#LAMBMETRICS for the day
Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks
Born today: 1
Total Lambs Born: 108
Drysdale lambs (live total): 52
English Leicester lambs (live total): 34
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 14
Total Sets of Twins born: 35
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 58
Total ram lambs: 50
Ewes lambed /76: 71 (93.4 %)
Lamb % : 141 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 10
Losses: 8 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]
Notable Midwifery tales:
This morning the plumber turned up before I had finished doing my maternity ward rounds.
After a chat with him I then scrambled to check all the girls – and sure enough, there was one ewe in progress under a big, old cypress tree. I don’t particularly like them having lambs under there though, it may be cosy and dry but with the fallen branches I have to crawl on hands and knees to get in there!
When I arrived I could see a white nose poking out.
Drysdales are rarely noisy when lambing – quite unlike the English Leicesters – and it can be a little difficult to judge whether or not a ewe is in trouble when you first come across them like this.
Naturally, I asked her if she required assistance…… No reply but she may have just have been distracted.
She let me get close to her and being a young ewe I took that as possibly a sign she may have been willing to accept help.
Glove on.
(I try to always wear gloves when assisting a ewe lambing. Safety first – especially if one has small cuts or nicks on your hands.)
The ewe didn’t mind me checking things out and it was easy to find that everything was in the right place but with the tongue starting to go a little blue it was prudent to just ease the head out fully and then the legs and help the big boofa out.
Not surprisingly, the ewe was a bit exhausted and shell-shocked and it took a while for her to be fully involved with her lamb.
He had to spend time adjusting also, thankfully the head swelling is receding. (The head swells when they get jammed. If his front legs hadn’t been under his chin then it could have resulted in fatal damage to the throat.)
Here’s hoping no more get overcooked! The grass is so good at the moment it’s growing huge lambs – better they grow huge when outside their mother!!