I should have elaborated a little more on the predator experience. I
think it was a neighbor's dog which is not fed and contained as it
should be. This occurred inside a 5 ft high chain link fenced area of
my front yard about 20ft from the house. The drought we experienced
this summer and fall, has created a shortage of the usual fare for the
predators. I lost my 3 cats this fall to (I think) Owls that have
started to hang around. Every predator is now looking for food, but
there seems to be no shortage of mice inside the buildings, and under
the hay b ales. Skunks are also a real pain, I have trapped 2 from
under my office and I would bet I could get another 2 from under there
also...
Cecil in OKla
On 3/3/2012 12:39 AM, imgr8a...@comcast.net wrote:
Well, I've had just a couple seasons of lambs now. My Blackbellies have had no
problems lambing, they seem to do it with ease. But tonight, it is now 1:30
Saturday morning, my vet left about 12:45, after performing a cesarian section
on one of my Finn Ewes. So, my ewe and her two new twins are in my basement.
The reason we had a cesarian is she has toxemia, so I decided the ewe was more
important, so we decided to take the lambs. They are doing ok, both are seven
pounds. Now the hard part starts, I have to make sure they are nursing, but at
the same time, mama can't stand up yet, so I have to shift her from side to
side and if they don't nurse enough, I have to empty her milk so she doesn't
stop her milk production. I'll be doing this every hour and a half through the
night and tomorrow.
Nancy L. Johnson
imgr8a...@comcast.net
cell: 301 440 4808
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cecil R Bearden"<crbear...@copper.net>
To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info
Sent: Friday, March 2, 2012 7:11:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth
I have had more troubled experiences this lambing than ever before. My
ewes were too fat. I was supplementing them and had hay out 24/7. They
just do not have the milk production they should have had. I had green
pasture for them to graze on until the last2 months of pregnancy. When
I had a stomach blockage in one of my ewes she was autopsied and found
to have a lot of kidney fat which indicated she was in very good shape.
She just liked milk replacer since she was a bottle baby and got into a
sack and ate the top tear strip off the sack. The tear strip lodged in
her gut.
One of my best ewes had triplets 2 days ago, and it appears that while
lambing with the first, a dog or some predator attacked and bit the nose
off of the lamb. She had 2 more lambs which appear to be premature,
their teeth are not showing. One has problems with its front legs, it
was laying sprawled out on its stomach. It cannot hold its front legs
together. I made a vest to hold its shoulders together. Also made a
sling to hold it above the ground and let it excercise to build up its
muscles. I don't know if this is from trauma or just premature. The
other lamb is having trouble standing to nurse, so I am supplementing it.
I have a theory that has not been denied by my vet. If the ram is
allowed to run with the ewes, it is possible to conceive in both horns
of the uterus. However the fetuses are 15 days or more apart in
development. When the early conception lamb is born, the others are
born due to the contractions. This sometimes explains the triplets with
one very small, or one very large. It may also explain the anomaly of 6
being born to one of my ewes when I sold her to some of my contractor
friends who just let them run to clean up their storage yard.
It seems that the harder I try to make a good environment for my sheep,
and keep them well fed, the more trouble they have with lambs. I had 3
abandoned babies this time, and am raising them in a playpen and an
outdoor pen. I had one set of triplets and penned them up with the ewe,
only to have her lay down on 2 of them and suffocate them. The little
lamb that could not seem to keep up with Mama is now her only one.
She is going to have a new home in 2 months. Also any one who cannot
raise her lambs or abandons a lamb will go. I am just getting too old
to have this much trouble. My ram lambs are also going to either be
neutered at 60 days or sold.... This lambing was not supposed to
happen. It was from a bottle baby ram that we felt sorry for, and did
not want to band him when it was so hot this summer...
Cecil in oKla
On 3/1/2012 2:14 PM, Natasha wrote:
Old pics and movies of Blackbelly twin newborns. Click the links on the top
like Angie, Ruby, etc for other ewes with their lambs.
Great pics! I liked seeing how you dealt with the ewe who didn't want
to nurse by putting her in closed quarters. Last spring my one ewe
accepted the first born but hated the second and was always sending
him flying. I struggled with her and would tie her to something solid
and hold her head while her little guy nursed. I did that for several
day and got a sore back. After that I bottle fed him. I don't think
she would have accepted him - I tried putting her urine on him ( I
read that in a book), put her milk on him trying to get her to accept
him. She would put down her ears and just beeline for him to butt
him. She used to be so sweet and nice and now she's quite miserable.
She was a good mom to the favoured lamb. If she delivers this spring
I hope she does a good job of being a mom this time.
Is a ewe capable of withholding milk/preventing it from coming down?
Never ending questions,
Natasha :)
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