Preparing for the Little Lambs

 Preparing For the Little Lambs

We prepared the lambing pens so that the ewes would have their own space to lamb and then bond with their babies. We had added straw to clean sawdust and the warming lamps above to help keep them dry and warm.   Lastly, water buckets were hooked high enough for the lambs to not trip or fall in, but the ewes can still drink, 

These are the raked out pens prior to setup.

We have since learned that is actually better to leave the old sawdust with manure packed down at the bottom with clean sawdust on top and that actually keeps the space warmer. (Note: for next year)

The pens with the straw and closed off gate.  One step closer to a safe private space for birth.

We had been spending more time with the ewes Dolly and Rosie and had been patting their stomach and around their backside to get them ready for delivery.  This helps acclimate the ewes to being touched so that they don’t have more stress if they end up needing assistance during their deliveries.  This will help them be more comfortable if assistance is needed.

While we were waiting for the lambs, we were keeping an eye out on the ewes’ progress.  This picture shows that the teets were pink and the bottom was also pinker.  We had also observed that the udder was full in appearance.  At this point we should have been checking on our ewes every 4 hours or so.  Something we did better with the second pregnancy (Dolly) after sadly missing the first (Rosie).

We also wanted to hang hay feeders in these lambing pens and instead of spending money on durable permanent feeders, we came up with a repurposed feeder from a feed bag and hay bale rope.  Alexia made these two feeders on her own.  Check out her DIY project video below!  It’s a link to our Pinterest video.

Link to Amazing Recycled Hay Feeder Video

By Alexia Castonguay 

Although it was sad to lose our first lamb from mother Rosie, we have heard that this is a common risk with sheep, especially first time moms.  We have learned a lot from that loss and the safe birth of Ivy and plan to lamb again next year.  In preparation for that and showing the sheep at the fair, we are purchasing a Southdown ram lamb and a bonus weather that will be a market lamb this fall. Yay!

Here is Dolly enjoying that recycled hay feeder made by Alexia.  If you haven’t checked out her video, please do and leave her a comment on what you think.  We did add a carabiner to make it easier to fill by bringing the bag to the hay instead of the other way around.

Here is Dolly being a great mom to little Ivy.  We are glad Ivy has joined our flock.  She will be shown at the fair this year.  If you haven’t met our little lamb, Ivy: check it out on her blog post introducing her to our family backyard farm: 

Ivy: Our Little Lamb.

Ivy our Little Lamb

 Introducing Ivy our Little Lamb

Our Castonguay This’N’That Family Farm just had some great big learning experiences with the lambing process.

Alexia was there at 11:30 at night on Saturday, February 20th for the birth and the newborn care of little Ivy.  Along with myself and husband, Justin.  This photo is right after we cleared her nose and dried her up after birth.  There is a red hue because the heat lamps are on.

We are definitely exhausted from the checkups and the labor and delivery, but we are also so thrilled to have a thriving baby lamb in our barn.

I wanted to share with you all as soon as possible the good news of her birth.  She had a quick check the next day by the farmers who we got her mama from and she is 12 pounds.  Note: (we need a little scale).

For a baby lamb, that’s great.  She’s staying warm with her little sweater: hand knit by Ann Salisbury for our youngest son. Thank you Ann; he grew out of it just in time.  We have two warming lamps set up over the pen and she is drinking her milk very well.

The Southdown sheep Mama named Dolly, or as I now like to call her: the Dolly Mama, is doing a great job caring for her newborn lamb.

Lambs have the highest risk of death in the first 48 hours after birth, so we are checking on Ivy and Dolly often.  Our other Southdown sheep Rosie, lost her baby and we are doing everything possible to give Ivy a better chance despite the freezing temperatures!

At the time of this writing, we are just about the 24 hour mark and she is going strong. I am going to use the information we gained from this experience to put together a learning post about lambing from the early signs to the newborn care.  There will be videos and one small graphic clip of the delivery.  

Link to video of Ivy on Pinterest 

Here is one snippet of a video of our lively little Ivy... I’m working with tech support to have it show here, but it takes a while... in the meantime try this link.

Having six of my own babies, definitely helped me connect with our laboring ewe and new baby.  The pediatric experience helped too, but I’ve never been part of a delivery team, so this angle of birth was different.

The other sheep in the flock showed their concern for Dolly during labor and seemed to support her.  They were also interested in meeting little Ivy, especially after she started bleating.  Rosie had been doing well since her loss, but the addition of Ivy has brought on some sadness; she understands now what she lost.

It was such a thrill to be there to help this ewe and newborn lamb.  Come back again soon to get more updates on our newest friend and more details of our busy night.

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