LambMetrics – 28th August 2021

#LAMBMETRICS for the last few days

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 0
Total Lambs Born: 107
Drysdale lambs (live total): 48
English Leicester lambs (live total): 37
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 13
Total Sets of Twins born: 35
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 53
Total ram lambs: 54
Ewes lambed /70: 70 (100 %)
Lamb % : 140 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 11
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 99
MerinoX lambs (live total): 25
Castledale lambs (live total): 67
Total Sets of Twins born: 38
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 61 (98.3 %)
Lamb % : 150% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 1 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Down to only 1 ewe still pregnant. I think. (I don’t have the hi-viz tags on the Merino and Castledale ewes and it’s got confusing with a paddock full of lambs. lol)

Beautiful day today but the other night – straight after the blog – was drama-filled when I went back to feed lambs and went to try get 2 lambs back with their mother and then discovered a ewe “down” and her (new) lamb missing.

Found it under a fallen tree. Couldn’t tell if a fox had tried to grab it or if it had bled a bit due to getting itself into a tight spot.

The Merino ewe is okay now but wasn’t interested in her lamb whatsoever. And at 9pm I wasn’t going to muck about – a jacket, a bottle and a warm shed were in its future. (The ICU Small Animal rugs are awesome – I can put a heat pack in the jacket to keep the lamb snug all night.) Lamby is now doing well.

And then there was another lamb whose mother didn’t want it.

Those of you keeping track will realise this means that now I have WAY TOO MANY lambs on the bottle.

I caved. I got the special “Lambar” feeder to make like easier for Mum and I.

The poddy lambs may need a blog post all their own. There are a variety of reasons the lambs are on the bottle – ranging from fox attack injuries to orphans. They are quite the “gang” now!

One set of twins is on the bottle because their mum had been ill and subsequently didn’t have quite enough milk when they were born.

This ewe had a partial vaginal prolapse. The “retainer” normally ties to the wool but short wool necessitates a harness to “hold it all in”!

There was a request for a Floss update.

You will be pleased to know that Floss appears to have made a full recovery! Thank you all for the love, prayers and good wishes for her.

The other day was International Dog Day or some such thing. So here are some pics of the other dogs here. 🙂

Bramble and Brighid are slowing down now. Maggie isn’t an awesome sheepdog generally but she’s been very useful on the night rounds during lambing. She’s been taking “guard dog” duties very seriously!