Lambing seemed fast and furious this year. Fortunately it did not start until after we were back from the hospital. My brother-in-law had all the phone numbers lined up for help, but he was very thankful no lambs came while he was house/farm sitting!
Bernice had twin rams lambs early 12 March, Eina had a single ram lamb 16 March, Bethany had twin ewe lambs early (1:30 and 2 am) 17 March (Happy Birthday to me), Desana had twin ram lambs early 20 March and Charity had a single ewe lamb on 20 March. Except for Charity, all the births were uneventful and easy-just the way you want them to be. Of course, none of the lambs came during the 3-4 day spell of nice weather. Oh no….it was either cold and frosty, or in the middle of the 2nd major snowstorm of the winter (St Patrick’s Day weekend).
For the first time ever, we had to call the vet in for an emergency though. Charity had some minor problems last year with the lamb’s head briefly stuck, but this year it was clear she would not lamb without assistance. It turned out the lamb had one leg forward, with the head and other leg turned backward. The vet was able to pull the lamb, and revive her. That just brought tears to my eyes, as I watched the vet swing (yes, vigorously) and rub the little ewe. She is a small lamb, but probably the spunkiest one we have! She and another of our ewe lambs are also what is called “lilacs”: instead of typical Jacob colors of black and white, they are charcoal and white. They also have blue eyes. So, we will definitely be keeping one of them. We are looking around to find a home for Charity, as she must not be bred again. We have some feelers out to 4H families. As a last resort, we’ll put her in the freezer, but would rather not have to. However, we are not set up to have pasture space for non-breedable ewes.
