Duncan, our ram man, likes to poke his head through our garage window, as soon as he hears the garage door start to open. He "knows" that I'm home and will likely feed him. You see, the animals food trough is just on the other side of this window and the hay and chow is kept in the garage (until that beautiful day that we have a regular sized barn). Today, like most days, I get out of my car (all decked out in my professional work clothes, mind you) and try to feed my ruminants some hay and chow without getting too messy. While all the ruminants are "baaaaaaing" at me, my human offspring are trying to get out of the car and into the house, while wrestling with seatbelts, car seats, their backpacks, snow gear bags and lunch boxes.
I look through the (farm animal drive up) window to see all the usual suspect (goats, ram, ewes, chickens) and then I see something else out of the corner of my eye. Is that a baby lamb? What? It's not spring! It's January. Isn't it? I rub my eyes, like people do in the movies when they are shocked by what they are seeing, and look again. Yep, that's a baby lamb, red umbilical cord hanging and everything!
Jane- our two year old Ewe (Aoife's daughter and one of our first lambs born on our first farm) and Duncan, our ram man, are the proud parents to this baby!
I immediately go into the farm version of "Call the Midwife" and rush into the house to get my boots on (I'm wearing cute, ankle boots not fit for a farmyard). I don't take the time to change my clothes. I yell to the boys to feed the ram lots of grain so I can get into the farmyard and assess the situation without fear of being rammed by Duncan. As soon as the coast is clear, I head into the pasture and snap these pictures below.
I now know, of course, that it isn't spring and we have our first "winter lamb." I also know that the sun goes down early in the winter and farmer J isn't expected home for some time. I spring into action. When the sun goes down, so does my light and the heat source for this new baby. Luckily, Jane had her baby on a perfectly warm (for January) and sunny day, with very little wind.
I got the lamb and mother safely in the birthing pen, turned on the heat lamp and got the new mama lots of fresh water, chow and hay. I assessed the lamb and saw that he was a boy. Another boy. Our last four lambs have been boys. Shoot- I already had my girl lamb name picked out and everything. Well, there is always hope that Una is pregnant too. And, really, at this time, I wasn't sure that Jane wouldn't have another baby. Twins are not uncommon for sheep, but typically, first time mamas have a single baby- which is kind of mother nature. And the good news for Jane- only one lamb.
The lamb looked good. He was standing up well, trying to nurse and appeared pretty darn healthy.
Jane, his mama, had already licked him pretty dry. Parts of his back and ears were still wet from his recent trip from womb to world.
My only concern was that the lamb had yet to nurse. As we, the bad farmers, were not quite expecting this baby to come this early, Jane was quite wooly near her udder/tits. The lamb was having a hard time finding her milk source. I tried to help the mama/baby out but I'm not a sheep lactation consultant. At this point, I figured I would leave them alone for a bit... after I took a few pictures!
Soon, Farmer J was home. Thank God! He snapped this picture of me showing Duncan his baby boy. He seemed interested... at least for a few seconds.
Proud daddy Duncan! Farmers always like it when they know their ram has done his job!
I've held every lamb born on our farm, within minutes of them safely entering into this world. No exception with this little guy. He is our 8th lamb born into our farm family. We have had 3 female lambs (Jane, Una and Lily) and five boys. This guy is number five. I held Jane as a baby... and am now holding Jane's baby.
He is also the biggest lamb! Duncan is huge, so we are not shocked that this guy is so tall. With J's arrival, I headed back into the house and he took over. He trimmed up Jane's wool around her udder to help the lamb find his milk. Jane's milk was in and, hopefully, the baby will start nursing and getting the nutrients he needs. To date, we have never had to bottle feed a baby lamb as our sheep have always been great nursing mamas!
One last check before bed. He fell asleep in my arms, under the warmth of the heat lamp. I didn't stay too long, as Jane was getting a little upset I had her baby. Rightfully so! She is already proving herself to be a great mama! I also needed to return to the role of mama to my human boys and get inside to do the typical Thursday night bedtime tasks.
Sweet dreams little guy.
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