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LambMetrics – 16th August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 0
Total Lambs Born: 54
Drysdale lambs (live total): 27
English Leicester lambs (live total): 18
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 5
Total Sets of Twins born: 17
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 28
Total ram lambs: 26
Ewes lambed /76: 35  (46.0 %)
Lamb % : 143 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

No lambs born today! Slackers….. 😉

Aunty P seems to be “back on track” again, the merino ewe seems a bit brighter and I made the decision to hand-raise the ram lamb unwanted by his mother. (The day in a nutshell. LOL)

And I forgot to take more photos this evening when I was putting out some hay. I remembered when it was half dark but thankfully I took one this morning of the young lad who is newly on the bottle. A day old and he is bigger than Bibbi and Bobbi who are a week old. Haha

He’s taking to the bottle nicely.

Supposed to rain again tomorrow so no doubt there will be lambs born then. 😉

LambMetrics – 15th August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 54
Drysdale lambs (live total): 27
English Leicester lambs (live total): 18
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 5
Total Sets of Twins born: 17
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 28
Total ram lambs: 27
Ewes lambed /76: 35  (46.0 %)
Lamb % : 143 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

Today started off with drama as we discovered Aunty P (the ewe who had prolapsed last week) was lying flat and not in a good way. All other chores were dropped while we spent time getting her back on her feet.

This was followed by finding a merino ewe in a poorly condition after lambing twins. She couldn’t get up, the foxes killed her twins and she’s very sick and miserable. A trip on the little grey Fergie tractor and she safe in the shed but I’m not entirely sure what her malady is and as a result have just thrown “everything” at it and am hoping something works. She may not survive the night. 🙁

Of course there was a trifecta…..

After dealing with those two dramas I got back to checking a set of twin English Leicesters born last night. And discovered two big, healthy looking lambs but the mother only wants the ewe lamb. So, into a pen with her with the lambs and employed a few tricks which seem to have helped a bit but she’s Jekyl/Hyde with the ram lamb.
I put Hermione in next to her as a demonstration of how to count past ONE. Not sure if it is working though! She’s not killing him (yet) but at least he’s had some colostrum. Will reassess in the morning.

Meanwhile: wildlife! (Our resident echidna that hangs about the hay and feed sheds)

Echidna

Finally received the ear tags for the lambs so I spent a while this afternoon catching a few random lambs and tagging them. So at least I got to cuddle lambs in the sunshine which was a nice change from the morning!
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures … so here’s a pic of Bibbi & Bobbi to tide you over until tomorrow. 🙂

Bobbi & Bibbi

LambMetrics – 14th August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 50
Drysdale lambs (live total): 25
English Leicester lambs (live total): 16
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 5
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 27
Total ram lambs: 23
Ewes lambed /76: 33  (43.4 %)
Lamb % : 136 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

Today was pretty straightforward. Yay!

First off was the “close encounter” with the wildlife on the morning rounds. We have heaps of Eastern Grey Kangaroos (no shortage here…….) but usually don’t get so close.

The wildlife stopped for a chat while on paddock rounds this morning.

Then we bring Anne/ “Tankerina” in for milking. Her lamb is stuffed full of milk and still only drinking off one side so we easily get 500-600ml each day (2 milkings) from the “unused” side of her udder. We’re impressed…!! LOL
Twin lambs will often stick to “their side” of the udder when there is plenty.

Udderly great.

Went looking for Hermione and her triplets at one stage….. the English Leicesters are pretty in love with going into the tractor shed when it rains and Hermione reckons she’s half EL so that totally counts. The wretches have made an absolute mess down the back behind the horse float – and now the lambs are being found regularly fast asleep on a “bed of wool” !! Great for when the weather is bad! The rotters. LOL

Hermione – making herself at home.

The morning was quite mild and the bees were absolutely loving the Philotheca sp. bush growing in the garden. Must be Spring. 🙂

Here’s a newborn Drysdale lamb this evening – all wet and gooey still.

One of the older lambs (about 10 days old) came for a photo session this evening…. *mwah*

At the end of the day, when the ewes are back in their Night Paddock, it’s really nice to just walk through them and enjoy the calm.

LambMetrics – 13th August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 1
Total Lambs Born: 46
Drysdale lambs (live total): 23
English Leicester lambs (live total): 14
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 5
Total Sets of Twins born: 14
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 25
Total ram lambs: 21
Ewes lambed /76: 30  (39.4 %)
Lamb % : 140 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

Quiet day today with only one lamb born late in the afternoon – so I forgot to take a photo as I was rushing about with evening chores.

