First Lamb

A goodbye kiss from Russell

Russell the ram was relocated on Monday, and within an hour of his departure, the first lamb of the year was born. Here’s how it happened…

Russell came to Booty Family Farm a couple of years ago. He was a small ram with big plans for starting a family. As a matter of fact, at the time Elsa called Russell “Little Daddy” and her father Steve was “Big Daddy.”

Russell was an extremely prolific daddy, siring bumper crops of lambs. But to keep the herd healthy (and avoid the problems of the genetically inbred royal families of Europe), it was time for him to start a new family somewhere else. (You know about the Romanovs and how hemophilia contributed to the Russian Revolution, right? And you’ve read George Orwell’s Animal Farm? You know what I’m talking about!)

Bye Bye Russell

The ram buyers arrived around noon on Monday, and after helping to shepherd (i.e. shove) Russell into a big dog crate, Steve allowed as to how Russell was now the “Big Daddy.” Steve told me that selling animals is one of his least favorite parts of farming. It just doesn’t feel good to send them off to parts unknown. (It would have been fitting if that was a Chevy Ram truck, but I think it was a Ford.)

Steve had only a very short time to feel bad about Russell’s departure, though, as a ewe’s water had recently broken and a little hoof was protruding out of her cervix. Yikes!

There was quite a crew on hand to witness the blessed event. When he realized the birth was happening, the first thing Steve did was zip down to his house on his four-wheeler to alert Rachel and Elsa so they wouldn’t miss it. (Fortunately it was a holiday so the two of them weren’t in school.) Five-year-old Elsa was excited, and so were the sheep in the peanut gallery.

Ready to burst!

Anyone who has given birth will know just how this ewe was feeling. (“Arg! Get this thing out of me!”) Lucky for her, she had our own James Herriot on the ready, and Steve was able to avert disaster by pushing the protruding leg back in, reaching inside and locating the lamb’s head, and guiding the baby out in one long, slippery whoosh. He was extremely calm, patient with the ewe, and encouraging. I rate his bedside manner A+! To see a short video of the birth, accompanied by Elsa singing, click here to go to YouTube. It has a dramatic ending!

Kisses from mama

So, the drama was that the lamb was having trouble breathing, and Steve gave it a hand by using centripetal force to dislodge the obstructing mucus. He lifted the lamb by its hind legs and swung it around once. That’s all it took to get the lamb breathing and bleating.

Steve checked to make sure the ewe was producing milk for the lamb (“please have milk, please have milk”), and he was surprised when it squirted down his sleeve. He would have liked the lamb to stand up on its own. After the ewe had licked it thoroughly, she began pawing to coax it up, but the “encouragement” looked too perilous for the new lamb, so Steve reluctantly intervened, gently scooping the lamb up and standing it on its long skinny legs next to its mama’s teats. The lamb knew what to do then, and I took that as my cue to quietly exit the barn.

Two-day-old twins Lichen and Tundra enjoying a snack

What I didn’t know was that a second lamb was getting ready to tumble out. Twins! Here’s a photo of the lambs at two days old, happily bellying up to the mama bar. They have different color fleece jackets, and they now have names.

Elsa is the official name chooser on the farm. (That’s why all of the chickens were once named Carol!) Last year, many of the lambs had names from the Disney movie Frozen. After all, the enchanted snow queen is named Elsa. But this year it looks as though Jan Brett’s wonderful picture book Wild Christmas Reindeer is providing the inspiration for naming lambs.

In the story, an Arctic girl named Teeka is tasked by Santa to ready the reindeer for Christmas Eve. She’s frustrated at first because the reindeer are rambunctious and difficult to control. When she realizes that she needs to change her approach and starts being kind to the animals rather than gruff, she enjoys success.

The first two lambs born this year on Booty Farm are Lichen and Tundra. I’m betting that future lambs will be named Bramble, Heather, Windswept, Snowball, Crag, and Twilight. We’ll see!