Sunday Lambing - Lots of Photos + A Video

On Sunday, I was helping The Farmer at the barns with morning chores. I brought my DSLR camera because it was a nice cloudy day and I was hoping I might get some nice photos of little lambs. As I was poking around the various groups of sheep and lambs, I noticed one that looked to be in labor. I decided to stay and hope I would be able to watch her lamb. 

Amazingly, I haven't witnessed a birth in a few years. It seems I am never at the barns at just the right time. Most times, lambs will be born when no people are around. The ewes know what to do and most lambs will be born with no problem. 

The ewe that was in labor was a nice calm older sheep and we figured she would deliver fine. As it was, it took a long time. The feet and head came out but it seemed like the lamb was rather big. Many times when there is a big lamb, the mama can't deliver it and the lamb will suffocate. It was lunch time and The Farmer was a hungry guy. We decided to pull the lamb so he could get on with his day. 

Now this part happened very fast and I do not have photos because I was the one doing the pulling. The Farmer is so good at lambing season - he knows just what to do after experiencing so many births. He got the ewe down on the ground.

Then reminded me what to do. 
"Pull one leg out at a time. They should come right out. Then pull both on both legs and the lamb should pop out." 

I did what was instructed and voila. 

He went home for lunch and I decided to stick around and take more photos. And an IG video (I have embedded it at the end of this post). 

I watched the ewe clean the lamb. It really is quite amazing to watch - even though I have seen it many times. The ewes are always so calm and methodical and just keep at the licking and cleaning. The ewe will nicker and the lamb will answer back with a little baahhh. Amazing every time.  

I noticed another sack coming out. She was carrying twins. 

I missed the second lamb's birth because I got antsy and started walking around looking at other things. The second one came much faster than the first. Here is a little video though - less than a minute - of the two lambs getting up on their wobbly legs and beginning to look for milk. 

So much has happened since Sunday. It is impossible to document it all here. Every day seems to fly by and I wonder what I have gotten accomplished. Yesterday we had another weather event. Snow - then ice. I have got to get outside to take care of it all. 

In between life, I've been busy working on some fabric designs for my Spoonflower shop. It is really so time consuming - lots of computer work staring at a screen, tweaking files. I've ordered some test fabrics to make sure the files are okay. I'm excited about seeing the results. More about that soon. 

Hope you all are having a good week.