Good news: the ewe we’ve now named “Aunty P” who had the prolapse managed to get the insert out last night but all her bits are staying in so that was a welcome sight. If there’s no change then I will be able to let her out with the mumma ewes tomorrow. Phew.

Had my first dystocia in the Merino flock this morning – a maiden ewe who had her lamb die in utero and didn’t go into labour properly. Lamb was going rotten and took a bit to get out but it was done and she’ll be feeling much much better tonight.

A bit of wildlife noticed on my walk this morning

We’re still milking the “Tankerella” English Leicester ewe (her real name is Anne LOL). Twice today and her milk is going to Bibbi.

The black and white twins born yesterday are doing very well and are now in the main mumma’s paddock.

Fleece of day-old English Leicester lamb

And we’re a bit “photo-lite” today so here’s a pick of the black/white twin’s dad, Stirling.

Hopefully, more pics tomorrow!

LambMetrics – 11th August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 0
Total Lambs Born: 39
Drysdale lambs (live total): 18
English Leicester lambs (live total): 12
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 5
Total Sets of Twins born: 11
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 20
Total ram lambs: 19
Ewes lambed /76: 26  (34.2 %)
Lamb % : 134 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

No new lambs today! The Drysdales are obviously in the “gap” that I wanted and the English Leicesters must have decided to forgo lambing in sunshine so that they can lamb in the rain tomorrow…. hmmmm

So, here’s a pic of Poppy today getting big and strong in the sunshine thanks to her foster-mum Boadicea.

In other news, an English Leicester ewe that lambed the other day and lost one of her twins at birth is needing me to milk her once a day to reduce her load and reduce her mastitis risk. Her lamb, after working out the huge titties, can’t drink it all and the udder is huuuuuuge. I took over 300ml off her today (which Bibbi and Bobbi thought was very tasty!)

The ewe that had the prolapse – well, I finally managed to jerry-rig something that seems to be working at keeping everything “in place”. She’s been a tough cookie and hopefully now her system can settle down and stay where it is supposed to! I still need to make a few tweaks to her harness but it looks very fetching. I’m just happy she’s eating and drinking!!

LambMetrics – 10th August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 39
Drysdale lambs (live total): 18
English Leicester lambs (live total): 12
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 5
Total Sets of Twins born: 11
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 20
Total ram lambs: 19
Ewes lambed /76: 26  (34.2 %)
Lamb % : 134 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 5
Losses: 4 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

Cindy and her new lamb

Glorious weather today with brilliant, warm sunshine.

For those that have fleece from Cindy – you’ll be pleased to know it looks like she’s had a little boy today. I didn’t get too close because there was another new mum near her that wasn’t as calm about me being there!

Meanwhile, in the stud flocks, there was only one set of twins born today.

I went to feed Bibbi & Bobbi just after lunch and I could hear “someone” yelling….. Turns out that at least one English Leicester ewe read my Memo* and took the instructions to heart!

It tends to get complicated when two lambs attempt to exit the mother at the same time. Probably a good thing she was a little tight to begin with because it meant there weren’t multiple bits sticking out as they couldn’t get that far!

Managed to get one lamb rearranged and got the head and front legs out. Then the ewe gave such a mighty push that with the bit of pull I was exerting on the front legs the lamb shot out like a cannonball and landed a good 20cm away!! Quickly put that lamb in front of her to work on and distract her from trying to get up (always tricky when the left hand is restraining and the right hand is doing the internals and you’re short.) The second lamb wasn’t quite ready to come along – they often snatch back their little hoof when you try to hold it – but I didn’t want to wait and have to try get her down again as she was still a bit tight. So that was another lamb ejected with velocity.

It had been starting to stress inside but the birth was so quick the lamb was a bit slow to get going.

Two lovely ewe lambs

No Drysdales today. I’m actually glad since I had to change rams halfway during joining and there was a one week gap so there should be a gap in the births…. (Turns out old Henry managed quite a few successes… despite giving the appearance of being clapped out and past it!!)

* MEMO TO ALL EWES: Remember that if you are in need of assistance then please don’t hesitate to YELL and raise a hoof. Your attending midwife will arrive forthwith. Failure to yell may result in a delayed response.