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LambMetrics – 1st August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 4
Drysdale lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 1
Ewes lambed /76: 1  (2.6 %)
Lamb % : 200 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

The English Leicesters decided they didn’t want to be left off the scoreboard so there was a set of twins born today. Hehehe  Just how we like it too – they didn’t need any help. Both are a good size and seem very sturdy.

They did remind me that I really shouldn’t rely on “other people’s figures” and I should have worked out the due dates as I usually do…. which means they’re due tomorrow. LOL

It’s easier to monitor these ewes in regard to their milk supply because they are very quiet and we often pen them up for the first night, just to make sure we haven’t missed anything. The English Leicesters and Drysdales tend to be very strong mothers who aren’t easily dissuaded from their job and will follow us when we carry their lamb/s into the shed.

The Merino and Castledale ewes on the other hand are not quite as quiet so they can be trickier to watch. Interfering with them can be fraught because if you go and try save one situation you can inadvertently stir them up and cause more problems. As a result, we can only intervene in certain circumstances and “as Nature intended” tends to be the default.
Research has shown that once a ewe is around 5m away from her lamb she often “doesn’t see it” or recognise it. New mothers – especially Merino ewes – are notoriously bad and flighty. If they get a fright they run and forget they have a lamb. And they don’t come back to it. 🙁 Super frustrating – and one reason why intervention is only ever done with great caution!

Hopefully, the Merino and Castledale ewes will start lambing in the next few days too. Probably won’t have the close-up photos though! (Except maybe the ex-pet sheep. As long as they don’t take after their mothers!)

LambMetrics – September 20th, 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born 13-18/9/19: 3
Total Lambs Born: 72
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 38
English Leicester lambs (live total): 33
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 33
Total ram lambs: 39
Ewes lambed /68: 57 (83.8 %)
Lamb % : 124 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 1

FINAL FIGURES:
Plus! More stats!

  English Leicester Drysdale X
Ewe lambs 14 19
Ram lambs 20 19
Sets of Twins 9 6
Ewes lambed 24 33
Ewes empty 6 5
Total Lambing % 113% 100%
Assisted/Dystocia 2 6
Losses 1 0
Lambs needing ongoing supplemental feeding 2-4 0
Lambs needing colostrum supplement 12 1
Lambs requiring treatment for infection 4 2

Notable Midwifery tales:

Well, looks like we’re finally finished for 2019!
It wasn’t a bad effort in the end – despite the season and a shorter than usual “joining” period. We actually expected a much lower figure of lambs because of the reduced time frame. Looks like the rams had ideas of their own…!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our annual lambing journey. 🙂

Last one for 2019! (I think)

LambMetrics – September 12th 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born 11-12/9/19: 4
Total Lambs Born: 69
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 37
English Leicester lambs (live total): 31
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 33
Total ram lambs: 36
Ewes lambed /68: 54 (79.4 %)
Lamb % : 125 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 1

Notable Midwifery tales:

Evening drinkies

Just when you think the season is quietly just limping to a close…

Brought two lambs and their mothers in this morning as they had seemed a little “flat” and hollow. As of this evening they’re already showing a great deal of improvement after some antibiotics so we’re hoping the infections have been caught early enough. It’s always a knife-edge when it comes to timing – they have to look sick enough to justify the treatment but they go downhill very fast at this age so it doesn’t take much to be that fraction late.

A couple of very small lambs born yesterday and today. Maiden ewes with their first lambs – one hadn’t even really looked pregnant! As long as they grow fast it’s all good.

Although, one (from yesterday) has ended up in the shed tonight as it was looking a little peaky and I am concerned the mother may have early mastitis. (Odd for a Drysdale maiden ewe but never say never…) Fingers crossed because this little ‘un doesn’t have the body mass to sustain it for very long. (She refused a bottle too)

On a slightly different note…. the “has to be ONE SUPER WEIRD thing every year” note… One of the ewes that lambed today literally nearly choked to death on the lamb birth membranes. The lamb had been born and hadn’t rolled much so the thin covering was still in place. The ewe started to eat them off (as they usually do) she must have had too much of a mouthful and then – she choked. Right in front of me. She coughed and coughed and COUGHED and couldn’t shift it. Her tongue was turning blue. I desperately tried to pat her on the back/side/anywhere as well as an attempt at a Heimlich maneuver!!! Stroked up (the outside) of her throat. Just anything. I was feeling very helpless. Thankfully, she managed to get it to move somehow and then she was feeling quite shaky. (So was I) After that we both needed a Bex and a lie down!!

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The ewes and lambs have now been shifted to the bigger paddock and it’s pleasing to see the lambs growing well.

3 weeks old

LambMetrics – September 10, 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born 8-10/9/19: 9
Total Lambs Born: 65
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 34
English Leicester lambs (live total): 30
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 30
Total ram lambs: 35
Ewes lambed /68: 50 (73.5 %)
Lamb % : 128 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 1

Notable Midwifery tales:

Beautiful spring day today.

Just the one set of twins to greet us this morning. Possibly another lamb “on the way” tonight too.

The older lambs and their mothers have been shifted to the Big Paddock from the small paddock they’ve been in. Keeping them in a smaller areas assists the Shepherdess in making sure everyone is getting enough milk and doing okay. (We learn from our mistakes, hopefully)

That paddock was getting a little crowded so the ewes and lambs willing to come running were drifted off yesterday and they are now enjoying a paddock with a View.

