Friday, April 8, 2011

Delilah's Ram Lamb

Monday morning- 7am. I went out to the barn to do my chores. I had 2 more girls yet to lamb and I was expecting Brie to be next.
You can't tell from the picture but she is large and her udder is very full. I hope she has twins in there. I really expected her to lamb last Saturday, just cause I was gone all day, but here it is almost a week later and she still hasn't had her baby. Guess she likes to keep us guessing. Last year the vet was out and said she was a few weeks off from having her lamb. Well, she wasn't even pregnant. This year it was the exact opposite. The vet said she was 100% sure she wasn't pregnant and there is no doubt in my mind that she is.




So, back to Monday morning- I found Delilah in labor. She obviously wanted nothing to do with me so I decided to head inside, take a shower and get dressed (yes, I do my chores in my p.j.s) and check on her again.

When I returned she was finished and had delivered a lovely little white ram lamb.
I am now very confident in my ability to sex newborn lambs. It was in fact quite obvious that he was a boy- did not even need to turn him over!
He seemed to be doing rather well but on Tuesday I noticed he was very lethargic. I made a call to another shepherdess who thought he could benefit from some Nutra drench. I didn't have any.The little farm store we have here in town never has anything we need. Waiting for the mail wasn't an option. I texted my friend Tamara who raises goats and asked if she had any. I figured I could run over to her place and be back in an hour to treat him. Well, she immediately called on the phone to find out what was going on and when I told her she said "I'll be right there". Tamara did in fact drive all the way out to my place and came with nutra drench as well as other stuff and quickly doctored the little guy. I'm so lucky and thankful to have her for friend.  So, little ram lamb is since doing fine and is full of spark and energy and he is ever so sweet.

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the vets around this neck of the woods don't know alot about sheep. I would be really lost without the help of the other Shetland sheep breeders, both Chris of Shepherd woods farm and  Corinne from Crosswinds farm who have both been more then generous with their knowledge and willingness to answer my silly questions. And where would we be without good friends who are willing to drop everything and come to our aid?

Life is Good!!

3 comments:

  1. We all had lots of questions when we started out too. I am glad we could help : )

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  2. Glad he is ok! He is a Cute lil guy.
    Times like those I wish someone in the family was a vet. Ive taken chickens to the vet before and they didn't know a whole lot, They had to talk with the university to get their info lol. But it's stuff like this that you learn what do and have on hand when they get sick.We have lost a few baby goats and lambs around here over the years and Everyone has learned a lot!

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  3. When I need help with my sheep, I go to another shepherd. I've never found a vet who knew much about sheep or goats; horses and cattle are another thing though. Seems like Boer goats are the big thing but I don't do meat; I do fiber. That reminds me...I'll do a post on shepherding and give names of books that have helped me most. Thanks for reminding me! -smile-

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