Lynette had a quiet and quick birth of twin lambs today, lambs so big and tall they have to kneel to nurse!

Rosie came first, at about 4 pm. I’d been watching Lynette pretty closely since this morning when I noticed mucus on her tail. And sure enough, when I came down for the afternoon check, she was in the back of the barn licking off a licorice-black baby. I snuggled the lamb up, much to Lynette’s dismay, and carried her a few feet into a pen while the nickering mama followed.

Little Rosie

Once I had them locked in, I ran to the garage to mix up some warm molasses water and grab my camera. Within 20 minutes, Lynette was agitated with two large hooves protruding out of her vulva. Praying they were front hooves, I waited to see how long it would take for something else to appear. In minutes, a large mouth emerged next to the feet, energetically trying to suck! But it disappeared inside then re-emerged, then receded again through several contractions. I followed the pacing Lynette around, watching intently for the nose whenever she stopped and pushed. At last, nostrils! I grasped the slippery hooves and slowly pulled, introducing a long, heavy ram lamb to the world – Roesti!

Here’s Roesti getting cleaned up – look at the size of the horn buds on his head!

After getting the steaming lamb cleaned off, Lynette slurped up a well-deserved drink and I took my first close inspection of the babies. So tall they looked like miniature horses, both were leaping around the pen within 20 minutes of hitting the hay. Rosie is named for our little god-daughter, Rosalind Boyd, born just weeks ago. The lamb was just so pretty I thought of Rosie, even though I generally give lambs names that start with the same letter as their mom. Then Roesti is named for a delicious Swiss potato dish we’ve been introduced to by our neighbors. My husband Shannon wanted to name Pepper, born two days ago, Potato, but I wouldn’t. So Roesti is a nod to him. Click here for the recipe!

And what about Polly? Still waddling around out there, poor mama!