It has been raining almost without a break, but yesterday in a brief dry period, Lolo looked up at the ewes on the hill and saw Billie Jean with a lamb. We rushed up there just as she was delivering a second.
The lambs were a bit early–by ultrasound she wasn’t due for another week or so. The second lamb was very small and its eyes were still sealed shut. We tried and tried but couldn’t get her to breathe on her own. I even tried “mouth to mouth,” a first for me, and I can report that those birth fluids don’t taste as bad as they look! (Salty!) The first lamb was a bit chilled, but Billie Jean, a first-time mother, wasn’t sure what to do with it, so we stayed with her in the pasture and let her lick the lamb for 5 to 10 minutes until she seemed bonded, then carried the lamb to the barn, with Billie Jean following attentively. We got the lamb warmed up and she had her first drink. Billie Jean loves that lamb, and mother and lamb are doing well. This lamb will be our only “Freedale” (Corriedale/East Friesian cross) lamb because Billie Jean was the only East Friesian ewe lamb bred to Dale our Corriedale ram. I guess we will have to name her Freida, and it will be fun to see what that cross looks like as she grows up.
