Birchtree Farm

Well, Cozette had twins last night, starting not too long after we got home. The first was a ram lamb, big, at 9.5 lbs, and Cozette was really straining and wailing. The two hooves and a nose had appeared (and a tongue sticking out) but after several minutes that was about all she was able to do. I managed to grab one hoof and pull it forward and that seemed to free things up. A few more heaves and out he came. He was quite vigorous and was up in about 15 minutes. Cozette was quite pleased with the whole thing. Aside from me pulling on the hoof, the whole thing went like the textbook says it should. About half an hour later another hoof and nose appeared and a much smaller ewe lamb slid out easily. She's about 6 lbs, and we're weren't sure she was going to make it. She didn't have any get-up-and-go, and Cozette didn't seem to pay much attention to her after a bit. She kept pawing her, I think to try and make her get up, but the ram kept nosing in for more attention and Cozette was much more interested in him. We ended up bringing her into the house to warm her up, and tube fed her colostrum 3 times.

The ram had a hard time finding the teats. He eventually got it, but her teats are right next to her legs and almost stick out behind. I think he'll do fine though. For a while he was following me around, nuzzling my knees!

Cozette did very well though. We took her some molasses water and she drank a few gallons of that.

This morning we took the ewe lamb back out, as she was warmed up and fed, but Cozette wasn't exactly thrilled to see her. Seems she thinks she only had one lamb, not two. So now she's tied in a corner where she can stand up, lie down, eat and drink, but not turn around to butt the lamb or just walk away. The ewe lamb is stronger today, able to stand and walk, but isn't quite sure how to eat. She does nose around Cozette, but hasn't found the teats on her own, and even when I put her directly onto a teat, she doesn't have the sucking reflex. Bottle feeding her is slow, as she sort of half-heartedly chews on the nipple. We've been milking Cozette although we used milk replacer for a feeding or two.

I suppose I should say that we did pick names this afternoon. Tug is the ram, because that's what I had to do to get him out of his momma, and the ewe is Tessa.

Below are some pictures, starting with Cozette right before she went into active labor.

Tug:

Tessa: