And just like that, lambing is over. My prediction of Ginger lambing first, then Coco, then Lulu...with maybe Frannie having kids before Lulu had lambs was completely wrong. No surprise there!
It was Coco who had lambs first, this past Sunday. I'm sure she was enjoying the warm, sunny day as much as we were. I'm guessing she was thinking: what the hell, I'll go out to the furthest corner of pasture and go into labor while Keith and Ellen think they're going to have dinner, which is exactly what she did. Thanks Coco!
Pretty much as a soon as it was clear she was in labor-a sheep having contractions is really,
really obvious and loud-she was delivering her lambs. First was her female little clone, then an all white boy, and thankfully that was it! After both lambs we cleaned off and had nursed from Coco, we cleaned their umbilical chords and carried the sweet little lambs into the family stall in the barn, with three ewes following us in. This was by far the easiest lambing this year! Coco is such a good mom that we are thinking we're going to keep her little girl to breed next year-I'm thinking of naming her Chanel-but names have a habit of evolving around here, so we'll see!
Ginger was so huge and was acting kinda funny on Monday that I stayed up to keep an eye on her Monday night. She refused to go into the barn and Lulu was steadfastly by her side-again in the far corner of the pasture, I just sat out there and watched them for a while, but nothing was happening, so I finally came inside to get some sleep. I fully expected Keith to wake me up with news that Ginger had lambed in the middle of the night. But nope!
Yesterday, Tuesday, I let Coco and her lambs out of the barn and I just hung around to keep an eye on the two preggos and watch the lambs jump around all over the place. All day yesterday Lulu was scratching at the ground (a sign of labor) but there was no goo....so I just kept watching. Lulu tactfully waited until we were finished with dinner to start lambing, but really I think it would have been better to have a little daylight!!
She also had her clone first-but her clone is male!-and an all white lamb that is a girl. Again, we waited for her to clean them up and for both of them to nurse before cleaning them up and taking them to the barn. It was the taking them to the barn that proved most difficult!
While Coco just followed us while we carried her lambs to the barn-becuase she could see us!-Lulu could not see us in the dark and freaked out! It took multiple back ad forths to finally get her to follow us, with a lot of Lulu screaming and frantically searching for her babies, but at last they we were all finally cuddled up in their stall. Coco and her babies were cuddled up in their stall and Ginger was STILL staked out in the far corner of the pasture-you're killing me Ginger!
This morning, all I wanted to do was sleep in after our late night running around the pasture-but no! Almost immediately after my alarm clock went off, Keith walked into the bedroom to announce that Ginger was lambing...ugh, can't she have waited until the afternoon, or tomorrow!
So, here we go again. Ginger in the far corner of the pasture and is going through the motions of lambing...but she isn't. Every time Ginger lays down and pushes, nothing really happens. We could only see little hooves poking out and but no head-this is not going well! Giant Ginger is, of course, the most skittish of all the ewes, and she's the only one that clearly needs help.
We somehow get her in the barn, so one of us can hold her down and the other can pull the lamb out-did I mention that Keith randomly is off work today, absolutely perfect timing!-I wanted to hold her down and make Keith pull out the lamb, but that didn't work.
So, I reach in and pull out first the two hooves that are peaking out and then it's head. All of this has taken so long, that I expect the lamb to be dead and am really freaked out at this point. But I pull a little more and and it's obvious that he is actually alive-yay!! I pulled and pulled and was so scared of hurting the lamb. We ended up switching places and Keith pulled the rest of the lamb out-all the while Ginger is contracting and screaming...and we haven't even had breakfast yet!
Even though it was clear that Ginger was going to have another lamb, we all needed a break from each other, so Keith and I headed in to eat and Ginger had her other lamb in peace. Instead of having one clone lamb and one all white lamb, Ginger's lambs look like identical twins that are perfect mix of Ginger and Sam.
One constant theme of lambing this year has been the location...the corner of the pasture. And I'm pretty sure I know exactly why they are gravitating there-our neighbors flock of sheep. I'm guessing that our girls think they are part of that bigger flock, even though our lambs are cuter!
Only Coco and her lams are out in the pasture at the moment. Tomorrow we'll probably let Lulu and her lambs out to play...and maybe Ginger's too. No triplets! YAY!! I've been keeping Cupid in milk, just in case we had triplets or lost a ewe...just to be prepared. Finally I get to dry her off completely and get a little break from milking...until Frannie and Snowy have kids!
Up next (but hopefully not for a week, at least!!), goat kids!!
