The lambs are about three months old now. They certainly have put on weight. Their tails are now short, the longer part having fallen off. We docked the tails by applying a rubber band to cut off circulation. The longer part of the tail shrunk over the course of six weeks or so and finally fell off.
I let the lambs and their mother outside their pasture on Saturday. The lambs would run away from their mother, amuse themselves for a bit and then run back. I caught a segment of them playing on video when they notice that Mom is moving on.
After a few days away, we returned to find two new lambs had been born. I looked out this morning and there they were, beside their mother in the pasture. One black, one white. They were romping around in the frost-coated grass.
This is the earliest date of birth for lambs in the three years we’ve had sheep. In previous years, they’ve come in late January or February. Also, it’s our second set of twins, after a single birth last year.
More of this morning’s photos on this Flickr set.
Today, Katie noticed an unusual brown mound out in the pasture. Walking toward it, we soon realized it was an animal down. Then, as we got closer, we could see that it was a sheep and we saw it kicking its legs so we knew it was alive. Katie went up and looked at the sheep and tried to get it up. She moved the sheep and after some effort, it got up and wobbled and fell back down.
We went in and called the vet and got her out within an hour. I don’t know that she said “my sheep has fallen and can’t get up” but we said it was an emergency. When the vet arrived, she checked the sheep and nudged it and this time the sheep jumped to its feet and stayed upright. It walked around and then headed away to join the rest of the flock.
The vet said that the sheep was likely fine. It didn’t seem to have any neurological damage, which might cause it to fall over, and it was obviously not blind. It had somehow fallen and ended up on its back against a slope. This sometimes happens to older, more arthritic sheep and this male was relatively young. According to the vet, the sheep would have died if it did not get assistance. A sheep’s stomach produces gas continuously, and when it is on its back, the gas is trapped and the sheep becomes bloated. The vet said she gets calls likes this even from people with a lot experience raising sheep. It happens. Sheep are particularly helpless.
We have to watch the sheep more closely for a few days.
