Roving's 2017 Lambing Thread

[Roving Jacobs]

This year's lambing started out a little rough. One of my romeldales went first and had a lovely pair of ram/ewe twins. A white ewe and a nicely patterned ram. Unfortunately within about 12 hours I noticed the ram straining to poop and when I went to give him an enema to move things along I found out there wasn't anything there. He had something called atersia ani, where the animal just never develops an anus. The vet explained that surgery to correct the problem has a high failure rate and they often have other abnormalities as well so the best thing to do was to have him euthanized. The vet said it was a rare issue and we are very unlikely to ever see it again and I sure hope so.

The ewe lamb is perfectly fine and growing like a weed as a single now. She is wild and crazy and tears around the pasture with all the adults like it's no big deal.


The jacobs started lambing this morning and so far it has been much less eventful. Two sets of twins born early this morning, a pair of ewes and a pair of rams.

One of the boys, this one has a big O on both sides of him.




The other boy, who keeps wandering off in search of adventure.






I really like this girl, she's so cute! Her sister was crashed out in a pile of hay and I didn't want to risk waking her up for pictures.

 

[mysunwolf]

So sorry about the lamb without an anus I keep hearing about that and it breaks my heart. But so glad the others are doing well. I love those little spotted lambs so much!

 

[norseofcourse]

Oh wow, sorry about the ram. I've heard about that condition but never seen it.

Nice patterns on the Jacobs!

 

[samssimonsays]

Congrats on all the healthy babies but very sorry about the issue with the ram lamb.

That last Ewe is to die for!

 

[Latestarter]

Grats on the healthy lambs, sorry for the one lost. They sure are cute!

 

[promiseacres]

ALL So CUTE! Sorry about the 1st ram.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

I'm procrastinating on a giant paper about agrobiodiversity and also cleaning my house so have pictures of today's babies, a set of ram/ewe twins.

Ewe lamb




Ram lamb

 

[norseofcourse]

I love the markings on that last ewe lamb!

Good luck on the paper

 

[Roving Jacobs]

Paper got done, time for some more lamb pictures. I'm up to 11 lambs with 5-8 ewes left to go. I'm excited about how nice my little jacobs are turning out because I'm going to the Jacob Sheep Breeders Association annual general meeting this year and I'm hoping to bring some sheep to show and sell. My favorite ewes haven't even lambed yet!

Twin rams


Twin ewes




Ram/ewe twins


A big single ram to a first timer. Another first timer had a single ewe but she didn't want to pose for me.


Another ewe had a normal sized stillborn lamb and a little 2.5 lb premie that I was pretty sure I was going to lose. Jacobs are fighters though and she has gained a whole pound and seems to be developing normally at this point. Still not out of the woods but doing well.


And this morning we had a big single cvm romeldale ewe lamb born. The dam has developed some dental problems and it's hard work to keep weight on her so I'm glad A. she only had a single to feed and B. it was a girl to replace her.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Are you absolutely sure these are sheep?

I feel as if I am watching 101 Dalmatians all over again!