Day 10/11 Slow

The passed two days have been our slowest at Hestur Farm yet. The remaining 86 ewes are taking their sweet time popping out their lambs.  We've been passing the time cleaning, snuggling with lambs, attempting to learn some Icelandic (with little success) and challenging Helgi to pull up competitions (also with little success).

Yesterday we were treated with the opportunity to drive a trailer full of ewes and their lambs to the mountains where they will be spending the summer. This low-key 10 minute drive down the road was super exciting for us as we had not left the farm for 10 days. To be honest I was giddy. The ewes and their lambs were turned out on land that once was a small sheep farm many decades ago. After releasing the sheep we spent time exploring the abandoned barn that was full of old farming equipment dating back to the 1940's (which also made me giddy). It was refreshing to take in the change of scenery which was breathtaking. But an even more breathtaking view was waiting for us back at Hestur; EMPTY PENS!!!!!!!!! Lambing season is almost complete!

Sheep barn ruins 

     

The most beautiful view I've seen in Iceland yet!

Summer turn out 

Grace and Jess exploring 

Today we continued to do our normal chores and delivered lambs here and there. We also have been planning our trip to Reykjavik this Friday (our first day off!). Students from last year send us recommendations for stuff to do and see! So far we plan on going to the Icelandic Phallological Museum, Reykjavik Botanical Garden, and Old Harbour.

The latest photo of Steve because he is too handsome

Good night! 

-D

A sheep farmer's most valued tool during lambing season the almighty lube. Cue the harps. 

Day 8/9 Home Stretch

We are more than half way done lambing with about 137 ewes left!! With more sheep and lambs getting turned out everyday the barn is starting to get empty! HALLELUJAH!

  Yesterday started with more good news Steve has been adopted by a sheep mother who adores him (how could she not?). However, Steve is still adjusting to being a sheep again as he is giving up his faith healer/spiritual being identity. Despite his foster mother's constant affection he has not accepted her as his mother and still calls to us when he hears our voices. As hard as it is, we have avoided walking near Steve's pen to allow him to fully adjust and accept his new momma.

 Steve and his new mom                               Steve trying to hang out with us rather than his new mom

The remaining ewes are keeping us busy. In fact we delivered 73 lambs in the last 24 hours. We are constantly in search of clean, empty lambing jugs as space is getting tight with so many ewes lambing at once. We have been forced to build temporary jugs at the ends of the ewe pens for the ewes to lamb out in and then transfer them to permanent jugs. This gives us time to make transfers, sanitize each jug, and drink more coffee. 

Jess assisting a ewe in a temporary lambing jug

At some point during the day one of the ewes sat on and suffocated her lamb. In an effort to reduce the number of ewes nursing triplets one triplet from each ewe is adopted out to a new mom that had a single or lost a lamb. This is ensures that each lamb is well fed as ewes only have two teats and cannot always make enough milk to support the growth of each lamb. The tricky part of the process is convincing the new mom that the lamb is hers. Otherwise, she will reject it. Adoptions are normally done at the time of birth but due to unfortunate circumstances we had to go another route to replace the ewe's suffocated lamb. Helgi skinned the dead lamb and made the potential adoptee a skin "sweater" (inspiration for the Silence of the Lambs?) so he would smell like her lamb. SO COOL.

Lamb skin sweater on lamb adoptee 

Through the chaos of lambing Snaedis lived one of our worst fears and dropped her phone through the slats in the barn floor into the manure pit. With the help of Helgi and "Big" Steve she suited up in waders and a head lamp and was lowered into the pit through the floor trudging through waist deep manure. She successfully retrieved her undamaged phone.  

Until next time,

Dana 

The view walking back to the house 

Day 7: Eye of the Lambing Storm

Well, remember that lamb with an umbilical hernia that we thought would need to be euthanized? We came in this morning to see it lively and jumping around with our orphans Steve and Annie. I did a double take, then asked both Snædis's mom and Helgi for confirmation. We left him last night with Annie and Steve in their "bucket" under the heat lamp. He was barely breathing with what we thought was intestines protruding from his umbilical cord. Steve and Annie snuggled with him and Steve, being himself, was caught suckling on the lamb's ear. Helgi came around later that night to euthanize him and was confused because he saw a healthy lamb with no hernia. Our only conclusion was that Steve healed him (most likely a misdiagnosis, but also likely Steve's healing powers). Not only does he have the power to cause ewes to go into labor when you walk him around the barn, but he also has the power to heal. Our lost lamb count has now gone back to 1 and Drogo has been adopted by a new mom after his mom (a yearling) rejected him.

