#LAMBMETRICS for the day
Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks
Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 28
Drysdale lambs (live total): 17
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 9
English Leicester lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 6
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 13
Total ram lambs: 15
Ewes lambed /72: 19 (26.4 %)
Lamb % : 136% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 3
Losses: 1 ewe, 2 lambs (stillborn)
Notable Midwifery tales:
It’s been an up and down few days. The weather has been wet and wild and often that means the ewes do lamb but not this year – this year they are crossing their legs! Especially the English Leicesters. Several of them look fit to burst but so far no lambs!
One Drysdale ewe had triplets but 2 were stillborn. The remaining female lamb is sparky and doing well. Drysdales don’t have triplets all that often, usually I get one set every 3-4 years. Twins are a lot more common.
Was devastated to lose a youngish ewe – a ewe that had been a show sheep with magnificent wool. She had no problems last year but this year the lamb had died in utero and I ended up losing the ewe as well when she didn’t go into labour properly and I couldn’t get the lamb out. 😥 There’s not many times I haven’t been able to extract a lamb (I have smaller hands than the vet…) and it is really tough when nature beats you once in a while.
But it hasn’t all been sad. One of my older ewes, probably due for retirement, produced a lovely ram lamb, sired by Gilbert, this morning.
And this young ewe had a lovely little set of twins. The photo was taken a few moments after the little lad tried to jump on top of his mum. 🙂
