Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Latching On

At this time of year we are midway through lambing and every morning I check to see if we have any new arrivals.

Arapawa ewes are pretty good mums so generally there isn't much to worry about.

The usual morning routine is to look for any new arrivals, if there is a new lamb I look for the birth guoey stuff, to make sure there isn't any abandoned lambs. Then it's just a matter of keeping a close eye on mum and baby. 

♡ Is baby standing?

♡ Is mum sniffling/licking and bonding with baby?

♡ Is baby locating mums udder?

♡ Is baby's tail wiggling when trying to drink?... if wiggling its getting milk.

♡ Is Mum ok?

♡ How often is baby drinking?

Essentially just being observant.

Today, Girlie, who is my favourite ewe as she was one of my first Arapawa's and the first to let me hand feed her... well Girlie had given birth to twins. Very little twins.

Mum seems ok, both lambs were up, but neither feeding. I kept watch over them for the next 2 or so hours, but neither lamb was trying to latch onto mum. My concern was growing as time passed.

I started to wonder if Girlie had any milk. I put her and lambs into a pen, and had a play with her teets. Initially no milk was being produced, but after some fondling I did get milk eventually, I then put the lambs straight onto mum. The little girl lamb latched on, but the boy wouldn't. The boy is smaller than the girl, and he just wasn't interested. 

Now what to do ... me being me, a kid who grew up in the 80's, watching MacGyver, I just needed some quick thinking ingenuity.

I thought perhaps I bottle feed him some colostrum so he gets stronger and gets an idea of feeding then I'll try to put him strsight back onto Mum.

Long story short... it didn't go to plan and I think we are raising another pet lamb.

He still very weak, not feeding very well, so it will be a long night ahead to try and make this little fella survive the night.

Fingers Crossed.

Interestingly... Girlie was the first to let me hand feed her, the first to let me rub her behind her ears... and now the first to let me milk her... where will this relationship go???

UPDATE

At about 1am, our smallest of little lambs has passed onto another land, where he'll be able to play with other lambs, among fields of daffodils, they'll be jumping over rainbows and butterflies will land on their noses.