Mitsie was due to have her lambs on 25th February, her udder had started to develop weeks ago and had become so enlarged that it had been rubbing on the inside of her back leg and a little sore was irritating her.... so I'd been lathering Vaseline on it in an effort to comfort her.
On Saturday I called the vet as I was getting worried... Michael suggested that I collect a steroid injection from the surgery which would both relieve her of some discomfort but would also induce her into labor..... this would take about 48 hours so if she gave birth any time before that, it would be a natural birth.... well it took 2 hours.....
Unlike other sheep who loose their appetite during labor, Mitsie likes to snack between contractions..... then she likes to paw at the floor, nesting, before she sits down to let the contractions do their job..... unfortunately she started to ooze a golden coloured fluid from her rear... so Nigel went in to see what was going on... she was not fully dilated so we waited a little longer....
After another 15 mins I gloved up and went in only to find what felt like a cord.. actually it was a tail.... the first lamb was breech and in distress hence the colour of the discharge... Nigel delivered it quickly and swung it by its back legs to leg gravity empty its lungs of any fluid intake.... when the cord breaks the lamb takes its first breath, and if the lamb is breech the first breath could drown it as the head is still inside the sheep....... after some more blowing down its mouth and some rubbing and stimulation it took a breath and shook its head....... hurrah a live lamb... we gave it to Mitsie who was perfectly delighted..... then Julia turned up, Nigel had phoned her, and she delivered the next two for us.......all alive and kicking..
Mitsie has milk on the side of her udder that is sore but not much on the other, so we milked her into a bottle and fed the colostrum to the lambs in equal amounts.. this relieved the pressure and made sure they all were fed. I took the bottle home and rinsed it out with some powdered colostrum and more milk and then went back and fed it to them so they'd all had the best start...... Mitsie was really hungry and after licking all her lambs dry, very thirsty.. the family settled down all dry and warm... what a relief!
We have been helping her out, giving the lambs equal amounts of milk and I have to say, all three are tiny, but very loud, rampaging little monsters...at 24 hours old they are worse than the hamster family ever were.. (more about them later). I took this picture this afternoon after they had been paddling in cristalix so now they are also very sticky too! Mitsie is feeling much better, and is trying hard to feed them and control them..... but she's got her hands full! We may try to mother one onto a ewe who is having a single or I might just help her out... the fewer pets the better really!....
This is the last set of lambs that Mitsie will ever have........ other farmers would take their cast ewes to market at the end of their productive lives... but this will not be Mitsie's fate....... she will be loved and pampered until the end of her days, whenever that will be....... I have no idea how long sheep live as I'm sure not many have this luxury, but I hope it will long and happy... What a character she is!
On Saturday I called the vet as I was getting worried... Michael suggested that I collect a steroid injection from the surgery which would both relieve her of some discomfort but would also induce her into labor..... this would take about 48 hours so if she gave birth any time before that, it would be a natural birth.... well it took 2 hours.....
Unlike other sheep who loose their appetite during labor, Mitsie likes to snack between contractions..... then she likes to paw at the floor, nesting, before she sits down to let the contractions do their job..... unfortunately she started to ooze a golden coloured fluid from her rear... so Nigel went in to see what was going on... she was not fully dilated so we waited a little longer....
After another 15 mins I gloved up and went in only to find what felt like a cord.. actually it was a tail.... the first lamb was breech and in distress hence the colour of the discharge... Nigel delivered it quickly and swung it by its back legs to leg gravity empty its lungs of any fluid intake.... when the cord breaks the lamb takes its first breath, and if the lamb is breech the first breath could drown it as the head is still inside the sheep....... after some more blowing down its mouth and some rubbing and stimulation it took a breath and shook its head....... hurrah a live lamb... we gave it to Mitsie who was perfectly delighted..... then Julia turned up, Nigel had phoned her, and she delivered the next two for us.......all alive and kicking..
Mitsie has milk on the side of her udder that is sore but not much on the other, so we milked her into a bottle and fed the colostrum to the lambs in equal amounts.. this relieved the pressure and made sure they all were fed. I took the bottle home and rinsed it out with some powdered colostrum and more milk and then went back and fed it to them so they'd all had the best start...... Mitsie was really hungry and after licking all her lambs dry, very thirsty.. the family settled down all dry and warm... what a relief!
We have been helping her out, giving the lambs equal amounts of milk and I have to say, all three are tiny, but very loud, rampaging little monsters...at 24 hours old they are worse than the hamster family ever were.. (more about them later). I took this picture this afternoon after they had been paddling in cristalix so now they are also very sticky too! Mitsie is feeling much better, and is trying hard to feed them and control them..... but she's got her hands full! We may try to mother one onto a ewe who is having a single or I might just help her out... the fewer pets the better really!....
This is the last set of lambs that Mitsie will ever have........ other farmers would take their cast ewes to market at the end of their productive lives... but this will not be Mitsie's fate....... she will be loved and pampered until the end of her days, whenever that will be....... I have no idea how long sheep live as I'm sure not many have this luxury, but I hope it will long and happy... What a character she is!
RSS Feed