(Our back from the dead lamb, Drogo)

(Steve and his mom Dana. Steve doing what he does best, suckling Dana's nose)

We have moved into the eye of the lambing storm and while doing morning feedings and into the afternoon we were monitoring and aiding many ewes in labor. 

(Lambs climbing into their hay feeder acting like Lukka, the dog)

We were constantly trying to transfer ewes and older lambs out of lambing jugs and into the adjacent barn to make space. We took wooden panels from around the barn to make tempory lambing jugs in order to meet the demand. Many of the older ewes needed little assistance and just needed us to swoop in once the lamb was out to get the mucus out of the airways, iodine the umbilical cord and give an antibiotic tab to reduce the risk of watery mouth (e. coli infection). It was such a constant flow, that we all lost track of the time were kicked out to go take a break and get lunch at 2 pm. We got our lunch and came back to more lambings. We also were visited by some families and tourists to see the farm and see the lambs because this farm is attached to the University here. (So think Witter but on a much larger scale.) This put some extra pressure on us to make sure everything went smoothly with all the visitors. While the barn was full of visitors I got to deal with a yearling that was not enjoying labor or the lambing jug and decided to join her friends by jumping clear over the fencing. I was able to get her back into an enclosure, not without a fight from her. She started to push the lamb out but, while this was happening she freaked out again and while the lamb was halfway out cleared the fence again while I tried to grab her horns with my slippery, lube covered hands. Again, I was able to get her back into the enclosure and she had her lamb. She was still anxiety ridden so I left her and her daughter alone and gave her some time to bond. She seemed to take to her mothering instinct once I was out of sight. But, her daughter seeing a chance to see the world squeezed in between the panels of the temporary enclosure and went to visit mom's friends. For the third time, mom jumped over the tall fencing to find her baby (I feel like this is some kind of record)! Helgi and I moved her to a more permanent lambing jug, one that her daughter could not sneak out of and *fingers crossed* mom does not try to jump out of. Thankfully all the visitors/tourists were distracted by Steve and his magnetism instead of watching me and my now not so favorite yearling. As we got towards the end of the day, I got to deal with the lambs and moms that had milk/milking problems. Many are that mom is producing a lot and develops a hard udder. The best thing for that is to push the lambs to nurse then rub a mint creme on the udder until it has softened. One ewe seems to enjoy the creme so much she leans into it as you apply it. One case, in particular, is the mother has developed milk fever. I have only seen this in cows so it was a new experience for me. Helgi gave the ewe the required medications and supplements to help her but she continued to be dazed and lethargic. Her lamb must be bottle fed every hour because mom has not produced any milk. I went to bottle feed the ram lamb and I noticed he still had milk in his belly. When the older lambs are moved out of the jug two ewes are usually paired together in a larger enclosure. The other ewe in the pen is very protective of the other mom and protective of the ram lamb. I caught the ram lamb nursing from the other mom. Hopefully this new mom continues to let the lamb nurse so that we don't need to bottle fed him so often. We ended the day late and headed back home to get a few hours of sleep before heading back for more. 

Day 6: Yearling Storm, Booze and Cake

The calm before the storm is official over. Our lambing storm started with the yearlings. The morning was still calm and we had a steady stream of lambings, enough for us to monitor and continue to do other work around the barn. I was even left with a few that were lambing so the rest of the group could go and eat lunch. We even got lots of time to socialize with our orphans Steve and Annie. Even though they got an upgrade Steve has come really close to jumping out of their enclosure. He hears Dana's high pitch squeal "Steeeeeeveee!!" and he starts jumping.

 (Steve is the bottom left and Annie the top right)

The oldest lambs and their moms have had an upgrade. They now have an enclosure that goes outside. Lukka spent some time watching over the flock. Some of the ewes were not liking the dog lying in their hay. 

(Lukka looking over the flock)

(Outside enclosure right outside the barn)

With the lambs outside we asked about possible predators. In Iceland, they do not have large predators but they have Artic foxes and ravens. The ravens seek out the lambs to pluck from the flock which makes them a threat. Helgi put out some frozen meat to keep the ravens preoccupied away from the lambs. A little after lunch was when the yearling storm began. Many of the yearlings are expecting singles and some expecting twins. After seeing the Hulk (12.5lb lamb) being born, I was nervous. I went through a few normal lambings, then I got my first yearling. The horn buds were sufficiently stuck on the pelvis and it took a lot of pulling to get the little guy out. He came out, took one breath, then stopped breathing. After some chest compressions and a few puffs of air in the lungs, he was breathing again. [Aside: After-birth fluids are horrible, especially when they get in your mouth but having a living lamb is worth it.] 

