Around evening feeding time, I noticed Rachildas was not her normally piggy self and wasn't eating. She was about two days past her due date (no biggie really) and I knew that she was going to have to give up her lambs sometime soon!
She started having contractions around10:30 or so but they were VERY far apart. Enough for her to get up and pretend to find things to eat in her hay that she earlier wasn't interested in.
At midnight she still wasn't at full contractions or dilation so I thought I should go take a quick nap (hey I'd been up since 4am the day before working hard moving wet heavy snow!) I woke up about 2:30 am and the entire time i was sleeping I had nightmares about mispresentation of the lambs, blizzards and finding dead lambs. I raced to the barn and this is what I found:
These two lambs are out of the F1 Orion son, FirthofFifth Aman, owned by Cynthia Allen, who is a modified moorit of sorts so both of these guys carry modified for sure. I knew Rachildas was only Awt/Ag as she has only had whites or bersuggets before (hence she also carries spotting) so I didn't know if I'd also see a musket but she is apparently BB BB.Horray! My first white lamb and my first bersugget lamb! Anyone know WHY the whites are yellow at birth? Why not the other colors? What is that stuff?!
Her bersugget ram lamb
Rachildas white ewe lambBoth have crimpy, consistent fleece
While I was taking photos I witnessed the yearling ewe pen had commotion. All of the girls went running and stood in a corner opposite LittleRedOak Wren. Lo and behold she was in labor! She was NOT the one I expected to lamb first with the yearlings as I had just checked udders at the evening meal and she was not the one with the biggest udder, or the most swollen back end. Guess they showed me huh?
This is a little spotted katmoget EWE lamb also out of Jazz, the F1 Jericho of mine. She has a krunet on her head and white on the backs of her ears...really cute....AND TINY! She is as small as Rolo was last year when born to a first time mom. I haven't weighed them yet but I bet she isn't much more than three pounds!I forget how dramatic these first time moms are before, during and after labor. Then again I'll just say I'm glad I don't have to bear children. Props to the females in this world of all species!!
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6 comments:
Hooray! Wish I coulda been there :(
Wow Zow, Garrett,
cute babies. even the spotty calf!
My whole family loves to look at the lamb pictures of Little Red Oak sheep who moved away from here. We think Wren's spotty katmoget is especially cute.
Gail
Way to go, Rachilda!!! I'd say the yellow on that little white lamb is meconium ~ poop in the ambionic fluid that surrounds the lamb prior to birth. I've seen it on some dark lambs but it's much harder to detect.
Is Wren the twin to my 'Serendipity'? My Sera looks likes she's ready to pop. I have no idea when she was bred ~ I thought Hunter did nothing but chase his girls for the first few days but it's looking like she'll be one of the first to go.
...amNiotic...
Hi Nancy! I was wondering when you'd get to my blog and post :P
Wren was Will's twin. I can't remember Sera's siblings...u'll have to ask Gail about that!
Wren looked HUGE also but no udder...and she lambed with a tiny 4# single.
Nancy's correct, Garrett - most white sheep are born a bit off-color due to the staining occurring in the amnionic fluids. She'll clean up just fine. In Australia and NZ, you'll see fields of white ewes with yellowish newborns at their sides. Some staining can stay with them until first shearing, but I think that's mostly with the Merino-based sheep.
I am so happy for you that you're getting splashes and spots!
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