Friday, February 01, 2008

Moira has Twins



I am breathing a sigh of relief tonight after Moira delivered her twins. Moira has had a tough time with birthing the last few years and I did not want her bred this year. The first year she was bred the vet had to come and pull out the babies. The second year she delivered one and it took me a half hour to pull out the second twin and there was terrible bleeding. I called the vet on the cell phone from the field and she told me the seventh sheep C-section was on the way to her office. I remember thinking, gee, why didn't I take Moira in for a C-section? My arms were sore as can be (and so was Moira). Every time I had let up the pressure the lamb was sucked back in. Yikes it was awful! We seem to be doing fine now, with a little assistance getting the twins on the teat (Moira only has one working). Moira has gigantic babies and this year the ewe twin is 10 pounds and the ram twin is 11 pounds. That's a lot of baby weight to grow inside a sheep. I think the diet of only grass hay helped keep her lambs down to a weight she could deliver without help. Once in the jug, I got to work getting some colostrum out of the good side of her udder. With such big lambs it takes a bit of milk to fill them. I thawed out some frozen colostrum I had in the freezer and gave them some extra. I took extra time sitting on the hay with them, making sure they latched on to the teat so they'll know where it is when they get hungry in the night. I named them Magnus and Magda. Appropriate for such great big babies, huh?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your input!