do an exam also so they could see how it was. Then I pushed the feet first lamb back a little while I delivered the other lamb, hind feet first. It took a little to get this one breathing good. Once it was we put it by the mom's head. Then I felt for the position of the second lamb. This lambs feet were forward but its head was turned back. I brought each leg out and put a snare cord on them. Then I pushed the lamb back so I could reposition the head. This is supposed to be the most difficult malpresentation but wasn't too bad. This lamb was on it feet rather quickly. The first one we pulled out was a boy (10lbs 4oz) and the second was a girl (9lbs 2oz). The boys was having a hard time standing so Kenzie helped him. The girl was trying to nurse but the boys wasn't. I gave him a tube feeding. Later the boy was doing good but the girls mouth felt cold. I took her temperature and it was 99.7. I gave her a tube feeding and her temperture soon was back in the normal range. I gave them both another tube feeding before bed.

3-31-12

Later this afternoon Nana and Papa came over to visit and see the lambs. While they were here Carol and Ed came over with Kenzie. We had a nice visit. Kenzie stayed to spend the weekend.

3-30-12

The boys love to wear gloves:) Jacob trying to bottle feed one of the lambs born last night.

Jacob got hay in his eyes.

Jared and I did our usual ewe checks during the night. Around 5am I went out to check and noticed one of the ewes (#35) had a vaginal prolapse.  I called Jared to come out and we got her into a stall. Jared held her while I examined her. I could feel the lambs mouth but I couldn’t get through to the lamb. We put her on her back with her backside against my leg while I tried to find my way to the lamb. Then I realized that her cervix had not dialated. I remembered reading about this and its called ringwomb. It usually requires a c-section but you can sometimes stretch the cervic. I could only feel the nose/mouth so I knew its front feet were back making it an even more difficult delivery. We went inside and looked up numbers for calling large animal veterinarys near us. Then we decided to go out and first try to stretch the cervix. I felt so bad for the ewe. She was pushing so hard while I was trying to do this that she had an anal prolapse as well. I worked for awhile and got her cervix stretched to about my four fingers. We took a little break before continuing to stretch her cervix. I finally was able to get my hand in and got the head out far enough to get a snare cord behind the lambs ears. Then we put her with her back against my leg again because I had to push (against her contractions) the lamb out of the birth canal so I could bring the legs forward. After getting the first leg forward I put a snare cord on it. I got the second leg forward and put a snare cord on that too. Then I pulled all three cords until the lamb was out. He was a large lamb, weighing 10lbs 8oz. We cleared the mucous and once it was breathing well we put him by his mom’s head so she could lick him while we towel dried. We came out of the stall and another ewe was delivering. She delivered single 11 lb 2oz girl. This lamb was on its feet quickly and trying to nursing. We clipped/dipped the umbilical’s and stripped the mom’s teats. After a little while we came back out to make sure they were nursing. The 11 lb girl was doing very well. We went in to help the boy but he was weak. I gave him a tube feeding of colostrums. His mouth felt very cold so I took him temperature. The thermomitor wasn’t working thought. We brought him inside in front of the corn burner to warm him up. Jared went into town to get coffee’s from Tim Hortons, a new thermomitor from Meijer, and some antibiotics from tsc once they opened at 9:00. We gave the mom, who'd had the difficult labor, an injection of antibiotics. Jared cleaned up and soon was on his way to work. I took the lamb’s temperature and it was now 93.2 degrees (normal is 102-103). I added a warmed rice sock in under his towel. After breakfast the boys watched Curious George on Netflix. They loved petting the lamb through the cage. After tucking Eli in for a morning nap I went outside to check on the new mom’s. Ewe #35 was laying down and looked worn out. I gave her a drench of electrolytes because she wasn’t eating or drinking. I stood her up to check her rear end and noticed a couple hooves. I got some gloves/lube and reached in for the head. Pulling the head and legs I got the lamb out pretty quickly. After clearning its nose/mouth I put it by its mom. I went to grab some towels to dry it off and took care of her umbilical. This was a girl and weighed about 8lbs 12oz. I went inside to get some colostrums for a tube feeding. The boys were great at helping me with the tube feedings. They would push the syringe as I held the tube in place. Jacob tried bottle feeding the boys but he didn’t do to well at that. I checked the lambs temp every 30 minutes and once it was around the normal range and standing pretty well be took him back out to his mom. She is a very good mom and started licking him right away. The boys played in the barn while I cleaned it up and feed the animals. I noticed that Gladys was acting very doopy and had been standing in the same corner all morning with her head near the ground. She also wasn’t eating. I called Jared right away and he left work, went to tsc and picked up some Propylene glycol to treat Pregnancy toxemia. Jared then headed back to work. I tube fed the lambs from ewe #35. She did start nibbling on the hay and drank a little molasses water. When Jared got home from work we went out to the barn to clean it. The boys came out to play in the barn. We came back inside for a late dinner.  

