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LambMetrics – 9th September 2022

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LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures– and maybe a few confronting ones too.

Rain and rain yesterday so didn’t get any pictures taken.

Lost 2 new MerinoX lambs overnight. The weather was pretty awful and the ewes didn’t park under any of the (numerous) trees or other shelter options. Lamb losses have been minimal this year and haven’t lost any to “the environment” before now. But that’s nature for you. :/

Today was mild and there was quite a bit of sunshine which was great for the lambs after the deluge last night.

Paris decided to show off her newest fashion accessory…..

When you’ve got an itch….. [Drysdale lamb]

One Merino ewe needed some help. Lamb was perfectly presented but probably “overcooked” a little as it was huge and got a bit stuck. Decided to assist to make sure it wasn’t choked as it was stuck at a bad part of the process. Despite being a maiden the ewe was eager to be a good mumma so he is all cleaned up now (and looking like he is 2 weeks old already!)

(The blood is from the ewe, not the lamb!)

And now for some pet #lambspam!

Only about 6 ewes to lamb now….. A bit more tag checking tomorrow (weather permitting). Am looking forward to the final lot of stats. 🙂

LambMetrics – 5th September 2022

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LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures– and maybe a few confronting ones too.

Glorious sunshine, a few more lambs and the odd hiccup.

Yesterday we gained another lamb for the Bottle Gang. Which makes 4 – better than last year.

Am nearly totally up to date with the stats but they keep popping out more! And I normally can’t tag the Merino and Castledale lambs immediately like the Drysdales and English Leicesters so they end up a day behind. Shepherdess problems … LOL

  • The comfy tyre
  • Panda and her lambs

Had some other work that needed doing today but all going well tomorrow we will have a stats update. So far there are nearly 100 lambs in the English Leicester/Drysdale group and nearly 100 in the Merino/Castledale group. I have a sneaking suspicion I ordered the wrong number of tags and will run out … ooops.

  • Nothing to see here…..
  • Peekaboo!

LambMetrics – 28th August 2021

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#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.

Floss – nearly 2 yrs old

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!

  • Bramble – aged 12
  • Bramble & Brighid – litter sisters
  • Maggie

Today was so lovely – so here are some flowers in the garden too.

  • Peach – “Lady Palmerston”
  • “Silver Princess” – E. caesia spp

Supposed to rain tonight – obviously that means the last sheep will probably lamb!

Hopefully the stats can be wrapped up tomorrow!

LambMetrics – 26th August 2021

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#LAMBMETRICS for the last few days

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 1
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: 5
Total Lambs Born: 97
MerinoX lambs (live total): 21
Castledale lambs (live total): 67
Total Sets of Twins born: 37
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 59  (95.2 %)
Lamb % : 149% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 1 [ewe]

 

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Things have slowed right down now. All the English Leicesters are done. (Still need to go through my numbers through as I’ve made a mistake somewhere!)

There are a couple of Merino ewes still to lamb. One lambed twins this afternoon but she only wants one. I am not amused.

Meanwhile…. enjoy the lambs in the sunshine 🙂

  • Tulip and her lamb
  • Tulip and her lamb
  • The last English Leicester lamb for 2021
  • The last English Leicester lamb for 2021

And a snippet of the chaos and mayhem that as we get ready for feed time!

Way too many on the bottle but I guess that means I saved them….

LambMetrics – 22nd August 2021

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#LAMBMETRICS for the last 2 days

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 1
Total Lambs Born: 103
Drysdale lambs (live total): 48
English Leicester lambs (live total): 32
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 13
Total Sets of Twins born: 33
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 49
Total ram lambs: 53
Ewes lambed /70: 67  (95.7 %)
Lamb % : 138.8 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 11
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 0
Total Lambs Born: 92
MerinoX lambs (live total): 17
Castledale lambs (live total): 66
Total Sets of Twins born: 35
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 55  (88.7 %)
Lamb % : 148.9% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 7 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

 

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Not a lot to report for today. Things are winding down and no doubt will drag on for a few days yet.

Warm and sunny today the lambs (being solar-powered!) were enjoying themselves immensely.

Here’s some lambspam for you to enjoy too. 🙂

  • Drysdale Ewe and lamb
  • Drysdale Ewes and lambs
  • Drysdale Ewes and lambs
  • Penelope checking things out
  • Newborn English Leicester lamb
  • Newborn English Leicester lamb
  • Pet lamb
  • English Leicester lamb
  • English Leicester Ewe and lamb
  • Drysdale Ewe with EL x Drysdale lamb

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