We had a crazy Friday the other week - when it rains, it pours! I could see that Mercedes (the ewe with the prolapse) had dropped but I was up to my eyeballs assisting my Kuvasz Keisha whelp a litter of puppies. I kept checking on the ewe regularly (between puppies) throughout the day keeping my fingers crossed that she could wait for me to help. After an exhausting day and night I went to check on the sheep in the wee hours of the morning - this time three evenly sized lambs presented themselves all cleaned up and ready for the world! In the other pen I had another fresh lamb being cleaned. I was totally flabbergasted as I thought I'd have to assist with the triplet birth but she did it all on her own. Thank goodness there were no tangled feet or bodies. The other prolapsing yearling had two healthy lambs earlier but I had to assist with that delivery. One of those twins is not as accepted as the other and had decided to be part of the triplet family. Amazingly enough that ewe was nursing four! I penned the families in separately to establish family units. Now the lambs are with their correct mothers. The next afternoon a ewe who didn't look very pregnant produced two tiny lambs - maybe three pounds. There was a weak lamb and a strong lamb. We needed to intervene and provide goats colostrum for the weak one. He started to recover then the strong lamb had a disaster and fell into a shallow dish of water and went hypothermic! It was a big scare but we got everyone organized and warmed up and all are doing really well now thankfully! So, in 48 hours we had nine puppies and six lambs born and everyone is healthy, safe and sound :) The puppies will be going out with sheep once their eyes are open and they are a bit more mobile. It is still freezing here at night. One more ewe to lamb...
I am thrilled with all the new life! I hadn't planned it all happening on the same day and night but it did and everyone is doing well. A very tired and happy Natasha _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
