New Lambs

New lambs arrived Wednesday afternoon. The first of our younger ewes, Pinky, lambed at 2:30 pm on Wednesday. The birth went without a hitch. I dried them off, milked her, and gave it to the babies. As a first time mom however, she didn't understand the babies wanting to nurse. I placed them on her several times but she would brush them away. I called my neighbor, Angie, for help. She arrived with daughter Carmen and held Pinky for me while I helped the babies nurse. She seemed less reluctant allowing one lamb to nurse. Feeling okay about the process I left them alone, returning about an hour later. At that point she was allowing the second born lamb to nurse but was shoving the first born away despite his valiant and continued efforts. I held her again and helped the smaller lamb eat. This pattern continued, me checking on them every two hours and holding her to let the lambs nurse, until Bob got home around 3:30am. Yes, he was on call. We decided to build a smaller pen called a jug. This would keep Pinky from being able to move away from the babies, allowing them hopefully, to both nurse. We placed a divider panel in the existing stall decreasing the original stall by half. This has helped. As of today, Pinky is allowing both lambs to nurse with minimal hostility toward the older lamb. We'll keep her in this confined area for at least another day, moving her to a slightly bigger jug tomorrow. Why the name Pinky? Bob can never remember the younger ewes names, probably because it is very difficult to tell them apart. Sooo... Pinky has a pink breeder identification tag in her ear. Lulu, the other young ewe, lost her tag somewhere along the way. She, therefore, has no ear tag. He is able to handle this arrangement well. Kelvin came yesterday and cleaned the barn for me. I wanted to get this done before the snow storm came through. We received about four inches of new snow last night, much more than my four wheeler can get through with a loaded manure wagon. Thanks Kelvin! We are waiting for the last two ewes to lamb. The goats are possibly due in two weeks. I've increased my barn check time to every three hours. This gives me a chance to other things, like take a nap. Live well, Carmen