It's been another crazy week since my last post. We've wrapping up lambing with 2 more additions and an unfortunate reminder that all lambing doesn't go smoothly. Laffy Taffy lambed Saturday the 28th with one nice ewe lamb but one DOA. She was very delayed delivering the second, who doesn't appear to have ever breathed, so we assume he died in early labor.
Sunday, Magenta started laboring, and late that night, presented her first lamb in an awkward position, with a foreleg back. Cathie played obstetrician and got the lamb out with minimal complications. The second lamb also presented poorly and came out with a good bit of assistance. He struggled from the beginning - apparently from oxygen. We got him out and with heroics, we got him breathing. He was barely alive, and Mark worked with him until 2:00 AM. He made it through the night. By morning, he was a bit more alive, but couldn’t stand to nurse. He clearly had neurological problems - probably from oxygen deprivation during labor. We fed him by hand for several days, but by Wednesday night, he was gone.
The last ewe we expected to lamb doesn't appear to be pregnant after all, so we think we're done with lambing for 2009. There's a chance somebody will surprise us later, though, so we're still watching everybody, just in case.
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