At this time in a pregnancy, we always feed our ewe with added nutrition, as lambs do most of their growing in the last 4 weeks before they are born. As half are due on the 27th November, and the remaining two weeks later, there is a balance to be had so I've been checking them every morning since the beginning of the month, with breakfast and then again before it goes dark with their tea. Last night they all came down as usual, and I told them that they would soon be brought in at night to get them into a good routine, before lambing and to make sure that they are familiar with their surroundings... Happy sheep are so much easier to handle.
This morning I turned up as usual, to see Molly half way up the field, lying on her own, but didn't take much notice as she got up and came down towards the trough for breakfast, barring loudly. She stopped before reaching the others who started tucking in, still making a racket, so I went up to meet her with some feed left in the bucket, so she didn't loose out... She looked at me and started to eat, but when the others arrived to check out what they were missing, I walked her down to the trough and made sure that she had some food to herself........ Then I went back to the car....
I was just changing from wellies into shoes, looking towards the field to see what they were doing and noticed that Molly went straight back up to the spot were she had been, and I noticed her rear end was all mucky. She turned to face me and started to call out again... strange behaviour....... so I put my wellies back on and strode up the field to see what she was trying to tell me...
On the ground, under the shelter of the wall were two aliens... they were well wrapped in their thick little veined sacks, and what was inside didn't resemble a lamb really.... Poor Molly was very distressed about it, and made sure I understood. I stroked her and told her that I was very sorry, but there was nothing I could do, they were clearly not viable yet. I went back down to the barn to find a container, then picked them up and showed Molly what I'd done... she sniffed them and licked them, and I waited to make sure she knew what I was doing... I took them back to the barn for disposal... they were quite heavy.
After seeing Nigel's mum, I returned to the field to check her, it was 3 hours later....... she was still standing in the same place, looking towards me, but when I went up to her, she moved away and started grazing...... I patted her and rubbed her muzzle. I'm so sad for her..... Some ewes get so distressed that they can get quite depressed when they loose their lambs, but at this time of year there are no orphans to mother on, so we just have to watch her and make sure that she is ok... She'll get lots of TLC as you can imagine... and I keep you posted on how she is... Not a good start!!
This morning I turned up as usual, to see Molly half way up the field, lying on her own, but didn't take much notice as she got up and came down towards the trough for breakfast, barring loudly. She stopped before reaching the others who started tucking in, still making a racket, so I went up to meet her with some feed left in the bucket, so she didn't loose out... She looked at me and started to eat, but when the others arrived to check out what they were missing, I walked her down to the trough and made sure that she had some food to herself........ Then I went back to the car....
I was just changing from wellies into shoes, looking towards the field to see what they were doing and noticed that Molly went straight back up to the spot were she had been, and I noticed her rear end was all mucky. She turned to face me and started to call out again... strange behaviour....... so I put my wellies back on and strode up the field to see what she was trying to tell me...
On the ground, under the shelter of the wall were two aliens... they were well wrapped in their thick little veined sacks, and what was inside didn't resemble a lamb really.... Poor Molly was very distressed about it, and made sure I understood. I stroked her and told her that I was very sorry, but there was nothing I could do, they were clearly not viable yet. I went back down to the barn to find a container, then picked them up and showed Molly what I'd done... she sniffed them and licked them, and I waited to make sure she knew what I was doing... I took them back to the barn for disposal... they were quite heavy.
After seeing Nigel's mum, I returned to the field to check her, it was 3 hours later....... she was still standing in the same place, looking towards me, but when I went up to her, she moved away and started grazing...... I patted her and rubbed her muzzle. I'm so sad for her..... Some ewes get so distressed that they can get quite depressed when they loose their lambs, but at this time of year there are no orphans to mother on, so we just have to watch her and make sure that she is ok... She'll get lots of TLC as you can imagine... and I keep you posted on how she is... Not a good start!!
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