2014 Lambing

BCSnob wrote:
Since the last update we've had 2 sets of twins and a single born. The bottle lamb is doing well.

Triplets: 12 sets
Twins: 41 sets
Singles: 14
Still born: 3
Died: 6
126 live lambs
68 ewes lambed out of 76

Monday we had to deworm again several of the ewes; all ewes get dewormed right after lambing. This was a very challenging task for us and the dogs. We started out putting a large group of ewes and some lambs in a stall. Since not all ewes had their lambs there was deafening calling between ewes and lambs. The sound was so loud that my wife and I had to yell in order for us to communicate across 10'. Plus the packed pen made it difficult to identify those ewes that needed to be treated; it was hard to look at body condition when they were all packed together. So we let them out of the pen into the barnyard while we locked the remaining part of the flock out in the field. This made it easier to look at the ewes' body condition but made it more difficult to catch an individual ewe and squirt the oral meds in its mouth. We used two dogs (my Nell & my wife's Bette) to force each selected ewe against a fence or into an open stall. It was difficult for the dogs to focus on the ewe we wanted when there were so many ewes and lambs running around. Imagine trying to get your dog to fetch a red ball when there are 50 other balls bouncing all around your dog and the red ball. Our dogs had difficulty understanding which sheep we wanted them to focus on and then keep their focus on that sheep when a group of lambs would run by. When we finished treating these ewes we needed to them back into the stall so we could bring in the rest of the flock. They did not want to go back into the stall and even with 2 people and two dogs we could not get all of them back in; we got a bunch in initially but as we tried to add others those that were in were trying to come out. In the process my dog got slammed by an aggressive ewe which moderated her enthusiasm for the task. For the remaining sheep I got my Peg to help; Peg enjoys working stubborn sheep. We sent 3 dogs to gather the remaining ewes & lambs and there were 3 ewes with their lambs that did not want to move. I helped Nell with one set, my wife helped her Bette with another set, while Peg worked on an aggressive ewe with her lamb. We managed to get all of these into the barnyard but I did have to treat a wound on the ewe that Peg was working because Peg grabbed the ewe when the ewe charged Peg. With the sheep in the barnyard we went back to identifying ewes with poor body condition and signs of worms; then catching and treating those ewes. This task took up most of the daylight I had after getting home from my day job.