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Lambalanche Time Again!
3 years ago
In the past three weeks, I've had 31 lambs born, which may not sound like all that much, but they tended to come in several ewes at the same time, each with multiple births. I'd no sooner finish drying off one lot than another ewe would go down in labor. One day I got only two hours' sleep. Another day I got up at 5 to check on a ewe and she didn't lamb until nearly eight AM, although she was in labor the whole time. I had to assist that one because she's got bad arthritis (she's a rescue) and I was afraid she wouldn't be able to get up to clean off the lamb. As it was, the lamb had its head bent down to the side, which I only discovered after I had pulled its forelegs out as far at the shoulders and no head came out; I had to push him back in, find the head, bring it around into position, then deliver him. His brother came shortly afterwards, but has a neurological problem and is unable to stand up. I think it's congenital, but it may be due to getting his umbilical cord pinched when I shoved his brother back into his face. In any case, I've been having to care for a crippled lamb on top of all the new babies and the usual farm chores.
This means I haven't had much time to draw. I'm down to the last three comics in my buffer, so I decided to drop back to one strip per update.
This means I won't be able to post a page here until Friday.
I hope that I can get some time to draw now that almost all the sheep have lambed. I have three I'm bottle-feeding because they are part of a set of either triplets or quadruplets. This has been the year for triplets--we have three sets--and the quads were like pulling clowns from a clown car. I had to help the mother deliver them, and each time I reached in, I felt another face. The weird thing is that she wasn't all that huge. The ewe that I thought was pregnant with triplets due to her size ended up having only one, a small one, that got stuck in the birth canal. She couldn't stand up, either, once I'd delivered her, and she died two days later. :( That mother had been a precarious baby herself--when she was born, she was very weak, and even went blind for a while, but she recovered. However, she lost her first pregnancy, had a healthy lamb in her second pregnancy, and now lost a third lamb. I may need to rehome her. Her pelvic opening was incredibly small. I really shouldn't breed her again.
Anyway, the rush is over, so I hope to have a little more time for my second job of cartooning. And maybe for my third job, housekeeping.
This means I haven't had much time to draw. I'm down to the last three comics in my buffer, so I decided to drop back to one strip per update.
This means I won't be able to post a page here until Friday.
I hope that I can get some time to draw now that almost all the sheep have lambed. I have three I'm bottle-feeding because they are part of a set of either triplets or quadruplets. This has been the year for triplets--we have three sets--and the quads were like pulling clowns from a clown car. I had to help the mother deliver them, and each time I reached in, I felt another face. The weird thing is that she wasn't all that huge. The ewe that I thought was pregnant with triplets due to her size ended up having only one, a small one, that got stuck in the birth canal. She couldn't stand up, either, once I'd delivered her, and she died two days later. :( That mother had been a precarious baby herself--when she was born, she was very weak, and even went blind for a while, but she recovered. However, she lost her first pregnancy, had a healthy lamb in her second pregnancy, and now lost a third lamb. I may need to rehome her. Her pelvic opening was incredibly small. I really shouldn't breed her again.
Anyway, the rush is over, so I hope to have a little more time for my second job of cartooning. And maybe for my third job, housekeeping.
I could keep my rams separate and time them to be born in April, but for some reason early winter lambs are better than early spring lambs, because the mothers haven't spent three months eating hay and losing weight. I also don't have to worry about flies bothering them. The big problem of course is watching to make sure they don't get chilled at birth, which is why I hover over them all ours of the day and night.
That's a whole lot of baby sheeps. No problem if you have to do a slowdown to catch up, we quite understand.
I think your ovine midwifery duties have earned you a brief vacation. I certainly won't be climbing the walls if you back off the throttle a little.
When we lived at the larger farm, I had 150 head of sheep at one point.
Vix
Take care of the lambs--and yourself!