Lambing Live

Shift 2 (2-10 21.03.14)

33 ewes still left to lamb from the early batch of lambers - and a few were looking promising!!!

We started off with a successful twin lamb birth, mum and babies healthy and moved to the bonding pens, navel's dipped in iodine and then left to enjoy each others company.

Another twin lamb birth followed shortly afterwards, this time the second lamb was much smaller than the first lamb. We monitored this little girl because she was getting quite chilly and shivering and not being licked by mum to warm her up. Later in the shift we decided to try and suckle the lamb onto mum as we had not seen it properly have a drink - it would head for the teat area but then just stand there! Unfortunately when suckling on the little lamb still didn't want to drink, so we resorted to striping some of the milk off mum and stomach tubing the lamb with this essential colostrum that the lamb would need for energy, warmth, antibodies and to make it have its first poop.

The third ewe to start lambing had passed her water early on in the shift but she was taking an absolute age to start the pushing process. After about an hour and a half someone decided to have a feel and see if there were any complications with the lamb. The lamb was really far back but seemed to be in the normal presentation (front feet forward followed by the nose) so we left for a little longer. After about another hour we brought mum in to a pen to alleviate any further stress being caused and it was then decided that we would intervene and help baby out... it took three people to pull the first lamb out - it was a big lamb and a very small hole!!! But it came out alive, followed by a sibling just a few moments later.

Six more springy spring lambs!