30 Days of April 2018

[Pebbles82]

Getting back on his feet and then trying to get out of the back door

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[Pebbles82]

And then for some strange reason he decided to stick his head in the shoe rack! And wouldn't come out. His legs then went again and he had to be tube fed again and go back in the box for an hour.

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He came round fine and is now indoors in a barn with his Mum. We thought he was just born a bit weak, but it seems the bad weather is the culprit as we then had four more collapsed lambs this afternoon and had to do the same again.

[Drago]

Aww what a cute little guy! Look at those lovely, speckled legs Hope he regains his strength soon!

[BorisPasha]

Oh dear poor little guy, he's very cute though. Sounds like you're having a very busy time of it, I hope the weather eases off soon for the little lambs. I take it the mother won't reject them if the lamb has had to be brought indoors to warm up?

[cypher]

Maybe not spring yet after all I hope the weather turns more favourable soon & the lambs fare better, the little one in the box is just so cute though!

Drago if you want to see sheep you should try Wales one day! We have a lot more sheep than people in my area

[Pebbles82]

Yes he is fine and back with his Mother Yes particularly bad weather this year for the lambing starting. Heavy rain for a few days left the ground very wet and cold and then thick fog which was damp. The lambs are wet when born and couldn't dry out so they get cold and weak and then can't stand up to feed. If they don't get collostrum within the first few hours they just flake out. This doesn't normally happen - just a combination of weather factors and it's cold too. So after those five collapsed the sheep giving birth are now being brought elsewhere into a barn to give birth and kept there until the lambs are a few days old and stronger. Hope the weather improves soon!

We saved three out of the five that collapsed yesterday. Sadly the other two didn't come round.

[Coco61]

Oh no, after a hopeful start I am so sorry that 2 lambs didn't make it. It does sound as though you all made heroic efforts and saved 3 of them. I can understand bringing the ewes into the barn though. Any born during the night might well not make it.
Lucky is very cute though. Glad he is back with Mum ok. Are the other 2 with their mothers now?

[Pebbles82]

Yes I'll save the other photos for tomorrow, but the other two are back with their Mum and doing fine. They were twins. At 1am we were up trying to decide what to do! One was up and about and active and ready to go back to his Mother. The other one was floppy and not ready. OH wanted to put them back to the Mother together as if he put one back on its own she may reject the second one. But we couldn't leave the active one in the house all night unless we stayed up to keep an eye on it (or it could have caused a lot of damage or chewed through electric wires). And we were too tired. So he put the active one back and we left the floppy one in its box in the house overnight. This morning it was up and fine and the Mother has accepted it. I saw them both with the Mother today and they are just happy active little lambs now.

The twins were called "Noisy" and "Floppy" for obvious reasons! More about them tomorrow.

[Pebbles82]

Day 13

Lamb Hospital

The next four warming up

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Noisy and Floppy the twins warming up. Noisy was very noisy, bleating loudly a lot and sounding a bit cross.

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Both of them awake and Noisy was ready to climb out

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Noisy out and about and ready to go back to his Mum.

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[cypher]

They look very cosy indeed! Glad they're doing ok & I expect Mum will be glad to see them again