The Glove Box

I started lambing 5 years ago.....well, six if you count that "free ewe that would do so much better on the valley grass".  That same ewe that lambed twins at home three days after I brought her over the mountain...and exactly as I crossed by Mt. Shasta on the way down to California for an agility seminar.  That same ewe that caused mondo marital stress as my suit clad husband went out to the ranch with my emergency bag of goodies...to meet my neighbor and a friend who took over the situation which left him traumatized for years! Since "that ewe", I have taken three lambing classes through OSU as well as an on-line sheep management class through Minnesota West.  I've had some good lambers and some that needed help.  One year, I did the deed I swore I would never do and called my vet out on a pull that I could not muster.  He cheated, by the way, and gave her an epidural, easily sorting out the big huge tangled mess I had made.

This year I bred 24 ewes.  I did indeed use CIDR inserts to induce heat.  My vet and a couple of knowledgeable friends have all assured me that CIDRs do NOT....NOT....NOT cause multiple births.  That was all luck in the form of one set of quads, five sets of triplets, three singles and all the rest as twins.  I have 38 lambs at the ranch.....5 others went on to be bummers with friends....and I lost 3 lambs that I know of not included in the ewe with listeria.  It most certainly was a year of "learning".  I had my first "mummy lamb" and the above mentioned listeria.  I also learned that breeding my blue face leiscter ram to all my shetland ewes, though fabulous in fiber, was not in my best interest!

I really did not pull many lambs by neccesity this year.  Of course Coyote girl got a free-pull pass.  One coop/blue face girl was a hard pull.  The quad mom was totally pooped out when she surprisingly passed the fourth lamb breach.  Shear exhaustion left her laying down when she might have gotten up, so I gave a helping hand to get the head out and into air.  A few other lambs were pulled as the moms were going and I had places to be.  I learned from the best that it is better to pull and have live lambs then to get busy, forget, and not.  It was those darn Shetlands and my plan for improvement in fiber and dog workability that used the glove box.  With some success and some utter fail, I pulled every lamb out of those Shetlands.  Today, I saw the end of lambing 2011....with the birth of these two beautiful lambs.

the boy

the girl

The boy was first and interesting how the hard pull on the first lamb created stress for the second lamb.  The yellow film on her white wool is from the passing of meconium from stress during birth.  Once I got the boy out.....I quickly went in and rearranged a front leg to pull the girl.  Another lesson I learned from this year.....pull one, check for more right away.

Another life lesson learned is that, though I really do love lambing, this is the beginning of a lambing break at Rocking Dog Ranch.  Not living where the sheep live make it really time consuming and hard.  Next year, I won't have the home help, with both boys being off to college...it is time.  Bitter sweet for sure but I have had so much fun with the making of lambing memories.  I promise myself to enjoy every lamb race this year.....I certainly have enough to make betting interesting.

Maybe next year some of my sheep friends will let me come and help lamb.....

Seize the Day!