Phoebe was the last Dorset to lamb, and we had hoped that she would be easy as all the others with the exception of Ezmie have been a nightmare!
It was early afternoon when she started to show the first signs, but hadn't started to strain. She'd been so calm, and as the others had taken a while, I left her in these early stages to go home and have a cuppa. Nigel was at home too so we returned to the barn about 45 mins later. Horror of horrors, there was a foot and a head poking out of the back end of Phoebe.... Nigel jumped in, took control and lambed this first with a shoulder back... one legged... that's the lamb not Nigel... all ok and the lamb was just fine with no ill effects........
Next he went in and found two front lets, bringing them forward and locking them into place..... trouble was there wasn't a head to be found that belonged to them! I had a look after securing a lambing rope round each hoof... its so easy to loose legs when lambing and you can't deliver without them, so if your going to push everything back in, its sensible to rope the feet first then you've always got them!
Well I couldn't find a head either........ Nigel had another go and we both started to panic....Oh goodness, was this a deformity? Nige said he'd go to fetch Julia, his uncle's wife, a farmer with decades of experience, and they live a few minutes away...... they arrived back and found that the lamb was "looking up it's own arse" so to speak..... which is why we couldn't find its head.. Julia found it, brought it forward and lambed it without any further delay.... it had been in some distress as it had poo'd itself... however it was fine and alive! Julia went in again and found a third lamb..... smaller, but very much alive... Its the nice little clean one!
As Phoebe had taken a bit of a battering, I gave her an antibiotic and some of Dora's special injection... we have a bottle... and then a nice meal with a clean bucket of water to follow up........ ewe's are always very thirsty when they've cleaned and dried their lambs...... I think they must taste horrible!!!!!
So this picture may look rather gruesome, but they are all alive, and all cleaned up beautifully.....I put them like this so that Phoebe could see them all and tend to them before they started to get up and move about..... they all had some warm colostrum, both from mum and me, and tonight they are all dry, fed and asleep in a warm little bundle... Phoebe is delighted and feeling ok too.......
More pictures tomorrow! and hopefully some sleep tonight as I don't have to get up so early in the morning now that everyone has lambed! It'll be the first time in over a month...... I'm off for a bath and an early night........ xxx
It was early afternoon when she started to show the first signs, but hadn't started to strain. She'd been so calm, and as the others had taken a while, I left her in these early stages to go home and have a cuppa. Nigel was at home too so we returned to the barn about 45 mins later. Horror of horrors, there was a foot and a head poking out of the back end of Phoebe.... Nigel jumped in, took control and lambed this first with a shoulder back... one legged... that's the lamb not Nigel... all ok and the lamb was just fine with no ill effects........
Next he went in and found two front lets, bringing them forward and locking them into place..... trouble was there wasn't a head to be found that belonged to them! I had a look after securing a lambing rope round each hoof... its so easy to loose legs when lambing and you can't deliver without them, so if your going to push everything back in, its sensible to rope the feet first then you've always got them!
Well I couldn't find a head either........ Nigel had another go and we both started to panic....Oh goodness, was this a deformity? Nige said he'd go to fetch Julia, his uncle's wife, a farmer with decades of experience, and they live a few minutes away...... they arrived back and found that the lamb was "looking up it's own arse" so to speak..... which is why we couldn't find its head.. Julia found it, brought it forward and lambed it without any further delay.... it had been in some distress as it had poo'd itself... however it was fine and alive! Julia went in again and found a third lamb..... smaller, but very much alive... Its the nice little clean one!
As Phoebe had taken a bit of a battering, I gave her an antibiotic and some of Dora's special injection... we have a bottle... and then a nice meal with a clean bucket of water to follow up........ ewe's are always very thirsty when they've cleaned and dried their lambs...... I think they must taste horrible!!!!!
So this picture may look rather gruesome, but they are all alive, and all cleaned up beautifully.....I put them like this so that Phoebe could see them all and tend to them before they started to get up and move about..... they all had some warm colostrum, both from mum and me, and tonight they are all dry, fed and asleep in a warm little bundle... Phoebe is delighted and feeling ok too.......
More pictures tomorrow! and hopefully some sleep tonight as I don't have to get up so early in the morning now that everyone has lambed! It'll be the first time in over a month...... I'm off for a bath and an early night........ xxx
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