You get triplets!
When I sold my Bluefaced ewes in the Fall no one wanted Kathleen Mavorneen because one udder was bad. Since she is a beautiful ewe, I put her with Cedar Fen Nathaniel and bred her figuring that two lambs might be able to nurse on one udder if she twinned. Besides, I have two bags of unused milk replacer in my freezer from last year. On friday night, I went out to find Kathleen with a big ewe lamb, a very small black ram lamb and another water bag hanging out. GREAT...triplets. The last lamb arrived healthy and lively. He was medium sized. Small, medium and large! Pretty cool.
Kathleen looked overwhelmed when I put her in the lambing pen with her threesome. She liked the big girl but the two smaller rams seemed to confuse her. I made sure all had a drink from momma before going in to doze for an hour. Awakened by the little guy wailing on the monitor, I went out with a bottle which the two ram lambs sucked down. It was apparent that the big girl was not sharing the one teat with her brothers. Back to sleep for 2 hours. This time I was determined to let them get hungry so they'd find mom was their food source. But after unendurable crying, I went out.
Kathleen was talking to all three so she had accepted them but the big ewe was not allowing the two boys to nurse. I held her at bay while the rams got their bellies full. By morning, they had sorted it all out. No one was crying on the monitor and when offered a bottle there were no takers. Today everyone is content and Kathleen loves them all equally.
You get triplets!
When I sold my Bluefaced ewes in the Fall no one wanted Kathleen Mavorneen because one udder was bad. Since she is a beautiful ewe, I put her with Cedar Fen Nathaniel and bred her figuring that two lambs might be able to nurse on one udder if she twinned. Besides, I have two bags of unused milk replacer in my freezer from last year. On friday night, I went out to find Kathleen with a big ewe lamb, a very small black ram lamb and another water bag hanging out. GREAT...triplets. The last lamb arrived healthy and lively. He was medium sized. Small, medium and large! Pretty cool.
Kathleen looked overwhelmed when I put her in the lambing pen with her threesome. She liked the big girl but the two smaller rams seemed to confuse her. I made sure all had a drink from momma before going in to doze for an hour. Awakened by the little guy wailing on the monitor, I went out with a bottle which the two ram lambs sucked down. It was apparent that the big girl was not sharing the one teat with her brothers. Back to sleep for 2 hours. This time I was determined to let them get hungry so they'd find mom was their food source. But after unendurable crying, I went out.
Kathleen was talking to all three so she had accepted them but the big ewe was not allowing the two boys to nurse. I held her at bay while the rams got their bellies full. By morning, they had sorted it all out. No one was crying on the monitor and when offered a bottle there were no takers. Today everyone is content and Kathleen loves them all equally.
2 comments:
Wow, she's nursing triplets with just one working side? Good for you and her getting them all nursing and well fed. Good luck with them! And congratulations on another set of triplets. I've never had a set of triplets here yet, and this will be my 12th year of lambing.
Congratulations! Seems like you are starting another flock. Such cute little lambs, can't wait to start my own flock.
Heather
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