3-29-12

Jared and I have been taking turns getting up every hour to check on the sheep. Last night Vikki came out with me for each of my checks. But no lambs were born last night. Jacob only had a half day of school today and Adam had all day off. Nik's dad offered to bring Jacob home when he got off the bus. Then Nik, Megan, and their dad came in the barn to see the lambs. Nana came over at lunchtime and brought pizza. She came in the barn to see the lambs and took some pictures of them. Vikki watched the boys while Jared and I went to parent teacher conferences for Jacob. The boys played with playdoh for a really long time. This evening I held the first two lambs that were born while Jared docked their tails and put eartags in. Then we let them out of their stall into the large area inside our barn. I helped Vikki pack up as she was getting ready to leave. Truman was shaking and wanted outside. For some reason he really wanted in Vikki's car. Later we let the other ewes in the barn for the night. It was funny to watch the lambs as they tried to nurse off other ewes. The ewes would butt them a little to let them know that that was not ok.

3-28-12

This morning, around 12:30am, I went out to the barn to check on the ewes. I found that one of them had just delivered twins in the large stall. One of the twins was up and trying to nurse while the mom was licking it. The other was laying there in the straw and was very cold. Jared came out and we moved them into a lambing jug (stall). A lambing jug is where the ewe and lamb(s) can spend a few days to bond. The ewe was rejecting the small lamb. Its mouth felt very cold so we brought her in the house to warm up. We dried her off and lay her on some blankets/towels in a small dog cage. The dog cage was on top of the boys little table and in from of the corn burners blower. After awhile of warming I took her temperature which was 97 degrees (normal is 102-103). We tube fed her some colostrum.  She’s such a tiny thing, only 4 lbs. By the time Jared left for work this morning her temperature was around 100 degrees. She was trying to stand for me while I waited for Jared to warm up her second feeding of colostrum.The boys loved holding and petting her before school. Once her temperature was normal I took her away from the heat to see if she could maintain it. Eli and I went outside to feed the sheep and found a ewe had just delivered twins in the paddock. One was up on its feet but the other lay in the dirt and wasn’t breathing. I swung it by its hind legs to try to get any mucus out and water drained from her mouth and nose. I try to get her breathing but she didn’t make it. I picked up the other lamb and was hoping the mom would follow us into the barn. She didn’t but instead ran far away to where the other ewes were grazing. I grabbed a scoop of corn to feed them and ran in the house to get Norman. As soon as the ewe saw Norman she ran to protect her baby. I was able to back them into the large stall using Norman and then I shut the door. I dragged the lamb by its hind legs (that’s the only way the mom would follow us) to a stall. There I dried the lamb and clipped/dipped it umbilical in iodine. I also stripped the ewes teats. Then I decided to go inside to get the tiny lamb to try and graft it onto this mom. I submersed it in a bucket of warm water and rubbed it with the lamb that was just born. The mom started licking it right away with her the other lamb. I weighed the new lamb, which was 7lbs 4oz. I gave the ewe some warm molasses water and some hay. Eli was fussy as he came along with me. Vikki came over this afternoon and brought me a Tim Horton’s cappuccino. She also brought us dinner to have tonight from Pi’s! I drove down to get Adam off the bus. After lunch I tucked Eli in for a nap. Then I went outside to take care of sheep and cleaned up the barn. I didn’t know if the grafted lamb could even reach to nurse so I gave her a tube feeding. When Jared got home from work he held the mom while I helped her to nurse. She is barely tall enough to reach for nursing.

3-27-12

The boys love playing with playdoh and straws.