#dead lamb

Monday was brutally hot and humid. The girls spent most of their outside time panting in the shade, rather than grazing. Mary kept coming to the gate wanting to come back in the barn. She had passed her mucus plug, so I knew she was close to lambing. So I let her in the barn. 5 Minutes later she wanted to go back out with the rest of the flock. She could not decide between the security of the barn and the security of the herd. We played the in-and-out game a few more times until I got irritated and made her stay out. She did not appear to be in labor yet when I finished chores, but I was fully expecting to find a new lamb when I entered the barn Tuesday morning. And was disappointed. She went out with the others and came to the gate a couple times but I made her stay out this time. Her water broke right before I let the girls back in. I checked on Mary before I headed to the house to get ready for work. She seemed to be progressing normally and I was not worried. I Showered, changed, and ate some lunch. Checked in her real quick before I left for work. She was cleaning off a nice big ram lamb. He was on his feet, wobbly but looking healthy. I was dressed for work and had to leave. Texted Sissy to please check on them when she came to pick up Levi when she got out of work. She found and named little Mario. She also found that Mary had delivered a second lamb. This was a big ewe lamb. Mary was trying desperately to get the lamb up, but she was dead. Sissy says that while Mary had cleaned the ewe lamb’s back half, the placenta was covering the lamb’s face. We have no way of knowing for sure if the lamb was born alive, but it looks like the poor little thing suffocated. Sissy weighed Mario in at 12 lb. and the ewe lamb was just as big. That is really big for twins. When I saw how big the ram lamb was, it did not occur to me there might be a twin still to come. So, we had our first casualty of this year’s lambing season, but I am happy to say Mario is doing very well.