(Prized yearling and She-Hulk)

 Once finished I took a deep breath and moved on to the next ewe in labor. She was also expected to have a single, this yearling being one of the farms most prized yearling (this being told to me after the lambing) and she lambed out what I could only call She-Hulk, she was huge! I then immediately moved on to the next ewe, who was supposed to be having twins. Surprise, she had a single and what was supposed to be the twin but was an oversized placenta. The amount of strength but also a gentleness with lambing is amazing. With some of the larger lambs, it took so much force to get them through the birth canal, but then they are newborns and are so sensitive to their new world. The juxtaposition between the two is interesting to think about. With that said, the feeling you get when you struggle together with the ewe and you finally get the lamb out and it takes a big first breath is like no other feeling. As we got later in the day, the emotional toll of the difficult lambings started to get to Jess, Dana, and I. The second to last lambing we dealt with was another yearling. She was completely out of control scaling the walls of the lambing jug unfamiliar with what was happening. The only way she would sit still was when Jess was with her (Jess is the yearling queen). Once she started into active labor, Jess went to check on the lamb and its position. She noted that it was large so I went to assist her. Not only was the lamb large but it had horn buds. We called Dana over to also assist because the two of us were not enough to pull the lamb out. As I tried to stretch mom, I could see the lamb's tongue swelling and turning a deep purple. This is a great indicator that the lamb is not getting air and needs to get out immediately. We all used every ounce of strength and it finally came out. He struggled to breathe because he inhaled some fluid and his tongue was very swollen, so Jess and Dana took him out of the jug to help him. They noticed something was not right. The lamb had an umbilical hernia and part of his intestines was outside the body. Given that a professional is required to fix a hernia, he was struggling to breathe and the lamb is not worth the cost of a veterinarian to be called out, he was to be euthanized. At that point in the evening, we agreed that we needed chocolate cake and a stiff drink to soothe the amount of blood, pain, and yearlings we had seen and dealt with. We headed back to the house to end the day with a big piece of chocolate cake, a beer, and compare bruises. It was a nice break to prepare ourselves for the rest of the storm tomorrow. Until then, goodnight!

(The ewe that was expected to have twins and instead had a huge single)

 (Photographic evidence of the 12.5lb lamb. He is not yet 24 hours old in the pictures below.)

Day 5: Triplets and the Hulk

I am going to start this post with a candid of who I share my room with. He sleeps on the bed during the day, and I sleep on it at night. It is a good set-up with the occasional cat hair on the pillow and as long as I don't keep my window open for him to climb into. 

We arrived in the morning to see a new row of lambing jugs up. Apparently about 30 minutes after we left last night many sheep decided it was time to lamb out. One of them being a leader sheep. They are there own kind of Icelandic sheep, I am not sure if you would call it a sub-breed or even another breed. Leader sheep were bred to lead the rest of the flock. They are thin, tall and very smart. They are supposed to help lead the flock back down the mountains and to their respective farm in the fall. Gruna (in my past post) is also a leader sheep. As you can see the lambs are born just like mom, very lanky and inquisitive. You can see the lambs peering over the feeder to check out what is on the other side.

We got right to morning feeding including feeding our orphans, Annie and Steve. Steve has decided that he loves nursing. We were forced to tube feed many times over the last few days because he was not interested in the bottle. Now he loves to suckle, including suckling ears, noses, chins, coveralls, anything that gets in his way. We had a steady stream of lambings today. All of them seemed to be challenging. I had the most difficult lambing I have ever encountered. The ewe was expecting triplets. She was struggling for some time so I went in the check things out. Her lambs were a huge tangle. I found the lamb that had the broken sac, he was completely sideways and moved into the birth canal spiraling. His head was stuck and when I pulled the head forward, the legs would go back. I used the wire to secure the head while holding the legs with my second hand. I got him out! He was lively and up in a few minutes. Mom passed the second sac but the lamb closest to the birth canal still had an intact sac. The lamb I was looking for was in the farthest reaches of the uterus. I could not move the large second lamb, so I removed him in the hopes that the third could hold on for a few more seconds. He wanted to make the same spiral formation while sideways like his brother coming out and I struggled to keep him straight. Once he was out I had to go back in to get their sister who may or may not have not been able to breathe. Her head did not want to cooperate and would tip back so her chin would go up. Guiding with my hand above her head and my second hand pulling her legs, I was able to get her out after what seemed like a lifetime. All were lively and up to nurse soon after!! 

