The New Additions, new additions

The ewes I bought a couple of weeks back have both lambed. First to go was Santana Sayen. On the morning of December 13th we went to feed, and there she was proud as can be with a gorgeous ewe lamb.

This lamb has gorgeous markings and nice structure

And then last week on the 22nd we were blessed with twins -a little ewe and ramling who look like polar opposites! These guys got off to a bit of a slow start -I don't think Mama had quite enough milk for two and then went off of her feed.

I was quite concerned that evening since Mama still wasn't eating and a sheep not eating is not a good thing. She had passed her afterbirth without problem so I knew that wasn't an issue. She was standing alert and looked fine, but she just didn't want to eat. I gave her a shot of Oxytocin in hopes of getting her to drop more milk and also a dose of probiotics to give her some energy.

We gave the little ramling some milk replacer since he was looking a little peaked and Mama didn't have any in her bag for him. I checked on them a couple more times that evening and could see the little lambs were trying to nurse but just not getting much out. I offered them some milk replacer again but they weren't interested. I stuck my finger into each lamb's mouth and they seemed warm enough so I left them be for the night.

I was a bit fearful to see what I would find the next morning when I went to check on them, but happily they had made it through the night and were looking brighter. Mama however was still not eating -not good.

Hubby decided she should go out with the flock to see if that would pick her up. I had my doubts as the little ones were so little, but out they all went. And sure enough what happened? Mama stuck her head in the hay and started eating. She was just missing her buddies. I'm learning something all the time with these sheep.

The Twins

Ramling, he's white with just a little brown on his legs. He's a real doll!

Ewe lamb, marked like a barbados but with a white spot on her head!

These painted dessert sheep sure are a lot of fun -you never know what you'll get for lambs. It's amazing that two twins could look so entirely different!