Mary Had a Little Lamb

Well, lambing is in full swing and so far we have had a total of 42; 28 of which are still living. Unfortunately in lambing there are usually deaths associated. Whether it is lambs that are still born, or some that freeze in the cold conditions, mothers who just have to many lambs to handle and therefore some pass, it is always sad to see. We try our best however to save as many as we can, which means (more often than not), bringing lambs into my living room so that they can warm up by the fire and be bottle fed.

Thus far, I have had 6 lambs that have taken up residence in my living room. 2 of them sadly, were underdeveloped and died shortly after being brought in, 3 of them have gone back out to the barn and are feeding off of a nipple bucket, which leave just one left in the house at this point... Nathan. We are treating Nathan for a respiratory infection and will be for the next couple of days. Luckily Nate is getting more and more energy by the day and now is quite content to jump out of his box and hop around the kitchen like he owns the place.

There is more lambs to come, roughly 25 more ewes to go, and that means that the next week or so will continue to be an organized chaos within this house hold. The dog is finding it difficult to handle the unwanted guests and lack of attention that he is getting, but soon enough lambing will be over and I will finally get my house back... for now.

And So it Begins

A few days ago the farmer brought a lamb into the house. He was the first in the many that we expected to be coming in the next week or so. Unfortunately he was a triplet but the other two lambs had passed away before we were able to save them. So the farmer brought this one in to give him a fighting chance as he was quite small. Kevin (the name of our new lamb), was quite content to sit by the fire and drink milk at his leisure. Today however, the farmer brought in two more lambs before he went to work, leaving me to care for them. Kevin was not pleased to be sharing his box or place by the fire, with Barbra and Clive (the two new lambs). But even more displeased was the dog, who was begging for attention as most of mine had gone toward tending to the lambs.

The dog just wanted to play with the new lambs, bringing them toys and licking their face; but they did not seem to keen on this, and in all honesty could hardly stand let alone play with a dog that weighs about 100 lbs more then they do. I myself am trying to stay on top of feeding 3 lambs who seem to be hungry all at the same time and therefore have little time to play with the dog.

Lambing is quite a busy time; trudging out to the barn a few times a day to see if everyone is okay, and if there are any more lambs that need to be looked after. It's busy work and there always seems to be something to do, but it is even more busy when you have several lambs taking up residence in your living room. So far none are able to escape the confines of their box, but I know all too well that it will come soon enough. At that point they are about ready to go back to the barn, where they have plenty of room to hop and play.

The farmer and I expect quite a few more lambs to come in the next week or two, but for now, I'm quite content with just the three in front of the fire. The dog it seems will have to get used to having house guests for at least a little while longer, but he seems to be agreeable.... for now.