NATURE SPEAKS

With only three of our older ewes still to lamb, our lambing season is nearly over. Though we've lost four lambs so far, I'm generally pleased. Very tired, but pleased. The timing seems to be good too since our pastures are greening up nicely with a mix of warm sun and soft rain, which our newly lactating mothers really enjoy.

The first of our fatalities I discussed on my last blog.

The second was a bit of a surprise. First-time mother, single birth. The labor was very easy and quick which first led me to believe that the lamb suffered no trauma and should be healthy. I didn't even know she was close to lambing. In hindsight, I'm now thinking the whole thing was too easy and too quick. Labor and delivery involves a lot of triggers in both the lamb and the ewe and I wonder if those magic little moments never happened. The lamb never was able to stand on her own and was weak from the get-go. I easily milked the mother out and we stomach-tubed and bottle fed the lamb. The tubing got her the necessary colostrum but she never quite took to the bottle. I don't feel there was too much more we could have done.

The third was from an unobserved twin birth and was deceased by the time I found her. So a bit of mystery. The mother had her cleaned but it appears it never stood or struggled from where she landed.

The fourth may have been the most difficult for me as the shepherd. He was one of a triplet birth from Danie. Danie is the ewe that suffered from pregnancy toxemia last year with her triplets. I was feeling pretty smug this year since I had recognized her toxemic condition earlier and was able to treat her earlier with much less intrusion. Rather than close her in a treatment pen, as I did last year, I was able to give her propylene glycol orally as needed. She lambed unobserved and when I arrived on-scene two boys were with Danie getting plenty of attention and a third boy was off by himself in the barnyard - standing and cleaned but by himself. "Off by himself" seemed to be his style from that point on. In fact, he was small enough to escape the lambing jug twice. He seemed strong but never seemed to figure out where the milk source was located. He had good suckling instincts and I successfully bottle-fed him but he just seemed a bit lost. Jan thinks he was blind, which I understand is possible. I may have been able to make a bummer lamb out of him but chose not to. Here is where my challenge as the shepherd arose. We decided to raise the Jacob breed of sheep specifically because their "primitive" qualities meant they needed less care and maintenance. I decided to help him along with a little bottle feeding and some coaching but also decided to let Nature speak. I found him dead in the lambing jug one morning and released Danie and her, still very small boys, to the rest of the flock. They're doing fine.

It's Spring Break for the schools this next week and our number-one hand, our granddaughter, is now here to help finish the season. Maybe I'll get a little more sleep.