Double the Trouble

Two sets of twins within two days

Squirrel (female) and Barrel (male)

PeterPan (male) and TinkerBell (female)

Natalie had her twins February 24th.  Little ram Barrel came first, malpositioned with only his snout showing. Some manipulation by Justin and he was born.  He had some raspy breathing and grunting, which didn’t clear up with nose clearing or swinging by his hind legs.

Natalie did a great job licking him and caring for him as the second lamb got into position. He was 11.4 lbs.

Her second was malpositioned with one hoof and her snout first.  She was a quick fix and delivered well. Squirrel was 11.7 lbs. These twins are Katahdin/Southdown mix. Last year Natalie had Acorn. Her offspring have Autumn/Harvest themed names.

Barrel took a trip to the vet when his grunting and breathing difficulties continued.  He had a full check up   with a normal heart and lung exam.  Our wonderful vet at Annabessacook large animal clinic figured out that it was his trachea vibrating. He got a dose of steroids, his Vitamin E, antibiotics to cover for lung involvement (like aspiration) and an oral feeding tube feed with his mom’s colostrum and some colostrum replacer. 

The good news is his health is great and he’s breathing normally.  The bad news is, since we took him away from his mum so long, she is not accepting him anymore.

We’ve been monitoring their bonding and feeding on our animal camera.  Mom, Natalie will allow her daughter Squirrel to feed, but walks away when Barrel attempts.

So far we have been going out and holding her still every 2-3 hours to allow Barrel a turn to feed.  Perhaps he will end up being another bottle baby.  But we would like for him to stay in the barn because he and Squirrel really enjoy each other.

This morning on February 26th, we rushed to the barn after hearing Nala had already birthed her twins recently in the night. The little kids have been excited to help with the lambs and got there first.

We were lucky that they all survived. Nala must have cleaned them up a little before we arrived, because the twins were walking around the pen, still damp and with frozen tails.  It was -1 degrees this morning.  

Nala was very weak and couldn’t get up off the ground.  Justin gave her some drench (super calorie squirt into her mouth). She fed, drank and went back to caring for her babies.  Despite the cold and that little scare, it really went well.  

You can see Barrel and Squirrel in the pen behind them.

TinkerBell has the brown dot on her back and is 11.9 lbs, otherwise they both look pretty similar with brownish gray speckled heads. A lot like last year’s Charm.

PeterPan weighed in at 13.1lbs.  If you haven’t guessed it yet, Nala’s lambs are named after cartoon characters. Last year was Charm (Prince Charming) and Lucky (Spirit tv show).

Now three out of four of our ewes have lambed and we have just Dolly left. Dolly had triplets last year, but she did a great job all on her own. It was a very productive February vacation.

 First Lamb of 2023

 🌻 Sunflower 🌻 

Mother Ewe “Rosie” gave birth to a single little female lamb.  As tradition would have it, she will be named after a flower.  (Last year she has Daisy) This year the children hotly debated and the resulting name was “Sunflower”!

Mother Rosie did a wonderful job birthing and caring for her newborn.  She didn’t need any assistance.  Justin and the younger girls were there to monitor and assist when needed.

I watched from our animal cam and took some screenshots.

You can see how well she is licking her newborn clean and dry, so she can stay warm enough.

Acadia did get to help hold the Mother ewe still so we could ensure the little lamb had her good feeding with colostrum. Rosie was too much on the move by herself and this being done once or twice, really helped her.

We did put little Sunflower in a sweater to keep her warm.  It works especially well on the female lambs as it stays dry.

We checked on them before going off to bed and they were sleeping under the heat lamps.

Good morning Rosie and Sunflower! 

“Sunny” our “Sunflower” 16 lbs!

Thank you for sharing in our joyful new addition; we have three more pregnant ewes. So come again soon to meet all of our new additions.

Working on Natalie’s twin birth story next!