Lacey with her daughter, Charly, on their way to the Big Paddock.
NotSquishy loves coming over for a scratch.

Things are starting to quieten a little. Most of the “milking” problems have resolved and only 2-3 need a spare bottle top-up rather than the 12 that there was a week ago. Here’s hoping it lasts..!

LambMetrics – September 7th 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 1
Total Lambs Born: 56
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 32
English Leicester lambs (live total): 23
Total Sets of Twins born: 12
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 25
Total ram lambs: 31
Ewes lambed /68: 44 (64.7 %)
Lamb % : 125 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 1

Notable Midwifery tales:

Only one lamb to add to the Metrics today.

When the (multitude of) lambs received their late night bottle last night a ewe was heard yelling. The comment at the time was:
“What’s the bet that’s a Leicester?”
“Not taking that one” was the reply.

Turns out we were both wrong. It was a Drysdale. And she’d taken the Shepherdess’s regular advice to heart: If you’re in trouble then YELL and the Shepherdess will come and fix it.

So, at 10pm there was a (vocal) ewe doing laps around the Shepherdess’s legs – the Shepherdess was doing her best lamb imitation – in the torchlight until the opportunity came to careful lie the ewe down.

The trusty torch revealed some yellow-stained tippy-toes sticking out of the vulva of Drysdale 543 (Grand-daughter of her Imperial Highness Kimmy, just by the way, no wonder she was has attitude) so time was of the essence as the lamb was now stressed.

The lamb was a bit large but extraction was relatively simple and straightforward – in less than five minutes a strapping lad was placed in front of an eager mother to lick.

Both the Shepherdess and the Deupty Shepherdess are hoping the remaining ewes are not over-cooking their lambs now because being over-cooked often means trouble in the delivery.

We won’t worry about that too much though – let’s just enjoy what we have.

Here’s a rainbow picture from in between showers and sunshine this afternoon. More fun tomorrow?

LambMetrics – September 6th, 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 55
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 31
English Leicester lambs (live total): 23
Total Sets of Twins born: 12
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 25
Total ram lambs: 30
Ewes lambed /68: 43 (63.2 %)
Lamb % : 125 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 7
Losses: 1

Notable Midwifery tales:

Remember Hermione the Lambnapper who was taking after her mother yesterday?

Just after the blog posted last night she had her lamb. 🙂

Hermione and her strapping young lad

Today was supposed to be easy….. yeah, right.

This year we’re really trying to make sure the lambs are getting enough milk so we pretty much have them under a microscope – and analysing each move they make (or don’t). The downside is several more getting “top-up” bottles during the day.

Today saw a few heavy showers come through and about lunchtime (bottle time) the lambs were fed but one English Leicester lamb was missing. After 15-20 minutes of looking behind sheds, under the tractor in the shed (favourite spot!) in the nettles patches, under fences, behind woodpiles it was looking increasingly like it had vanished into thin air. Maybe it was taken by an eagle was one thought.

Then, the thought that maybe it had squeezed through the gate into the feed shed while it was raining. Walk in… no….. then turn around and…

Smart lamb, staying dry and making his mother/s freak out

The mother was very pleased to see him. He needs a top-up bottle though (one reason why he was feeling a bit frail and hid himself away).

Meanwhile, while the searching was going on it was noticed that the neighbour’s young cattle had got through the fence and were in our paddock! Once the lambs had been sorted out it was up the hill to move sheep out of the way so the cattle could be collected. (The sheep were a little bemused – “we just moved in here yesterday!”)  The cattle thought this was a wonderful idea and ran around exploring. I left the neighbour to do the cattle wrangling – and I headed home for a late lunch!

After a quick dash to town to post some orders it was time to clean pens and check on a pet ewe that had looked like she was “ready”.

Chores were done, English Leicesters were rearranged but there was still no lambs from “Miss Piggy”. A few alarm bells were ringing as she was watched walking around the paddock. She wasn’t going to be easy to get into the shed so she was caught in the paddock and with the 2nd shepherdess holding the mother’s “hand” a quick exam determined that Miss Piggy was indeed “ready” but the lamb at the door was trying to be born breech (hocks first in this case) and the placenta was already trying to come with it (that’s not good). Thankfully, no-one takes photos while the shepherdess has arm-length obstetric gloves on with her hand inserted to manipulate a lamb!

The lamb’s legs were moved so that the toes would come first and then it was pulled pretty easily. It was alive! It was placed in front of Miss Piggy and she immediately started to lick it which is a very important instinctive behaviour for lamb-mother bonding and for the external stimulation of the lamb.

Miss Piggy has had twins previously and our standard procedure when doing an intervention is to always check for a twin. There was a twin.

This twin was in correct birthing position and a bit further “back” in the uterus. Normally it would be fine to leave the ewe to deliver the second lamb but with darkness approaching and being unsure how long everything else had taken it was decided to extract the second. That turned out to be a good decision as the second lamb was showing signs of stress – it had done a poo whilst in utero. Being jammed up behind your brother is common across the species…. 😉

Both lambs were a good size and Miss Piggy is a great mum. 🙂 (She’s not a Drysdale or a English Leicester, she’s actually a Composite (a crossbred with lots of breeds in it!)).