finally, twins

every morning, tango makes a bee-line for the shed to visit abe.  he's obsessed.  he sat out in the rain last week to watch abe as he grazed with his mama (and tango hates to get wet) until james carried him into the house.  this weekend was beautiful, sunny and warm.  the sheep enjoyed grazing on new grass and weeds, courtesy of the rain.  abe is thriving, but his right eye has been inflamed.  he has an ulcer on his cornea, probably caused by a bit of straw.  dr. martin came on saturday to check it out and give him his first chlostridia vaccine.   he left some antibiotic eyedrops and said abe's eye should heal just fine.

sarah's udder is so huge that she's had a hard time walking.  we were all speculating that she might have triplets this year.  she was large and uncomfortable and each day i thought she would surely lamb, but nothing - until yesterday.

early monday morning, tango and i walked out to the shed to check on sarah.  she was laying down, and didn't get up when i put some 4-way in the feeders.  she finally stood, but not to eat - she moved off into the corner.  i offered her some feed with my hand, and she nibbled alittle but wasn't really interested.  i could tell that it was finally time, and i let the other sheep out of the shed so she could be alone.

she paced, pawed at the floor, layed down, stood up, and grimmaced for about 5 hours.  we started to worry that something was wrong.  she had never taken so long to lamb, and it was obvious that she was in discomfort.  i called pattie and she eased my mind alittle.  i guess it can take as long as 15 hours for a ewe to throw a lamb.  i went out to check on her after lunch, and the first lamb was emerging.  sarah was on the ground, with her head down and eyes closed. the lamb slid out onto the straw, motionless.  then, a faint movement.  the lamb gurgled and began to breathe.  sarah continued to lay there as he began to wriggle and softly bleet.  i was tempted to help, but i knew that it was better if i didn't touch the lamb before she did.  after a few minutes, the lamb stood on shaky legs, walked towards sarah and she began to clean him. after a few minutes, she stood up to deliver the placenta.  for a moment i thought, wow - she's just having one lamb this year.  then, i noticed another bulge emerging next to to the placenta. it was another sac.  a moment later, i could see a nose and mouth peeking out from the sac. lamb #2 was on it's way!

sarah layed down and began to push.  she was on her side, occasionally throwing her legs up and looking behind her to see if the lamb was coming.  she was trying so hard to push him out, it looked as if she might actually roll onto her back.  i could see part of the lamb's face, but he wasn't coming out easily.  after a few minutes of effort, the head slipped partly back inside and sarah stood, walked back to her first lamb and resumed cleaning him.  i could see part of the lamb's head sticking out of her, which didn't seem right.  i brought some disposable gloves from the house and james went in to assist.  he checked to make sure the lamb was breathing (he was).  when sarah layed down again, james helped ease the lamb's head and front legs out as she pushed.  finally the lamb was on the ground!

sarah didn't miss a beat and resumed cleaning the first lamb, leaving the second lamb where he landed.  he began to cry, trying to stand, looking for mom, but she ignored him.  i finally moved in, removed part of the sac from his legs, lifted him in a towel and placed him next to sarah.  she turned away from the first lamb and began to clean the second.  just as the second lamb began to relax, the first lamb began to cry.  she turned back towards the first lamb for a moment, until he relaxed. then the second lamb started crying.  she looked at me, as if to say "why in the world did you move him?".  i realized that sarah knew exactly what she was doing, and left the three of them together for some private time.

a couple of hours later, i came back to make sure the lambs were eating.  they had a hard time finding her teets (lord knows why - they were huge!), but seemed to catch on after i moved their little faces to the right spot a few times.  sarah finally enjoyed some well-deserved 4-way, finished off most of the placenta (most animals eat theirs), and had a long drink of water.  she seemed relieved, and so were we.  as darkness fell, the lambs were stretched out on the straw, under the watchful eye of sarah, fast asleep.

this morning, tango and i made our daily early morning trek to the shed and the lambs were already nursing, which was good to see.  we've named the twins ezra and levi.  abe seems curious about his brothers, but skittle just gives them a nudge with her head when they move towards her.  the ewes will push away lambs that aren't theirs - they aren't willing to share their milk.  eventually, the lambs can tell one udder from another and don't need any nudging. when i left for work, the ewes and lambs were out together, grazing in the sun.