Momma Polly
First lambs of the season! Two perfect little white ewes, born healthy and impossibly tall to short, economically-built Polly, on a lovely, warm and gently snowing 26th of February. The lambs must have arrived while we ate breakfast, because when I looked out to see how much snow we’d received overnight, I noticed Polly, alone by the grain feeders but accompanied oddly close by a cat. Usually the cats are on the sheep’s backs, so that was odd. I suddenly realized that wasn’t a cat behind her! I went out with the kids on the way to school, and we all got a great look at two brand new babies, cleaned off but yellow with grease and still dragging bits of pink umbilical cord. Mmmm, and they smelled absolutely delicious. I dipped their cords in iodine to head off any infection at their tiny vulnerable belly button sites, and then carried them in my arms while Shannon dragged an unwilling Polly in a hay sled to the calving barn. My instinct is always to let the moms do things on their own as much as possible, but Polly was in a pasture with our new green filly, Breva, who is pretty bossy and not too respectful of the sheep. Last year all the lambs and kids were born in with our three calves. The calves, though large, were very curious and sniffed at the babies but never made any attempt to drive the moms away from their young. But Breva makes a point to drive the sheep a few times every day just to keep them reminded of who’s in charge out there. So, these lambs are tucked with Mama into a nice warm stall fluffy with straw. But I haven’t actually seen any nursing yet, and I worry about the disruption to bonding that might have occurred in moving them. The babies have pooped, all over my coat, in fact, so they are likely getting plenty of milk. Still, I’ll be checking every hour to so to make sure the nursing relationship is firmly established. If it’s not, I’ll have to restrain Polly while we get the babies going on the teats.
In the worst case, I’ll have a bottle lamb or two. A blessing and curse, to be sure! This begins what I now remember as my favorite time of year – the late winter camp-out in the small, stone-foundation calving barn. It is absolutely charming in there, warm and rich with the smell of fresh hay and straw and manure. None of us, the animals or myself, spend much time there except during the few weeks after lambing. Especially when the weather is very cold, it’s a good idea to lure the bonded moms into the barn by holding their babies in front of them, and lock them in for a few days so you can watch how things are going. Most of the ewe-and-lamb groups are let out after a few days and they survive just fine out in the pasture. Last year I did bottle-supplement two lambs who were born to a very tiny first-time mom, so they were in for a week or so. June with Julius and Augie. June looks ready to pop again now – like a brown ball of yarn with black toothpicks sticking from the bottom – but she isn’t due ‘til early April. A month to go.
A third look at the new babies witnesses both poop, a sticky green goo just like a human baby’s first few eliminations, and a healthy stream of urine. I’ll relax now for a while, as they’ve got to be getting something to produce so much out the back end. Two girls! I got only two girls from my entire four-ewe flock last year, and they were both sold away in the summer. So this is a very satisfying start to the year in sheep. Ewes tend to be at their most tame right after lambing – submitting to all manner of checks and cleanings and proddings in a way they’d skitter away from at other times. And Polly is no exception. I’ve squeezed her teats and am satisfied she’s been giving milk, as what squirted out is not a thick colostrum that would have been the first sips. Maybe those lambs were born earlier in the morning than I thought. It’s a pastoral scene in the barn. All three laying down, content and quiet in their wood-slat pen, while close by outside the other sheep, goats and calves munch from the full hay rack. I am certainly content, and would happily snuggle with Polly all day, were there not other home and homestead tasks to accomplish. But I’ll luckily have the excuse of monitoring them to return for a visit in a few hours.
