Daydreaming while waiting impatiently!

[tortoise]

 

[NH Homesteader]

Aww!🥰

 

[tortoise]

New triplets

 

[tortoise]

The ewe with triplets - Apple - had swollen udder and teat. By afternoon she was kicking lambs away. Her milk is normal its not technically mastitis (yet). DH held her and I milked that side. We helped each lamb nurse on that side, but we weren't successful until I sewed hobbles.

I went to 4-H sheep project meeting with the kids. When we got back, her teat was less swollen and the lambs were able to suckle without much intervention other than hobbles. Apple was kicking less, so I hope she is feeling better. She still has hard masses in her udder, feels like a plugged duct in a human. IDK what they call that in sheep

 

[tortoise]

No picture, but another triplet set born overnight. 2 year old ewe that's not tame or comfortable in a lambing pen. She wasn't doing a good job mothering and barely held herself together when I moved her wet lambs off the cement and under the heating lamp. I'm considering her "on probation." She was hard to move into a lambing pen too. She might gentle from lots of human contact and grain, but I sure don't like having flighty sheepy ewes. They're hard to handle.

Apple's teat was swollen again this morning. Milked about 4 oz (versus 10 oz yesterday evening), and she was letting them suckle. Her ewe lamb learned to drink from a bowl. One of the boys was starting to figure it out too. DS14 was planning to raise one or more of this ewe's lambs for 4-H, so we might as well get them started early with human handling and supplemental feeding.

Apple's ewe lamb has a shorter tail than most of our flock. I want to keep her. I am anti-tail docking. There is no reason why we can't breed bob-tailed sheep. It's been done in other flocks. I want to select for shorter tail length. DH thinks I'm crazy, but the type of crazy where I will actually do it. That means I need to buy a ram lamb.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I chose my breed of sheep in large part because they’re short tailed. I hate docking! Go for it!

 

[baymule]

Congratulations on the lambs. Ewe sounds like a pain. I think I’d have her on probation too. LOL

My Katahdins don’t have docked tails. They are allowed to keep them!

 

[tortoise]

Second triplet ewe, Sugar, has mastitis. There is a ewe that hasn't lambed yet that is swollen on one side too. DH is concerned we might be dealing with a contagious mastitis, so he took a sample to culture. We haven't had mastitis in our flock before this.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

DH is concerned we might be dealing with a contagious mastitis,

That would be awful. Hope it's just a really bad coincidence.

 

[tortoise]

another set of triplets born tonight. 👍