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LambMetrics – 3rd August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 7
Drysdale lambs (live total): 5
English Leicester lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 4
Ewes lambed /76: 5  (6.5 %)
Lamb % : 140 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

Two Drysdale lambs born today. Both male.

Note the peanut gallery in the background…. Getting some hints?! The twins mob still haven’t started lambing!

Not much to say really today. Both lambs born unassisted and doing well.

The world is an amazing place when you are only 1-2hrs old.
Drysdale ram lamb. Sired by Henry, dam is sired by Gilbert
That’s MY lamb you’re looking at *stomp*
Full tummy. Is sleepy. zzzzzzzzzz

LambMetrics – 2nd August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 1
Total Lambs Born: 5
Drysdale lambs (live total): 3
English Leicester lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 2
Ewes lambed /76: 3  (3.9 %)
Lamb % : 166 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

Just the one Drysdale lamb born this evening. A sturdy young lad to a first time mum.

The Merino ewes have decided to also get going. And prove me wrong in the process. Usually twin-bearing ewes have a slightly shorter gestation so I was expecting the twinners to start first. Nope.  Three or four in the “Singles” mob.

Phone camera on max zoom…. not getting too close to these ones!

While I was doing evening rounds I noticed a few white “clumps” on the ground. Hmmm…. Not wool? Nope….

Down feathers?! So, I look up – in time to see a pair of Galahs whizz past – and then I see —

Someone has been cleaning house

… and saw feather-festooned bark around a hollow in a dead Red Stringybark.

Hopefully some baby Galahs soon!

LambMetrics – 1st August 2020

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 4
Drysdale lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 1
Ewes lambed /76: 1  (2.6 %)
Lamb % : 200 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

The English Leicesters decided they didn’t want to be left off the scoreboard so there was a set of twins born today. Hehehe  Just how we like it too – they didn’t need any help. Both are a good size and seem very sturdy.

They did remind me that I really shouldn’t rely on “other people’s figures” and I should have worked out the due dates as I usually do…. which means they’re due tomorrow. LOL

It’s easier to monitor these ewes in regard to their milk supply because they are very quiet and we often pen them up for the first night, just to make sure we haven’t missed anything. The English Leicesters and Drysdales tend to be very strong mothers who aren’t easily dissuaded from their job and will follow us when we carry their lamb/s into the shed.

The Merino and Castledale ewes on the other hand are not quite as quiet so they can be trickier to watch. Interfering with them can be fraught because if you go and try save one situation you can inadvertently stir them up and cause more problems. As a result, we can only intervene in certain circumstances and “as Nature intended” tends to be the default.
Research has shown that once a ewe is around 5m away from her lamb she often “doesn’t see it” or recognise it. New mothers – especially Merino ewes – are notoriously bad and flighty. If they get a fright they run and forget they have a lamb. And they don’t come back to it. 🙁 Super frustrating – and one reason why intervention is only ever done with great caution!

Hopefully, the Merino and Castledale ewes will start lambing in the next few days too. Probably won’t have the close-up photos though! (Except maybe the ex-pet sheep. As long as they don’t take after their mothers!)

LambMetrics – 31st July 2020

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The last few years I’ve kept track of the lambing statistics in the Drysdale & English Leicester flocks). I call these “LambMetrics”.
Hopefully, they provide a little insight into the real-life “goings-on” here.

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 2
Drysdale lambs (live total): 2
English Leicester lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 1
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 2
Total ram lambs: 0
Ewes lambed /76: 1  (1.3 %)
Lamb % : 200 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0

Notable Midwifery tales:

After the success of a shorter joining (mating) period last year the same tactic was employed. There were a couple of hiccups on the way but the ewes were scanned in June and the number pregnant was very pleasing.

The ewes are due to “officially” start lambing around the 7th August. As usual, someone didn’t read the memo.

Being mindful of the tendency of some of the ewes to be Not Memo Readers I brought the Drysdale and English Leicester ewe mob into their lambing paddocks yesterday. Just in time……

Can you pick who the mother is and who is trying to take a lamb (or 2) for herself??

We’ve had some glorious weather lately which, naturally, makes me wonder when that weather will become nasty and whether it will encourage the ewes to lamb! They do seem to want to lamb during a “low pressure” event and not necessarily when the sun is shining. Frustrating but Nature has a mind of her own. Ha!

So, the ewes spent last night in their “Night Paddock” and today I let them run up a laneway as a Day paddock because they aren’t due for another week and therefore I wouldn’t need to hike to the top of the laneway and carry down the lambs.

