lambs - triplets even!

red · Post: # 92443Post **red** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:36 pm

last night one of our ewes - Sharona, had a nice sized lamb, with some help, .. then surprised us by producing two more some hours later!

this is our first time.. and hers!

more pictures and a diddy video on the blog

2pig2sheep1cow · Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:19 pm

i bet you were pleased.
it's grate when you see animals giving birth, especially when you have to help them to do it.

tim&fatima · Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:24 pm

Congratulations Red.

Fantastic news. many more to come I'm sure.

snapdragon · Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:51 pm

Superb

she looks a contented mum

Millymollymandy · Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:11 am

They're gorgeous! Well done all you newbies!

glenniedragon · Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:00 am

Can sheep cope with triplets or will you have to bottle feed one? excellent news, what a good girl she is!

ahh

kind thoughts
Deb

hamster · Post: # 92545Post **hamster** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:09 am

Ooh, how lovely. Well done.

Mydreamlife · Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:13 pm

Congratulations... are they boys or girls??

old tree man · Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:22 pm

well done hope all goes well for the lambs

all the best
Russ

maggienetball · Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:28 pm

Fantastic Red. I hope this Devon weather does them well.

Echoing others, I'm also curious as to whether 3 is "normal" and will Mum cope as she would with 1 or 2. Have you every had triplets before?

red · Post: # 92616Post **red** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:36 pm

Mydreamlife wrote:Congratulations... are they boys or girls??

all rams. we were not planning on keeping any anyways.. all destined for the freezer.. so makes little difference to us

red · Post: # 92617Post **red** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:36 pm

glenniedragon wrote:Can sheep cope with triplets or will you have to bottle feed one? excellent news, what a good girl she is!

and

maggienetball wrote:Fantastic Red. I hope this Devon weather does them well.

Echoing others, I'm also curious as to whether 3 is "normal" and will Mum cope as she would with 1 or 2. Have you every had triplets before?

1 or 2 is more usual, and no triplets are not ideal, as the ewe will only have two teats. I know of a ewe that has trips for the second year running and has coped ok, but always they are a lot smaller than singles or twins, and will probably finish later etc. For these reasons farmers often remove one and either foster onto another ewe who just has a single or hers died, or else gets rid. The 'orphan lambs' you hear about are usually actually spare twins or trips.

We have never had triplets before - we have never had lambs before.. this is our first year!

One of the lambs was not looking good at all this morning (weve been doing 3 hoursly checks) and we revived it with a stomach tube feed and some bottles. we have tried to put it back with mum, and she is willing, but the lamb is just not fighitn his corner.. so we are going back to hand rearing (which can often bring its own problems)

Millymollymandy · Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:34 am

You certainly seem to have picked up a lot of knowledge - well done! I hope the lamb will be OK.

red · Post: # 92712Post **red** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:00 am

Millymollymandy wrote:You certainly seem to have picked up a lot of knowledge - well done! I hope the lamb will be OK.

well been reading.. and went on a lambing course, following the blogs of others doing same thing ahead of us, but best of all, being a nuisance to real sheep keeping locals. I even arranged to take part in lambing with a neighbours flock - and they had a really good lot of lambs including first timers and triplets.. and every single one of them managed without help - so much for my experience

doing the stomach tube was nerve wracking as if you get it wrong, you put milk in the lungs and that finishes them off... we have only practiced on a dead lamb on the lambing course once.. but this one was near death anyway, so made the choice 'to have a go' - the very words the vet used on the course, much easier

now on a new learning curve.. as am trying to hand rear the weak lamb - bottle feeds etc. its like having a baby again...

difficult to get info here as the locals mostly would have 'let nature take its course' - so anyone with good advice on bottle feeding (Ina?) ..would be grateful...

ina · Post: # 92720Post **ina** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:09 am

Did I hear my name?

Yes, it's about to start here, too... Lambs are coming thick and fast. The most important thing is to keep the lamb straight (hanging down) when you are tubing it - and not to force it in. It should just glide down; once you've done it a couple of times on a live lamb, it's not so bad any more. But you should be past the stage where that might be necessary. I often keep a weak lamb on a hot water bottle -wrapped up in an old towel. That's easier than having a lamp or a heat box, and you can keep it in with mum.

Ergh - what breed is your ewe?