I don't know who was the most relieved getting all 3 of those lambs out me or the mom. Pictured is me with the second ram out and a happy mom. Also, today we lost our first lamb during birth. The first lamb was difficult, so Dana gave mom some time to clean the first one and took a walk around the barn. Not but 5 minutes later the second came out fully encased. Jess got there first to remove the thick sac but the little lamb struggled to take his first breath. Snædis and Helgi tried their hardest to remove the fluid from his airways but it did not revive him. Working at such a large farm with many different ewes that could have any type of problem lambing I tried to prepare myself for complications and for those situations we can not control but when they happen there is always emotions. I know that time will come when I am in a tough situation with a ewe and her lambs and I will not be able to save all of them, but that is a hurdle for another day. 

More interesting cases include a ewe that was expecting twins. It was a normal birth for the first lamb, so I left her to go and finish putting out hay. I had asked Dana to keep an eye on her in case she started to lamb out her second. After a little while, Dana commented that she had not seen her push so she went in to check things out. She found the second lamb but while she felt over its head she was startled, the lamb had no eyes, it only had eye sockets. She pulled her hand out to see it was covered in rusty colored goop which usually indicates a dead lamb. Snædis got the lamb out with the sac mostly intact to keep the rotten fluids in one place. She guessed the lamb died ~3 weeks ago and never developed but instead started to decompose. By the end of the day, there was not much going on so we got ready to call it a night. I stuck behind to help do some last minute transferring of older lambs out of lambing jugs to the adjacent barn to prepare the night crew. Jess and Dana missed one of the craziest lambings. The mother was expecting a single and boy did that lamb take advantage of the space. She lambed out a ram lamb that weighed in at 5.7 kg (12.54 lbs)!! Snædis pulled on this lamb and got the head out, but its body also got stuck because it was so large. It took A LOT of effort to get the big guy out. He was a bit dazed by the experience and I think mom was as well. I will post an update on him tomorrow. 

Until then, goodnight!

Day 4: Sheep and Steve

We made it to day 4! Today was particularly interesting. It was our first chilly day, the first few days were humid and unusually warm for Iceland. There was a bit of wind today and the horses that reside in the pasture behind the house were having a blast whipping their manes and running with the wind. We were not loving the wind as much as we fought against it to get to the barn. The first thing we did when we arrived was check in on our orphans. They are officially named Annie and Steve. Steve is named after the Icelandic student that is also joining us for lambing. His real name is Stefan, there is a story behind why he goes by Steve, Dana will fill you in later on Steve's story.

Jess with Steve and Annie (Steve is in the front, Annie is sneaking behind Jess)

They started in this basket and got an upgrade because they frequently jumped out of the basket to wander around the barn scaring us.

I must have jinxed myself when writing about the complicated lambing yesterday because today was full of complicated births. Having a lamb positioned hock first (like yesterday) would have been welcomed. Dana had a ewe that was expecting twins and the first lamb never entered the birth canal. Being pushed by mom, the lamb kept twisting inside the uterus until it was upside down and backward. Dana got a great workout repositioning the lamb. The second lamb was also twisted. By the time Dana got to the second lamb the mom did not want Dana to leave, so she sat on her. 

An exhausted Dana was cleaned up by mom and released once mom turned her attention on her new lambs. Jess had to deal with a lot of yearlings today (teen moms). She had difficulties with the mother fully dilating and being able to fit the large horn buds through the pelvis and having them scream in her ear constantly. 

I keep writing about horn buds and that they are difficult to get past the pelvis. I thought I would provide an example of what we are dealing with. 

These two ram lambs caused a lot of trouble for the young mom who was helped by Snædis's dad because it required an expert to get them out. My most interesting experience was one ewe that passed her water sac. I was ready to go, but she was not. She was not having visible contractions, so I gave her some time. I made another round around the barn and still she was not doing anything. I went in to check and found that her three lambs were completely tangled. I felt a head on one side, read end on another side, and a lot of legs. Snædis assisted me in getting each one out in a safe position but it was exhausting for us and mom. All three lambs were healthy and standing within a few minutes which was a huge relief! We were very successful today in not losing any of our lambs *knock on wood*. 

After lambing, we continue to check in on the lambs and ewe. There needs to be regular udder checks, checking the lamb's belly to make sure they are nursing, and checking the lamb's hindend to make sure it is clean. Here is my follow-up with the very sweet ewe from yesterday and her two lambs. 

