One of the tiniest lambs we’ve ever had was born yesterday afternoon, at just over 3 pounds. His mother, Betty White, sister to Brown Betty, was a quintuplet herself: their mother Blackbird had 5 lambs last year, but all 5 were bigger than Squirt–around 5 pounds at birth. Betty White only had twins, but we’ve never seen such a size disparity: she had a big 9.5 pound boy, and then an hour later, while Melinda and I were doing Day-1 rounds on the other lambs, Melinda looked over at Betty White’s jug and saw a water-bag emerge from her, and POP! leaving a little smiling face in its place. A moment later, out popped this teeny lamb: Squirt. He had a good sucking reflex, but he was so tiny, and Mom really wasn’t sure what to make of him, so we fed him some of her colostrum from a bottle, and put him in a laundry basket under a heat lamp in Betty White’s jug for safekeeping. He seems pretty strong for a lamb his size—we hope he makes it!
