Thursday, May 10, 2018

Day 5: The Running of the Sheep

They seem to enjoy sunning themselves on the warm driveway. Luckily there is a livestock gate between the driveway and the road!

Today was the first day the weather was nice enough to release the beasts! The ewes and older lambs in the oldest portion of the barn were sent on their merry way, which both made them happy and freed up that space for more mommas and babies to be cycled in. While Grace helped hold down the fort with the pregnant ewes, I assisted with the process of moving the sheep. Some of the sheep were trailered to the fields across the road, while other were released on the fields surrounding the farm.
One of 8 or so ewes being processed at a time, wondering if she can get back in the group pen without us noticing.

The mothers seemed to remember this process, the babies were just happy to have a new place to explore.
The trailer can hold about 8 ewes and their babies. The ewes and lambs were separated by a divider inside the trailer. They weren't too pleased about that, but it kept the lambs from being accidentally stepped on in transit. Before getting them in the trailer, the lambs were all given some medication (I think a dewormer?), and any single lambs out of a mature ewe were marked, so that when the sheep are checked later, the person doing the checking won't panic when they see only one lamb (yearlings typically have one lamb, full adults two). Each ewe was additionally checked for mastitis. And then, they were loaded in, and the screaming trailer was off to the fields!
Lambs exploring after being given dewormer.

Hello, new friend!
The same process was repeated with a group of yearlings and their babies, except they all went onto the closer fields and were far more confused by everything!



Once all the proper ewes and babies were out, I headed back to the new barn and pregnant ewes. We had one ewe who we thought was expecting triplets, as she had a green mark on her head. All the sheep are ultrasounded earlier in their pregnancies and marked according to how many lambs they have. An adult ewe gets a red mark for a single lamb, and a green mark for triplets. Twins are the most common and are not marked. Yearlings most commonly have only one lamb, and get a green mark for twins. Additionally, the number of lambs for each ewe is recorded, as are any other data about that ewe, but when we are rushed, we often go by just the head mark. This gave us a surprise with this particular ewe, as she was recorded as expecting four lambs!

The first lamb came out without major problems and was perfectly healthy. When I went in to check for the second, however, I had to flag down Grace. I was able to reposition the feet, but when I felt for the head... I wasn't sure what I was feeling. I knew I had the head, but I couldn't find the nose! Grace confirmed my suspicions: we were most likely dealing with a stillborn and/or deformed lamb. When she got the lamb out, it was indeed stillborn, and looked mostly normal, save for its nose, which was deeply squished in and probably the cause of death and due to crowding in the womb. The ewe went on to have another healthy baby, and we thought we were done... until we came back later and saw her having another! Sadly, this lamb was also deformed and stillborn. I guess four lambs is too many! The ewe and two live lambs seemed to be doing well, though.

Later in the day, I experienced the first death of a lamb I was delivering. The mother had delivered a large, healthy ewe lamb with a little help from me, and I subsequently checked the position of the second and made a minor correction. I let her work on it by herself, and when I came back, one of the lamb's legs had gotten tucked back since I corrected them. Nonetheless, the mother took it in stride and was able to deliver the lamb with little trouble, as this one was smaller than the first. It was another beautiful ewe lamb, very much alive, however there was a serious problem-- she could not breathe. Grace and I both worked to to make sure her airways were clear and Grace even did mouth to mouth, as well as dabbed alcohol under the lamb's nose (which often induces them to take a breath). The lamb's heart was beating quite strongly for what seemed like an impossibly long time, but she simply could not inhale on her own, and she passed away. Based on what we had observed, Snaedis and Helgi think the most likely explanation is the lamb had deformed lungs/diaphragm.

On a much more positive front, Pip is doing very well! She makes up for her tiny size (2.6 lbs/1.2kg) with extreme sass and can now reach her mom's udder with a little help.
Pip is also disproportionately loud for her size.
Some more cuddle buddies.

Seems like an odd arrangement but they seem happy.


Maybe a lamb, maybe a marshmallow Peep.



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