When I left for work on Friday morning (with a lot of misgivings) we had a ewe in early labor. And I was worried.
I’ll save you from the icky details, but we knew, and there were some bright red, dripping, danger signals starting to flash. I paged through our main reference books while the kids were eating breakfast and Mr. Fix-It and I decided that it was too early to interfere a to let her progress on her own a little more. She was up, she was eating, she was bright eyed and energetic (as my mud splattered pants can attest to)…interfering to early can actually cause as many complications and problems as not helping can. So I went to work and we agreed that I would check on her at lunch and call the vet then, if needed.
But I was worried. So I took lunch a little early and headed home about 10:30–11 am.
And she surprised me with not one, but TWO healthy little lambs!
Judging by the fact that they were mostly dried and cleaned off, but not completely, and by the fact that their little umbilical cords were still wet, and by the progress of the afterbirth, I’m guess they were probably born less than an hour before I got there.
{PS: These are birth pictures. If you might be squeamish, either squint your eyes or scroll at your own risk. I didn’t do much editing. This blog is about life after all, and this is the epitome of it. Straight from the barn to your screen!}
Judging by our early morning observations and our follow-up observations since Friday, I also think it might have been a pretty hard labor. Thankfully, she seems right as rain now.
It really gave me something to think about. I mean, I’ve given birth 3 times. I know it’s hard work. And I had a whole room full of people to help me. But she had to give birth to one, get up and get the little one cleaned off, lay down, give birth to another one, get up and get that one cleaned off too, and get them both nursing…all by herself. With only her own tongue for help. And in less than an hour!
She also cleans and nibbles off their little umbilical cords to an inch or so and we’ve watched mothers keep them clean until they dry out and fall off.
And then on top of all that, she has two choices with the afterbirth (which she passes, almost unnoticed, while mothering her twins). She can hustle those little ones out of that area as soon as they nurse (which in this case, she did) or she can…ahem…consume the “evidence.” It’s an instinct so they aren’t located by predators because of the smell and in some cases because it can be a source of nutrients.
We don’t see this much (thankfully). We try to be sure they have plenty of room to move if they want to and plenty of mineral salt mix to keep them from trying to self-treat a deficiency. But once in a while, if we’re not there, one will just…never be found. And trust me, we hunt for them. Retained afterbirth came be a serious, serious complication.
So now we officially have 3 ewe lambs. They’ve been moved out of the “lambing field” and into the “nursery field” so they don’t get bumped around quite so much from those hungry hippo ewes that are all still eating for 2 (or 3!). Plus, they have more room to run and play.
Say a prayer for us, we’ve still got 16 ewes to go!
