Introducing Cobalt

After a week of poultry related departures (two of old age and one by mauling courtesy of Emily the Chicken Murderer), we finally have good news on the farm!  Violet had her lamb today.  A sheep's gestation period is between 145 and 155 days.  June 8th was day 145 and so today, June 9th, is right on time!

Violet gave birth to a beautiful black ram lamb that I named Cobalt.

She had an easy and fast labour - we did not even notice it was happening!  Ian spent the morning mowing the yard.  When he turned off the mower at 11 am, I heard an unfamiliar "Baaaa!" coming from the barn.  Sure enough, upon investigation, a tiny new black nose poked around the barn door.

Our ewe Alice was convinced that this new fellow belonged to her.  He did not.  She is still very much pregnant with twins.  Yet, when we put Violet in the barn with her lamb, Alice was less than impressed.  She was livid.  She spent the next two hours circling the barn and wailing mournfully that we had stolen her baby.

Violet seems to have accepted Cobalt just fine.  She is intermittently munching on hay and licking his body.  She delivered her placenta with no issues and promptly ate it - yucky but normal.  She drank almost a whole pail of water and seems calm and sensible about the whole affair.

The only catch is that her milk has not come in yet.  I am not sure if this is because she is a new mother or if there is a problem like mastitis.  I spent two hours with her and Cobalt massaging her teats to try to get the wax plug out and get the colostrum to flow.  I have tried warm compresses, rolling the teats, pretty substantial pressure to push to plug out - you name it but no success.  Cobalt has helped by repeatedly bunting her udder and trying his hardest to nurse but to no avail.

With the nearest TSC closing at 6 pm and no guarantee that we would be able to get Violet's milk flowing before then, I ran out and bought some colostrum powder and milk replacer.  By 5 pm Violet was still not producing milk so I bottle fed Cobalt 5 oz of colostrum which he gladly devoured.  He got another bottle at 7 pm and is scheduled for two more at 9 and 11 pm if there is no change in Violet's milk production.  I have put in a call to the vet.

It is going to be a long night with lamb feedings every two hours.  However, I figure as long as I keep Cobalt fed until we get Violet's milk situation resolved, none of us should be that much worse for the wear.  So far Cobalt is strong and healthy.  He is standing and walking, actively trying to nurse, and getting ready to explore.  Hopefully we can let them outside tomorrow to get some exercise and fresh grass.  We might have to put Alice in the barn though to avoid a second mismothering situation.