It was with great anticipation that the due date arrived. But like most things, it did not go quite as planned…
The first of the ewes is a great lamber and has lambed before. Apart from stiffness in her legs, she usually gets on with it without any problems. The day before she was due, I noticed she seemed sleepy and a bit out of sorts. I put it down to the rise in temperature and the huge load she was carrying. By lunchtime I was doubting myself, as she still seemed ‘wrong’. It is hard to second-guess when you are out with the flock on your own, but my instincts were telling me I needed to help her.
As we were expecting a few multiple births I had bought a bottle of twin lamb drench as a precaution. She loved the sticky treacle, and like Lucozade for sheep it seemed to do the trick – she got up grazing again. Him outdoors was on night watch, and sure enough in the early hours of her due date she deteriorated to such an extent that he called out the vet. The dreaded twin lamb disease we had been so careful to look out for had crept up on us on the last day.
The vet took bloods and confirmed our diagnosis. She was given calcium under the skin and a few more shots to help her get back on her feet. She was also induced, with the instruction that if she had not given birth by the afternoon, we were to call the vet back out to do a caesarean, which might save either her or the lambs, if we were lucky.
Labour started within the hour and the poor girl, still weak, gave it her all. It was a hard slog for her and we had to help get the first lamb out. Not knowing if they were alive created a heightened state of emotional turmoil in the barn. The first lamb had its nose and one leg in place to arrive, but try as we might the second leg could not be found – it had become stuck behind its head and needed manipulating to get it in the right place for delivery. Just like that, once the leg was in position, out he flew – a huge, perfectly marked ram lamb who, best of all, was very much alive.
He was followed quickly by another ram and then, after 20 anxious minutes, a little ewe lamb. Like a trooper, mum was up on her feet within minutes to clean the lambs and get them drinking that valuable colostrum. The little family hasn’t looked back since and they are all now outside grazing as if nothing had happened. Welcome to the world Cottonsmeade – Kaiser Chief, Keanne and Kate P. Let’s hope the next birth is not as traumatic.

by Tria Stebbing