Lambing Season

We finished up our first lambing season a couple of months ago and it was quite the experience.  I later emailed the breeder we bought our sheep from and asked him if our experience was normal and he essentially said, nope, you had a really bad year.  So here is our experience in a nutshell. Don't read if you don't like TMI.

Callypso was our first young sheep to go into labor.  I noticed it in the afternoon and by the time the kids got home from school an hour later, her little boy was on the ground with no complications.  I'm so grateful we had one easy one so I would know what was normal and what wasn't.  I have to say, the little grunting noises the mothers make to their babies as they clean them off is adorable, as is watching a little newborn baby trying to take it's first steps.

The next day, one of our two 10-yr old ewes went into labor.  The first two babies were already on the ground when I noticed and ran out.  I watched her give birth to the third baby.  She was cleaning the first two babies off and they were drinking her milk with no trouble, but the third baby was barely moving and she was only occasionally cleaning it.  I ended up bottling it. That evening, Isabelle noticed another young ewe was going into labor so we decided to try to transfer "Chocolate Chip" to her.  We brought her in the barn and waited.  And waited.  After 30 minutes of seeing two little hooves sticking out and nothing else happening, we thought this can't be normal.  I asked Jonathan to run into the house and get the book that talked about potential lambing problems and I got out the shoulder length OB gloves and lubricant.  He took a long time and I was greatly annoyed when he came back without the book and instead carrying papers he had printed off the internet.  I grabbed the papers and read the first problem which was "locked elbows."  For some reason I reread it 3 times and only skimmed the rest of the pages.  Then Jonathan and I got her laying down and he stroked her head and whispered to her while I put my hand inside and tried to figure out what was going on.  It was much harder than it sounds on paper, but since the head was right there in the birth canal, I figured it probably was "locked elbows" and I pushed the head back into the Mom (much harder than it sounds when the head is small, slippery, and you're worried about poking an eye out) and then pulled first one leg and then the other until they were in the proper position.  Then, when I pulled on the slippery legs, the baby came right out.  Amazing!!!!  It was a truly unique experience to know we had saved the life of the ewe and baby... to be a part of the creation process.  It was awe-inspiring.  The lamb, "Rocha" was 12 lbs.  The mom didn't adopt "Chip" so we had a bottle lamb to care of.  Isabelle was great about getting up in the middle of the night with me to feed him for a couple of months.  Oh, and later when I looked in the book I had asked Jonathan to grab, it turns out "locked elbows" isn't mentioned so I was so grateful he listened to the spirit and looked it up online instead. 

Over the course of the next few days the rest of the sheep lambed without problems until the last one.  She too was having difficulties so we ended up assisting.  It was locked elbows again.  At least this time, I knew what I was doing except that when it came time to pull the lamb, he was stuck.  The ewe wasn't fully grown yet so her body just wasn't big enough to birth a 15 lb lamb.  I reached a point where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get the lamb out at all.  I turned to the kids (all 5 were lined up 2 feet away watching) and asked them to pray.  Their response, "Mom we've been doing that the whole time.  You just worry about the lamb."  Then they started chanting "You can do it Mom!"  And knowing I had the support of my husband, kids, and Heavenly Father revitalized me, and I was able to get the lamb out.  They both survived and now "Fudge" is our favorite ram lamb. 

Unfortunately, not all of the lambs survived.  Our 2 old ewes didn't have enough milk to support twins and we didn't know enough to be watching out for that.  First one died and then we realized another was losing weight.  We supplemented, but it was too little too late and we lost our favorite girl, "S'Mores" (sitting on top of her Mom in the picture below).  We held a funeral for each of them.  Since all of this happened the week of Easter, our experience made the idea of the death and Resurrection of our Savior that much more real to us.  On Easter Sunday we brought Chip to Church with us and everyone was able to pet him.  We thought of our Savior as the Sacrificial Lamb.  I am so grateful He paid the price for us.

So that was our lambing season.  We have had other animal changes as well.  We were given 7 baby chicks.  Unfortunately, 3 of them were eaten by our neighbor's cat along with one of Isabelle's pigeons.  We are not happy with that cat.  It seems like he can get into anything no matter how secure we think it is.  We also recently bought 2 more cows, one 2-yr old mini jersey/lowline angus that is pregnant and due in September and 1 miniature bull (he is tiny at only 32" as a yearling). Our lambs are doing well although they aren't happy that we are weaning them from their Mommas right now.

We also built a trailer for transporting animals.  It works really well and collapses down in only 2 minutes for storage.  We are proud of it.  We stained the deck and landscaped the area by the mudroom door.  And of course we are busy with our Church callings (I'm RS President and Jonathan is 11-yr old Scout Leader and Stake Clerk).

Our kids are doing well, although I'm beginning to think that with them home all summer, Isabelle and Miriam's fighting is going to drive me crazy.  Thankfully, they do have their adorable moments that soften my heart back up.  Last week Miriam was finally able to pass her level 2 swim lessons (4th try) and it was really great to see all of her brothers and sisters cheering her on and giving her hugs and congratulations.