They're arriving!

So it's Sunday afternoon, I'm covered in car oil, and suddenly mom shouts BABIES out to me. Considering the first lambs weren't due until Wednesday, I had absolutely no idea what she was on about. But, as luck (i suppose?) would have it, no the lambs had decided that Sunday (the day when the local farming store was closed) would be perfect to pop out.

As a result, we raced up to the farm to see 3 beautiful newborn lambs and two (a little shellshocked) new first time moms; Gladys and Dolly. We had also brought them into the shelter to keep them warm, let them bond and have their first drinks of milk as well as iodine their umbilicuses. There was no need for intervention in the birth as the girls had it under control but for the first 12 hours, Gladys was not ready to accept her big boy as her own.

We'll call this big lamb big-yin for now (quick Billy Connolly reference for you there).

We had managed to get Big yin his first doses of colostrum from his mother by turning her up and latching him on but we decided we can't keep doing this for 24 hours. With the farming store closed, we couldn't pop up and buy a tub of colostrum like originally planned so it was time to call in a favour from a sheep farming friend. As my friend had lambed before and was planning for lots of lambs this year, he luckily had some colostrum and brought it up for us. More on that in a bit.

Now Dolly. Dolly gave birth to some lovely little twins, a boy and a girl. These little ones were latching on and Dolly had taken them in her stride and was doing wonderfully. However, neither mother had licked their lambs dry - they were first time moms so we can't blame them! But, we had set up some heat lamps anyway so the lambs would stay warm and dry off.

Back onto our Big yin. Once my friend had arrived he took a look at the little ones and helped get Big yin latched. Even though Gladys would let him drink, as soon as we left them, she was knocking him away. We decided it would be best to top him up and make sure he had a full belly for the night (or at least until 12 a.m. when I fed them again). We also saw that the other two were looking a little bit thin too so gave them some as well. After checking the moms had enough hay and water we let them be to get used to and bond with their lambs. This was around 6 p.m.

With Christine on hand to help, we set out a plan. I would do the night shift and Christine would get up early to do the morning. At 12 a.m. I went out and fed them again before I went to sleep for what was about 5 hours as I couldn't sleep for the stress! When I went out, I could see that Gladys was beginning to take to her little boy and it was a moment that I will never forget for life. As I felt that their bellies seemed quite plump, I figured I'd only give them a little bit just to be on the safe side.

When I woke up and went downstairs in the morning, worried out of my mind that I might have lost one over night, Christine settled me when she told me that our Gladys had found the mother inside her! She was talking to him, licking him and even stomped at Christine when she went up to check them. I'll quickly mention Dolly as we mustn't forget her. We didn't have any problems with Dolly and she had taken her lambs under her wing wonderfully!

The relief I felt was nothing I had felt for a long time. My girls had done it, they had made it through the first twelve hours with their little beauties. In the morning we took a trip to the shop to pick up some colostrum and Lamlac just in case we needed it again and towards the late afternoon yesterday, Dolly's little ones were even starting to bounce around!

Gigi and Freya the Jacob are still yet to have theirs and I regret to say that the other Jacob was lost the other day, but as Christine always says - "If you're going to have livestock you're bound to have deadstock" and it's just something that happens.

Time for some pictures hey?

Scroll to the bottom for a video of some "spring" lambs.

A big thank you for all the help I had from everyone for these first few. More lambs to come soon!