These ewes are very calm to handle for me (mostly) and are lambing, more and more, during daylight hours. Which is very “alpaca-like” of them and something I highly approve of! Sure enough, when I went over this evening to get them back into the Night Paddock I discovered that there were two ewes and two lambs ….. Of course, one ewe didn’t have hollow sides – or any other obvious signs of parturition – so she was just being a nosey parker and was definitely attempting to “get one” for herself. Hmmmm I’ll have to watch her! And try get a look at her tag to see who she is. I’m suspecting she may be from a known “Lamb Robber” line of ewes.

Ewe lamb #1

Miss Lamb Robber is now back in the Night Paddock and the new mum is in the hay shed. She doesn’t really need my help at all but until there are a couple more ewes with lambs I don’t want her out by herself. The foxes are going to be hungry this year and the alpacas can only do so much.

Ewe lamb #2 and mumma

Drysdale lambs are born with a tremendous amount of (carpet) fleece on. This really does mean they are pretty impervious to the weather – more so than some breeds – and I would only ever put a coat on one if it was very ill.

And there we have it – the start of Lambing 2020! It’s going to be a busy August this year since the Merino and Castledale ewes didn’t lamb in July but will also be in August. There’s a very good chance that the Head Midwife and Deputy Midwife will get a lot of walking done but hopefully not too much “work”!!

Ladies in Waiting tonight…

LambMetrics – September 20th, 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born 13-18/9/19: 3
Total Lambs Born: 72
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 38
English Leicester lambs (live total): 33
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 33
Total ram lambs: 39
Ewes lambed /68: 57 (83.8 %)
Lamb % : 124 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 1

FINAL FIGURES:
Plus! More stats!

  English Leicester Drysdale X
Ewe lambs 14 19
Ram lambs 20 19
Sets of Twins 9 6
Ewes lambed 24 33
Ewes empty 6 5
Total Lambing % 113% 100%
Assisted/Dystocia 2 6
Losses 1 0
Lambs needing ongoing supplemental feeding 2-4 0
Lambs needing colostrum supplement 12 1
Lambs requiring treatment for infection 4 2

Notable Midwifery tales:

Well, looks like we’re finally finished for 2019!
It wasn’t a bad effort in the end – despite the season and a shorter than usual “joining” period. We actually expected a much lower figure of lambs because of the reduced time frame. Looks like the rams had ideas of their own…!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our annual lambing journey. 🙂

Last one for 2019! (I think)

LambMetrics – September 12th 2019

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#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born 11-12/9/19: 4
Total Lambs Born: 69
Drysdale lambs (live total): [no purebreds in 2019]
DrysdaleX lambs (total): 37
English Leicester lambs (live total): 31
Total Sets of Twins born: 15
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 33
Total ram lambs: 36
Ewes lambed /68: 54 (79.4 %)
Lamb % : 125 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 8
Losses: 1

Notable Midwifery tales:

Evening drinkies

Just when you think the season is quietly just limping to a close…

Brought two lambs and their mothers in this morning as they had seemed a little “flat” and hollow. As of this evening they’re already showing a great deal of improvement after some antibiotics so we’re hoping the infections have been caught early enough. It’s always a knife-edge when it comes to timing – they have to look sick enough to justify the treatment but they go downhill very fast at this age so it doesn’t take much to be that fraction late.

A couple of very small lambs born yesterday and today. Maiden ewes with their first lambs – one hadn’t even really looked pregnant! As long as they grow fast it’s all good.

Although, one (from yesterday) has ended up in the shed tonight as it was looking a little peaky and I am concerned the mother may have early mastitis. (Odd for a Drysdale maiden ewe but never say never…) Fingers crossed because this little ‘un doesn’t have the body mass to sustain it for very long. (She refused a bottle too)

On a slightly different note…. the “has to be ONE SUPER WEIRD thing every year” note… One of the ewes that lambed today literally nearly choked to death on the lamb birth membranes. The lamb had been born and hadn’t rolled much so the thin covering was still in place. The ewe started to eat them off (as they usually do) she must have had too much of a mouthful and then – she choked. Right in front of me. She coughed and coughed and COUGHED and couldn’t shift it. Her tongue was turning blue. I desperately tried to pat her on the back/side/anywhere as well as an attempt at a Heimlich maneuver!!! Stroked up (the outside) of her throat. Just anything. I was feeling very helpless. Thankfully, she managed to get it to move somehow and then she was feeling quite shaky. (So was I) After that we both needed a Bex and a lie down!!

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The ewes and lambs have now been shifted to the bigger paddock and it’s pleasing to see the lambs growing well.

3 weeks old