This is the little guy that caused mom so much trouble during lambing.

We had a bit of a lull at the end of the day and got to take part in the cutting down of the rams' horns. They have a select few that have horns that grow towards their heads. Summer horn growth averages 2-3 inches, which could mean death for some of them. Helgi uses saw wire because it is safest around their eyes and easier for the person (as compared to a manual or electric saw). The only gross part is the smell of smoking horn (it smells equivalent to when a horse gets it horseshoes put on). All of the rams were very well behaved except for the one I took a video of (his name is Batman). Steve was the one that restrained them and Helgi is the one cutting down the horn. (There is no need for sound for the video unless you want to hear my awkward commentary on Batman). 

We ended the day a little bit earlier than yesterday, early enough to see the sunset! That being said it is still "the calm before the storm". 

Day 3: Grain!!

Today started off great having awoken to an alarm instead of a cat! We started the day with morning feeding, while others fed I cleaned the floors. In the pregnant ewe house, we walk on either grates or slatted floors. The grates are more comfortable for the ewes, but get gummed up with feces, urine and wool easily. The plastic slats are harder for the ewes to walk on because they can get slippery, but are super easy to clean. We are all above a very large manure pit. Some ewes like to follow you while you clean and inspect your work and others do not acknowledge your existence.

This ewe was way too busy eating to take a few steps back so I could finish sweeping. 

What they do acknowledge is when Snædis brings out the grain. Much like our Witter flock, just the sound of the grain scoop starts a cacophony of baa-ing. They are climbing up panels searching for grain. Again, they either get grain in their hay or in the small lanes in the pens. 

Also, much like our Witter flock, they have an insatiable appetite for grain. Once they sucked down everything in the lane, they remembered... wasn't there a person in our pen cleaning? People usually have grain, let's pester her! 

Once my pockets were checked, I was deemed useless for not having grain. 

Once finished we checked in on our two orphan lambs. Once they have grown large enough they will be transferred to a ewe with a single lamb. Because our orphans are so small, and single lambs run on the larger side, we want to give them a good chance of competing for milk from mom. 

This little guy lost his mother to illness. 

This little girl was born ~10 days premature and lost her brother and mom, but has been very happy with new mom Jess.

Family Portrait!

We had a steady flow of ewes lambing and had to continue to transfer moms with older lambs out of jugs and into the adjacent barn. Before moving them, the lambs receive ear tags and notches in their ears. At 24 hours old they do not have fully innervated ears making this easy to do with little to no blood and pain for the lamb. The Hestur farm has traditional unique notches for their sheep and was traditionally used when the sheep came down from the mountains in the fall and they needed to be organized (now they mostly use their ear tags). With the steady flow we had some interesting lambings. One lambing that sticks out, in particular, was a polled ewe. (Yes, they have a few of those! See picture below) 

She was a very sweet girl that was having difficulties. Her first lamb only had one leg coming out so I had to push him back in and pull both legs forwards. I thought I was in the clear, but the second lamb never made it to the birth canal. For a long time, mom cleaned the first lamb and did not seem to realize that she had a second lamb. I went in to feel and what seemed like way in the back of the uterus was something pointy. All kinds of possibilities ran through my head and I got Snædis over to help me. Turns out the second lamb was, in fact, healthy and normal I was simply feeling the hocks which were trying to come out first. He required some major readjustment, and once repositioned came out fine. Dana and Jess also had some interesting lambings. Jess had taken on a yearling, who as a teen mom wanted nothing to do with labor. She was put into a jug and continued to complain. We named her Sixteen after the classic show "Sixteen and Pregnant". With lots of help, and someone holding her hoof, she finally had her single lamb and quieted down. Dana got to help a smaller ewe with her twins. Due to her small pelvis it took a lot of strength and the wire to pull both lambs out. Dana has mastered the technique of putting the loop around your foot, so while you pull the head with the wire you are able to guide the legs with your hands. Speaking of Dana, she did not develop a black eye from the ewe pictured below, however, the ewe will need to be moved out of her lambing jug at some point giving her a second chance at her nemesis, Dana. 

We finished the day with evening feeding. I got the pleasure of feeding the rams and ewes in the third barn. The rams are very outgoing and love attention (pictured below), but do not like to be touched, so I was not quite sure what they wanted.. they had food, water, all the amenities, so I gave them some compliments and took their picture. They seemed pleased with themselves after. 

Until tomorrow, goodnight!