Who’s The Mom?

Tuesday Evening, Living Room:

Peg: “I think it might be awhile before we see more lambs. Calvin could have gotten Cedar at the end of her cycle.  I don’t think we need to do 2 a.m. checks.”

Todd: “OK.’

Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m., Bedroom:

Peg: “Todd, we have a lamb.”

Todd: “OK.”

(The lamb cam/lambera investment is paying off)

Peg is wrong. There are two lambs. Both dark, relatively dry, and standing amidst the ewes in the barn. Which one is the mom? As we walk into the barn, most of the ewes scatter, leaving only a dark Cormo with a red “tail” behind her and Jewel staying close to the lambs. I move two panels over to the barn wall, and Peg and I each pick up a lamb to get the mom to move into her jug. But Jewel is coming along too, baa-ing loudly as we move.

We get the mom – Willow – and the twins in the jug, and Jewel is sticking her head in between the rails. This is new behavior for us. I check her backside to make sure maybe we have two singles instead of twins, but it is clean as a whistle. Jewel is being downright obnoxious, so we get a solid panel set up in the barn to physically keep her several feet away from the jugs. She continues to complain.

Back in the new jug, these two twins look really healthy, much bigger than #1 from Sunday night. Willow  is nickering softly to them and standing calmly in the middle of the jug. They are walking around her, making little to no noise.  One by one, I hold them up, Peg slowly squirts 6 cc’s of drench in their mouth, we dip their cords in iodine (Peg has pulled a white espresso demi-tasse from the kitchen cupboard for this task – guess she couldn’t find the shot glass we usually use) and tie them off with string. A ram lamb and a ewe lamb.  I hold Willow still while Peg expresses milk from each teat and tries to latch them on with no luck. Given their health size and the drench, Peg stands up.

While this only takes a few minutes, Jewel is constantly baa-ing. She was an excellent first-time mother last Spring, and all I can think is she helped Willow lick one or both of the twins dry after they hit the floor and has concluded these are her babies.

Back in the house at 3:30, neither of us sleeps very well. Around 6 a.m., Peg thinks there may be another lamb on the video screen. I turn on the walkie talkie (the other one is in the barn) and head up. Nothing – other than Jewel still complaining. I walk down the drive to get the mail and the paper. About half an hour later we both head up to do hay, grain and water. Jewel stops making noise to eat grain, but keeps at it. We rearrange the panels so the ewes can get to the hay feeders, but are keeping the solid walls between Jewel and the jugs for now. Hopefully she’ll have her own babies to tend to soon.

Todd