Monday 7th May 2018
Mrs White gives birth - at last!
At long last, on day 160 (145 being the normal 'due date'), Mrs White has given birth. As usual she has given us twins, a boy and a girl and as usual, she just got on with it!! David found her with one lamb just before 7am and by the time Jack was up and dressed, number two had popped out! They are the classic mix of Badger Face and Shetland with really thick fleeces. Both were up and about in fairly quick succession and by mid afternoon were out and about in the field!!
That now concludes our lambing for this year. We have achieved a 150% lambing ratio having had three sets of twins and three singles from our six ewes, with a tally of four ewe lambs and five ram lambs!! They are a great batch, physically we prefer their looks to last year but we also feel they are sturdier
We do need to keep a careful eye on them all though, at three to four weeks, which is the age the older ones now are approaching; the protection from mum's colostrums starts to wear off. It is at this point they should get their first vaccination but, until the second jab that gives them their full cover, they are quite vulnerable. Intestinal worm issues and coccidia are also problems to be aware of, especially as the weather gets warmer and all these nasties are given opportunities for 'prime' breeding!!
We do at least two daily checks and with the lambs are always on alert as far as poo-y bums are concerned as well as hunched bodies and/or a reluctance to play with the others.
Strangely, it can be the bigger, stronger lambs that succumb to some of these illnesses more – this is because all their efforts are going into growing, as opposed to the development of their immune systems!!
We do need to keep a careful eye on them all though, at three to four weeks, which is the age the older ones now are approaching; the protection from mum's colostrums starts to wear off. It is at this point they should get their first vaccination but, until the second jab that gives them their full cover, they are quite vulnerable. Intestinal worm issues and coccidia are also problems to be aware of, especially as the weather gets warmer and all these nasties are given opportunities for 'prime' breeding!!
We do at least two daily checks and with the lambs are always on alert as far as poo-y bums are concerned as well as hunched bodies and/or a reluctance to play with the others.
Strangely, it can be the bigger, stronger lambs that succumb to some of these illnesses more – this is because all their efforts are going into growing, as opposed to the development of their immune systems!!