I opened the door to the barn when I got home from work and did what I usually do, scanned my eyes over everybody to check things out before I went inside. Looked okay. After changing clothes and hiking across the land with the doggies, our daily aerobics, I checked out the sheep again. I spied a little black lamb and thought, that's a very small lamb. Wait a minute - this lamb had a long tail with no band on it. Uh-oh. A newborn? I climbed over the wall and looked around. Sure enough there was a mom standing over another black newborn. Twins! I gathered up the two hefty ewe lambs and got them a pen with mom. What's this? The mother was butting one away. I know some ewes prefer one twin to another, but my ewes have never really rejected or done harm to lambs the way I've heard some other sheep do. What's going on? It wasn't long before I found out. Moira, my very aged white ewe, was roaming around the barn, calling and calling. Her belly was sunken in and her old udder was swollen. It seems one of the black ewe lambs belongs to Moira, but Moira can't feed her due to a bout with mastitis in the past. I feel bad for Moira, but have to keep her baby with this mom who can feed her. I've vowed not to buy another $55 bag of milk replacer and to get the bottle brigade weaned. But this mom is not happy about nursing this interloper. I gave both lambs some colostrum last night, and got more involved this morning. I was hoping she would accept both lambs equally over night but no deal. I got in the pen and tied mom to a post and held her still. This ewe surely weighs more than I do and she has four legs to my two, but with her head tied and me doing my "sheep yoga," leaning on her with arms around her butt and shoulders, she couldn't move. Sure enough, Moira's lamb jumped up and nursed vigorously for five minutes or so. I will have to do this several times a day until Mom (Artemis is her name) accepts them both. I have lots more I should be doing but it's all about the sheep and every lamb is a blessing...especially Easter lambs! Any ideas on names for two black ewe lambs practically born on Good Friday?
2 comments:
Here's what I cam eup with booping around the net :)
RENATA and RENATO – Attractive Italian versions of a name that means “reborn.”
PARASHA – A Russian girls’ name that means “born on Good Friday.”
BUTTERFLY NAMES – The butterfly is a symbol of rebirth and Easter, and gives flight to many attractive names. KIMANA is a Native American name meaning butterfly, and MARIPOSA is a Romantic Spanish butterfly name.
HUGs Kim and Crew
Wow, all good names Kimmie! I'm gonna go with Renata and Regina since she was almost born on Queen Elizabeth's birthday too. Wonderful! Better go check on them...
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