I went to the barn a little after 6 a.m. this morning and found what looked like a dead lamb along with two lambs who were up and nursing. The lamb that was flat out on the ground had membranes over his face and was cold and still. I pulled the membranes off of the nose and surprise! That lamb wasn’t quite dead yet. It made a little sound and started to breath raspilly. (Spellcheck says that’s not a word, but it works for me.)
First, get lamb warm. The heat lamp wasn’t fast enough…
…so I brought it to the house.
After it started to revive I substituted a heating pad for the hot water.
Tube feeding with colostrum was next. Fortunately I had a couple of ounces in the freezer.
I switched the heating pad from under the lamb to over the lamb while Rusty made sure he didn’t go anywhere.
I carried the whole bundle back to the barn so I could get on with chores. That’s when I set up the heat lamp. I also milked some colostrum out of the mom and tube fed the lamb another few ounces.
It got up before long and now sports the most glamorous in lamb-wear. If a ewe lambs with a single lamb in the next few days I will try to graft this one on. That will be another post.
These are the other two sets of triplets and their moms.
Oh, this made me so happy, to see you bring this little one along. I hope s/he thrives!
I love the way your cat and then your dog kept the lamb company. You’ve got some caring animals there!
Oh yay 😀
Hiya Robin! I sure am enjoying all of your posts! Is it normal for you to be getting so many twins and triplets?
Twins are what you expect from mature ewes. Triplets are not uncommon but not as welcome as twins because it is harder on the ewe (and the shepherd) and they are usually smaller than twins.