The very next day, Sunday, June 27th, our good friends Jess and Erin were coming out to visit the farm for the first time and to take Howdy, the Angora buck back home! Long story, coming soon to the blog. Well, we know them over the internet and Jess is my weaving mentor and my livestock sister in arms! We love to chat on Facebook and are both rather new to all this, so we share many a tale and question back and forth every day, just about.
I was telling her about Iris, my cream ewe that is so HUGE with babies… I just hoped that she would lamb soon because she was just so huge and uncomfortable! Jess laughs and says she will be bringing her good momma birthing juju to the farm on their visit! Yeah! How cool…
Well, she was right. Just wrong ewe!!!
They no sooner get here and we’re chatting and looking around the house and decide to head out and see the animals and get the tour. We walk to the paddock and it is so apparent that little Emma, my brown yearling is in labor, in the yard and is in distress. She’s bawling and confused and got a leg sticking out and it’s just not going well. So my Jessy and I, we gather her up carefully, and take her into the lambing jug so the rest of the noisy herd will give her a little breathing room. I swear, they were all standing around like it was a traffic accident during rush hour and not helping our little girl at all!
It was a tough delivery, the little lamb was malpositioned and it was apparent that we were going to have to assist. Time to get the sterile gloves and lube ready and towels and such. Jessy is such a good helper, she’s really gotten good at not freaking out and being calm and careful. She is my nurse and so very helpful. I checked over our WONDEFUL Storey Press Barn Guide to Sheep, and determined that it was not too bad, but that it seemed one foreleg had folded and gotten wedged. I could see her little nose, but just one leg. The book advised to just slowly and carefully, between contractions, to push the lamb backwards a wee bit, and that the leg should pop forward into the right position. And I’ll be danged, it did. Whew! Then everything went so much smoother. Emma calmed down immediately and took a little breather. Problem was that the lamb had broken the membrane around her nose struggling and now she was back inside and could possibly drown!
So with the very next contraction, I tried to help the little diver out so that we could at least get her nose and mouth out. In the proper position, baby lambs look like little high divers… their heads should be tucked between their front legs and they look like they are diving out of their mommas… My heart sank when I found the baby unresponsive, and then her little tongue was blue! She was dying… it was not good. Emma was tired, we were worried and with the help of Jessy, we ended up pulling the lamb with the next contraction. Jessy got busy immediately with wiping and trying to get the baby to breath. A beautiful little girl! We had to suck out her mouth and then all the sudden she gasped this huge gasp and started to breath! Oh my gosh… what a miracle moment. It was just all the more special that our friends were there to cheer and record it as well, and offer encouragement. This is all still fairly new to us and last year all the births were just sooooo easy and without much difficulty at all! But this little princess just wanted to make it a drama filled event!
Welcome to little Princess Galadriel… our first girl lamb born this 2014 season. Isn’t she amazing! Oh my gosh… her father is Otis, our yearling ram whom unfortunately passed away a month ago in an accident. Now, he has several beautiful lambs on the ground and his lovely genes will carry on!
But this is the first of his daughters… and oh my gosh, she’s stunning! She is a yarn store in one fleece! Look at those beautiful darks and browns and lights…. just a beautiful little baby!
Jelly Bean was there to visit and hang out with our guests during the event! And here he is watching a video of himself, while being recorded! Haha… such silly stuff!
Little Aragorn is happy that there is another lamb for him to hang out with! Of course, he’s waiting for his love Arwyn to be born… maybe soon?
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