LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures – and maybe a few confronting ones too.
#LAMBMETRICS for the day
Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks (incl. Black flock)
Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 6
Drysdale lambs (live total): 0
Drysdale X lambs (live total): 1
English Leicester lambs (live total): 3
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 1
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 3
Ewes lambed /86: 5 (5.81 %)
Lamb % : 80 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 2 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]
Castledale & Merino Flocks
Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 4
MerinoX lambs (live total): 4
Castledale lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /98: 2 (2.04 %)
Lamb % : 200% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]
NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:
Quiet for a couple of days and then BOOM.
3 sets of twins today. 5 ewes and 1 ram lamb.
A maiden Merino ewe had her twins in the early hours but could only count to one. So at daybreak I got her into a pen in the shed to allow some “quiet, mothering time”. A little bit of LamBoost for the lamb feeling left out and then she let me help the lamb drink. Happy to report that she can now count to TWO. Will leave her indoors overnight to make sure she is fully settled with them.
Another, slightly older, Merino ewe had also lambed over night with twins and she could count to two. So that was great. This evening though I was suspicious that the lambs weren’t getting enough colostrum – they kept sucking on the teats and were still crying – so I’ve given them supplemental colostrum and put them in the shed for the night also.
Pebbles, one of the English Leicesters, decided she probably should lamb…. she was a bit too posh to push though (like last year) so thankfully I realised in time. She had a white ram lamb (he’s stained yellow in the first pic due to the meconium in his birthing fluids) and a black ewe lamb who looks like she will have the English Blue “wings” pattern like her Dad, Stirling, and Pebbles’ mum, Mopsy. She was up on her feet very fast. 🙂
That pretty much wraps up today! Hopefully more #lambspam tomorrow!