SA Farm's journal

[Baymule]

I’m late to the party, glad you had such good support here! How fortunate you are to have a vet that knows sheep! What a save on the two live lambs!

Poor Foxy. She really had a hard day. I wouldn’t hold it against her. Next time, she could be the best momma ever.

So now you have bottle babies, but at least you have live lambs.

 

[Bruce]

Is multiple lambs a factor from both the ram and the ewe or just the ewe? If the former, maybe breed her to a ram that doesn't have a history of multiples?

 

[SA Farm]

There are a lot of different ideas about how multiples happen. From what I understand, if the ram is a multiple, his daughters are more likely to produce multiples. Same as if the ewe was a multiple, she’s more likely to produce multiples. It comes from both parents. Since I have no real info on Foxy’s parents, I can’t know what side the multiples comes from other than being told she was a triplet. How many eggs she drops comes from her lineage, not my ram. He’s just the one fertilizing the eggs, she’s the one genetically determining the number of eggs released to be fertilized.

My ram was a twin, so his daughters are likely to produce twins or more depending on the moms. So far, Coy has only produced twins, so her daughters with Dingo should also produce twins. If he was a triplet, there would be a higher chance of his daughters producing triplets.
That’s how I understand it, anyway.

Yep, it was a difficult day yesterday. I’m glad it’s over!
The bottle babies are taking to the bottle fast and well. The girl is a little slower than the boy, but she’s getting her fair share. I’m milking Foxy, then immediately taking the milk to the lambs.
The girl has a few black spots around her eyes and mouth, so I can tell them apart, which makes it a little easier to make sure they get their fair share since they’re sharing a bottle for now.
DS loves them and wants to feed them all by himself

 

[SA Farm]

Don’t worry, @Baymule I’m not mad at Foxy! She did her best considering the circumstances and she’s already settling down on the stand to be milked. My only consideration is her breeding future. She seems to have a bit of a hard time bouncing back from lambing/taking in enough nutrients for multiples, so I think I’ve decided to give her a year off. She won’t be bred this fall, but will get a year off and she’ll be bred again next fall. She’ll just get to keep Coy’s daughters company since they won’t be bred this fall either. (My plan is to keep them both until I know which one is better.)
Lots of lawn ornaments this year

I actually weighed Coy’s ewe lambs today and they were both just a bit over 8lbs.

I also took some adorable pics of the bottle babies
Ewe

Ram

Both

 

[Baymule]

Whew! When you said you were gonna rethink on Coy, I thought you might sell her. I’m glad to know you meant breeding schedule.

 

[SA Farm]

It’s so strange how animals the same weight can feel so very different.
Foxy’s lambs (bottle babies) are just over 8lbs for the boy and just under for the girl. Not bad considering they were quads, but they feel so slender/gangly compared to Coy’s lambs. I think it’s just different body typing, but it’s still bizarre/interesting.
Coy’s curly ewe lamb feels much more dense than wavy ewe lamb. She’s also just a tiny bit taller. It’s fun watching them grow and seeing how different they are.
DS loves the curly lamb best. He has no preference with the bottle babies other than that he always wants to be the one to feed them.
Coy’s babies Wavy is definitely the more photogenic of the two lol
I suppose I’m going to have to name them since they’re both going to be keepers. One will probably just be a temporary keeper like Kit, but we’ll see how it goes.
DH thinks we should go with a different theme for Dingo baby keepers…I concur and have decided to only keep the predator theme. We did canine predators (basically), so now we’re going to do lizards lol

I’m starting to trim Foxy’s wool a little at a time while she’s on the stand. She’s acting much more herself today and is eating better, which is excellent since she didn’t eat or drink for the entire day she lambed, then was barely eating yesterday…I’m so relieved that she’s feeling better.
Her milk production is okay, but not great. I’m milking her 5 times a day (as many times as I feed the bottle babies) and I’m hoping as she starts eating more she’ll start producing more since she’s only giving me half what the lambs need. I’m supplementing with whole cow milk and heavy cream.

Had a cousin text me today wanting to know if I have room in my incubator I think I’m getting a bit of a reputation considering I’m already raising chicks for another cousin and my sister
I love it

 

[Baymule]

You are right, Wavy is photogenic! So cute!

 

[SA Farm]

I asked Coy how she likes being outside with her lambs since I let them out today. Somehow, I doubt she was all that impressed lol

They had fun exploring, uh, each other…

So alert, though!

I need to spend more time with them so they don’t get too wild. They’re pretty good, but not inclined to get too close. I’ll work on them.

 

[Baymule]

It looks like she at least tolerates her lambs now.

 

[SA Farm]

It looks like she at least tolerates her lambs now.

Oh, no, those pics are of Coy with her twin ewe lambs. She’s a fabulous mom. Foxy’s the one who rejected her 2 live lambs after the bad labor with quads.