It's been a quiet week. Quiet is good as we are gearing up for lambing in a couple of months. Lambing means going out to check the sheep every hour or two during the day and, if I am up to it, once or twice during the night. We spend a month doing this as that was as long as the ram was with the flock (do I need to explain that any further?).
Sheep do not have a great mothering instinct for the first few days. First time mothers are the worst. We have had some sheep who are off grazing after having their lamb (or two) and not even realize that their little one needs to be cleaned up and nursed - hence the need for frequent checking. A mother and her baby (or babies) will be taken into the barn and penned up in a small area so that the lamb can catch the mother and after a couple of days they form the mother/child or sheep/lamb bond.
Last year was quite exciting as we had a sheep with a prolapsing uterus. I borrowed all the sheep books the local library had, read quickly and we rigged a device to keep the sheep from losing the lamb The kids got to help with the process and we had to be sure to be home when she had her baby to release the device. Have I told you this story before?
Well, Fido (we called her that because we had a dog collar on her to assist with "the device") went into labor on a day when we were home so the kids got her into the barn. Matthew and I caught her and released the device. Labor progressed, but the poor thing had felt so violated by everything that we had done to maintain her pregnancy that she freaked out when the lamb had it's head protruding. She got up and started running around the barn. Obviously intervention was necessary once again. Matthew tackled her, Katelyn cleaned off the baby's nose and mouth, Alyssa cheered us on and I pulled the lamb. It was not breathing when born. BUT my extensive reading for the first problem had offered a solution for a lamb that is not breathing. The book said something about making sure the ceiling in the lambing shed is not too low (I guess some are); not a problem in our barn. Step two, grab the lamb by the hind legs, hold on tight as it is slippery (yes, I had gloves on). Now swing the baby in arc over your head a couple of times. Apparently the force of the swing pushes up on the diaphragm and sometimes jump starts the heart/lungs.
The kids thought I was insane, but after about two or three circles, the baby was breathing nicely. We helped the sheep and her lamb into a pen and completed the process.
Whew, I'll take boring for a few more weeks.
1 comment:
Blech.
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