Happy Birthday puppies

The runt is nursing more vigorously. They are all learning to walk on all 4s. Eyes are beginning to open.

We had a horrible accident Sunday night. BJ inadvertently bit one of the larger pups on the face trying to snatch her treat; she was in possessive mode due to the presence of other dogs going past the whelping box. The pup bled badly and continued to cry after the initial shock was over. We took the pup to the e-vet and she didn't find anything she felt needed to be treated other than supportive care; she was concerned about adverse impacts of treating a 2 week old with pain meds. The pup cried through the night and we took him to our vet for another check; he found some face swelling but no evidence of broken skull bones. He too was concerned prescribing pain meds to a 2 week old. That night we realized the pup was starting to seize and it was becoming more frequent. We took the pup to the e-vet; the pup's temp was low and he continued to seize. We chose to try to treat the pup and he was admitted for intensive care with the plan to reassess in the morning. They were able to stabilize him and the seizures stopped (a little valium, IV, oxygen, and tube feeding). He continues to improve. Hopefully he'll come home in a day or two.

We don't know how much or if any impact this will have on his mental development and ultimate congative ability (important for a working dog). We didn't even know if he would make it through the first night but we wanted to give him the chance.

Our ear tag system uses different colors based upon the sire Ram, different ear is tagged based upon the gender of the lamb (left ears for ram lambs, right ears for ewe lambs), and sequential numbers based upon birth order in each year. We then record this information associated with the mom. Prior to sale the sheep are required to have an official USDA ear tag which lists our farm ID and an individual animal ID and we must record this ID with the animal records we are required to keep. For those lambs we will be keeping we replace the lamb tag with a permanent animal ID tag and we record this in our records.

We're still improving our record keeping and will be purchasing a database program designed for flock record keeping to use instead of an app (less powerful) we have on our IPad. We are also moving towards larger adult ear tags (we use button tags about the size of a quarter) to aid in reading tags on moving animals. The smaller tags were chosen to minimize snagging of tags on wire fences resulting in the ear tags being ripped out.

I'm wondering how big those ear tags are to contain all that data! Or do they just have a bar code and "somebody" transmits everything to a program via smart-phone? And then the sorting, ie: (1)these lambs are staying, (2) those lambs are going, and how to get the groups separated? I think I'd have the local 4-H club out for some free real life farming experience. :B

p.s. How are the pups doing?

We'll pick out the best 80 or so lambs to keep through our herding trial in the fall. This group will include a few ewe lambs as replacements for the adult ewes we are culling and the freezer lambs for our direct sale customers. The remaining lambs will be sold after weaning to save our grass for the rest of the flock. The lambs kept till the fall that we are not keeping or are selling as freezer lambs will be sold at auction a week or two before Eid ul-Adha.

We will wean the lambs in groups after they are 8 weeks old. We'll pull off the ewes with the oldest lambs leaving their lambs with the rest of the flock. Weaning allows the ewes to regain condition faster than if we let the lambs wean naturally. We need a few ewes for a herding demonstration early in June and we want them looking good for the public.

Thank you for the update! You've definitely got your hands full. I'm curious; at what age are the lambs sold that you're not keeping?

The runt (aka little guy) has not needed the bottle for a few days; he has gotten strong enough to push his way in while his brothers are nursing and to not get pushed off by his brothers. He is no strong enough that he can dangle when mom gets up.

Little guy was the first to start trying to stand on all 4 as opposed to just pushing himself among on his belly. One or two of his brothers have started trying to stand.

Eyes are still closed.

We have friends coming in this weekend; our friend who is a vet (staying overnight) and 2 or 3 of our puppy buyers (coming for Sunday). I'm sure photos will be taken.

We had our last set of lambs born last night. We were not sure if this ewe was fat or pregnant; she answered that question for us with a set of twins. A lamb got sick and died; the lamb went downhill fast. It was from a set of triplets. We have another lamb that is not doing well; she was found weak and cold. My wife brought it in the house to warm up, tube fed it, and it recovered. It is also from a set of triplets (one of the first sets of lambs) and it has started trying solid food (hay & grain). We have it in a pen and we're trying to bottle feed it and have provided water, grain, and a heat lamp. Right now its belly is very full; I suspect gas from the replacement milk. It is alive but not thriving. We're up to 132 live lambs.

We need updated photos! We know you don't have anything else to do, right?

We've mised the puppy updates. (trans: "we're spoiled here") Do they have their eyes open yet? Hope all is well with BJ and the boys.

He's getting better at taking the bottle. He's also getting better at staying on mom once we get him attached. He weighs about 8oz while his brothers weigh between 3/4 and 1lb. For now he'll get bottle fed and we'll help him nurse when his brothers are sleeping.

How's your little runt puppy doing? I hope he makes it.