Old #33 is thirteen this year. I really intended to cull her after last season, but… I didn’t. For various reasons of procrastination, guilt, a summer schedule turned on its head by drought and hay feeding, and because I wanted to retain enough mature ewes to have an increasing crop size. She had single lambs the last two years, which was ideal for her, not too big of a load. Wouldn’t you know it, she conceived twins this time, and it nearly killed her.
I’d had her in the barn most of the winter, because she was prone to falling whenever I’d move the herd with the dogs, and I felt bad for her. So, she was getting fed pretty well, inside with the remainder of the butcher lambs; but I think she still had a hard time competing with them. And, she’s just old.
Several weeks before her due date, she started to have a lot of trouble, I could see her feet and/or legs were sore, and she’d shift her weight a lot. Some days, I’d let her loose outside to graze and get some sunshine and vitamin D. One day, she insisted on following me on a short hike back into the woods. And that really did her in, she could barely make the walk back to the barn. After that, she needed help getting up from recumbency; so I made sure she rose at least three times per day to eat, drink and pee.
She is very thin. I gave her a ton of supplements, just hoping I could get her through to delivery ok. Her appetite has been great, including slurping down a bowl of molasses and vitamin/mineral water I’d make for her each day. I checked on her every four hours round the clock near her due date, worrying she wouldn’t have the strength to push out lambs. The night of her due date, she lambed about about 2am. When I did my middle-of-the-night check, she had one lamb up and reasonably cleaned off, the other one was stuck, head out, with both legs backwards. I figured, “oh great, that one’s probably dead…” But it wasn’t, I was able to push it back in, get a front leg forward, and deliver it pretty easily. Both lambs were quite vigorous, and good-sized; a ram and a ewe. I’m particularly pleased with the ewe, as I’ll likely keep her. She is sired by a ram out of one of my high-EBV Missouri imports, so it’s a great thread of #33’s genes to retain.
I knew they would have difficulty finding her huge and low-slung teats, and it was 2am, so I was in no mood to hang out and watch them try. So, figured I’d milk her and bottle feed them colostrum to get things started. Only to find one side of her udder is completely blind and the other only had a few ounces of milk. She had adequate milk last year and no signs of mastitis then, so I think those lambs just took all her reserves and there was nothing left to make milk. So, fine, enough colostrum to get maternal antibodies in them, but certainly not enough to nourish them. I pulled some banked colostrum out of the freezer, ironically from her in a prior year, to give them one more boost of antibodies; then just started feeding them my own homemade milk replacer.
They were born Friday early am, and all day I bottle fed them warm milk. Saturday morning, I sold them cold milk; and midday, I showed them the teat bucket a few times. They seemed to have it down, so I didn’t get up during the night. Sunday morning, they had nice, full bellies; so they definitely have bucket mastery in just 48 hours. Just in time for me to go back to work on Monday!
I feel a little bad for #33, though, as she’s missing out on the most rewarding part of motherhood, the nursing of tiny babies and the associated oxytocin hit it gives. She keeps inviting them to nurse, and they blow past her and latch onto the bucket! So, she’s a little sad about that, but at least they get to hang out together, and she can teach them to eat grass and hay. And in a week or two, she’ll be lucky to not have rocket launcher lambs butting her udder and lifting her off the ground! Instead, I’ll just let her dry up and try to gain some weight back and take a vacation from work all summer.
This set makes thirty lambs #33 has delivered in her lifetime, giving her a conception average of 231%. She is one productive lady! Charles Parker, one of the Katahdin breed’s original proponents, liked to call them “The Madams”. She seems well-deserving of the tile.
April 18, 2016 at 2:26 pm
I love this one 😀 Good Job old 33.
I had a similar story with a cow this year, she is #46, and she is 13 and should have been culled last year (and the oldest gal in my herd). She got really skinny and I almost last her in November, and was sure she had aborted her calf. I put her in with the milk cow and she got babied and didn’t have to fight for food all winter. the last month, it became apparent she was still pregnant. I started every 4 hour checks, as I was also concerned she would not have the reserves to push out the calf. Last Thursday, she went form nothing at 5pm, to a 92 lb calf on the ground and mostly cleaned off at 6! Calf was a little slow and had a lot of trouble finding those huge low slung teats, and got some battled colostrum to get going. By morning, he had perked up and found a teat! She is now raising him and getting all the supplemental feed she wants, and I am just keeping a close eye. Got to love this old ladies!
April 18, 2016 at 4:19 pm
Great post. We had a doe like that a few years ago. One of those “we shouldn’t have but we did” breed. Fun to hear the story too, up all night and back to work the next day. I’m still trying to convince my wife we can feed the babies cold milk, heating milk at midnight to feed is a drag.
April 19, 2016 at 2:00 am
With all the boy friends that have come and gone, the classy lady can still hold her head up high with a smile on her beautiful face!
April 19, 2016 at 5:16 am
CAnderson, hah, I have never thought about how many suitors she’s been paired with over these 13 years!
April 19, 2016 at 5:19 am
adalynfarm- for sheep, especially meat sheep, “they say” you should switch them to cold milk as soon as you can, to curtail them from over-eating. Indeed, it does make them shiver like crazy, so they probably do decide to eat it in smaller quantities, more mimicking the natural feeding cycle of frequent, small meals. But I do heat it at first, to make sure they are motivated to drink from a bottle. Not sure how you are heating it- I bought a baby bottle steam warmer last year, OMG, changed my life! Well worth the $50! Now I can just shove a bottle in there, push the button, do some chores, and it beeps at me when the milk is a at the perfect temp.
April 19, 2016 at 5:20 am
Love it, Jessica. Those old ladies know what they are doing…
April 21, 2016 at 10:33 pm
Thank you for sharing. I hope the twins continue to do well.
May 6, 2016 at 6:02 am
Could you share your milk replacer recipe?
May 7, 2016 at 2:22 am
Yes, Sarah, it is here:
I meant to link to it in the post, I’ve fixed that now…
May 23, 2016 at 3:28 pm
I love our old ladies! I decided last year that I would retire the three oldest, separate them, spoil them, and give them a cushy life for all the lambs they had given us. But, they were having none of that! They were unhappy for about 5 months, then broke down the fence (It was not a shabby fence either!) to get back with the flock, and were promptly pregnant. I have a tiny flock, and have had almost no lambing troubles through the years, but, this time these old gals gave me fits. Tiny underdeveloped lamb, rejected lamb, giant stillborn lamb, malpresentation and low milk production! I got it all in one fell swoop, with just 3 ewes! Still, we have 4 live growing lambs, so I will be thankful. About that malpresentation, the head was back, but down between it’s front legs! She is an old ewe, with plenty of room inside, so once I flubbered around and figured it out ( I nearly became convinced of a headless lamb), we got a live lamb on the ground. I have never seen this presentation, and neither had my friends, there is always something to learn!
May 24, 2016 at 3:58 am
TexomaMorganLady- interesting, I’ve never had a head-down presentation like that either! Yes… it seems it is a dilemma, the old ewes want to be with the flock, they are driven to breed… Plus, it could cost a lot to feed them for years in retirement. So unless one could find a pet home for them, which would be tough (“who wants to take my teen-age ewes as pets, knowing anytime soon, you’ll be saddled with burying them!”), it seems like culling is the most practical option. But definitely sad.