The first to lamb was one of our "old girls", Amber, this will be the last year she will have lambs. We are to retire her from breeding this year and she will join her daughter, Amy and Brazil looking after the young gimmer lambs.
She had her lambs just before 2am this morning. I'd checked all the sheep at midnight and Amber was starting to "nest", so I decided to check again 2 hours later. By which time she'd had both lambs (a ewe and a tup lamb). Both were up and about and trying to suckle. So I put them into a pen, sprayed their navels etc. Gave mum a much needed bucket of water and left them to it. It was 2.45am when I finally crawled into bed.
Tim did the early morning check, nothing was happening. The Resident Vandal arrived and after a quick cup of tea we all did a ewe check to find that Emma was busily licking a lamb.
A quick check to see if she was having any more lambs and then take her and her tup lamb into the barn. He's a sturdy little fellow and considering this is her first lamb, he's looking good and she is such an attentive mum.
This evening Cicely and Berniece are making signs of pending births. Cicely has claimed the outdoor sheep shelter. It could be a long night for Tim and the Resident Vandal, I'm having an early night as I'm working at the Employment tribunal in Newcastle tomorrow.
1 comment:
You should have popped in for a cuppa!
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