Lambing Twins 

 First time mama “Nala”  one of our Katahdin sheep had twins this evening!   This was amazing and scary. 

 

First born came with his back feet first.  This is backwards.  Nala labored for some time and then I called the vet.  I needed to help her.  It was tricky and I had never done this assisted birth before.  After a lot of pulling by me and pushing by Nala, a little boy “Charm” was born. I quickly wiped his nose and face clear, but he continued to have mucus breathing. He was struggling.  The lambing book had prepared me for this. I took him by his hind legs and swung him in a low arc for the centrifugal force. We wiped some more and he was clear.

I put the baby lamb next to his mama’s face but it was clear that Nala was not interested; she was going to birth another little lamb. So Alexia started drying the first baby with the towels while I evaluated the position of the new lamb on the way.

This lamb was coming in the correct position with front two feet first and facing down, her head was right behind and not too long after, “Lucky” the little female lamb was born.

Nala was exhausted and even though it was clear she was done with birthing , it took a few hours to show interest in her babies.  We held her still while they took their first feeds.  

Charm shirt for Prince Charming 

Their dad is our Southdown ram “Lambert”.  Thank God these beautiful twins were born safely and are thriving. Thank God as well that we were blessed to have lambs born this week when the weather has finally risen above freezing.

“Lucky”

Other ewes in our flock are pregnant, but not sure yet if we’ll have any more twins.  Visit us back on our this’n’that farm blog soon to find out. Also add yourself as a follower and/or add us a comment while you’re here!

Nala has turned into a terrific mother.  The “twin fatigue” only lasted an hour or two.  After nursing them a couple times, she started licking them and was gentler   with them. 

  

We weighed the twins with our hanging scale on day 3 of life.  Charm was 12 lbs and Lucky was 13 lbs.

There ended up being some cold nights, but they did fine snuggling together in the corner with their heat lamp up above.

Here they are in their playpen, called a creep for the first time.  The video of their jumping and exploration.  Check out this project in my next post. Coming soon… 

Along with the introduction of our biggest lamb yet!

Born Valentine’s Day 2022.