March 21 -- Tue: --The First Day of Spring -- Checking on Rachel and Floppsy every 2 hours or so had by now become so much the norm that I don't have notes about when *specifically* I/we went down to the shed this morning. I'm sure I went down there with Sadie sometime between 5 and 7:00 AM. And, I am even MORE sure that nothing much was happening with either ewe. They seemed intent on dragging out the process.
Now, Rachel is one of our older girls -- she's lambed every year since she was two years old. She being so experienced, you might think we'd be comfortable maintaining a slightly less rigorous vigil. Rachel knows what to do-- any number of the other ewes have already had their lambs without us being there == why not just leave Rachel to her own devices?
Well, Rachel has had an unusual lambing history. She's ALWAYS had a single, white ram lamb. And every year that single lamb was bigger than the one the year before. I don't have the official records in front of me, but her first lamb four years ago weighed 12+ LBs. The next year's lamb was 14+ LBs. Followed 2 years ago by a 16+ pounder!!
Rachel's an "old-style" Romney which means she's not all that big a sheep. The labor and birth of each of these big babies was a real exhausting experience for her. By the time the lamb finally emerged Rachel had been "flat out lying on her side exhausted" -- Pam had even done some pulling to augment the contractions to get the lambs finally out.
We were very concerned that Rachel's "lambing pattern" would dictate that she have an 18 LB lamb! -- a lamb that she would not be big enough to deliver normally. To try and break the pattern, a year and a half ago we sent Rachel down to live at North Tempest Farm in Biddeford, Maine with Rae and Chris Reimer. Amongst a few other breeds, Rae and Chris have old-style Romneys. The "theory" was that MAYBE having Rachel get pregnant by a ram of her own breed would result in her having a smaller lamb -- maybe even TWO lambs!
So, last Spring Rachel lambed at North Tempest Farm. She still just had the one ram lamb. But, thankfully, her lamb was a relatively normal-sized little 12 LB boy.
We figured that putting Rachel in with Magoo would help insure that his year's lamb would be another non-humongous one. Magoo's a cross between a Finn and a Lincoln. Finns are a fairly light-boned and lanky breed == the thinking was that this should hold down the size of Rachel's lamb.
.....oh yeah, Finns are also well-known for having multiple births. Now when you're talking sheep, "multiple" means MORE than TWO. And since Rachel has NEVER managed to EVEN have TWO lambs, we sort of hoped that Magoo's influence might change that!
Morning chores happened without incident. Rachel and Floppsy both charged out to the feeders with the rest of the horde when we poured out the grain. But Rachel did not really eat much and was back in the shed pretty quickly ....doing her "alone and thoughtful" thing.
--1:30 PM -- After lunch, Pam took the puppy out for
a walk.
A few minutes later, on my way from the living to the dining room,
I walked past the front door and, looking through one of the sidelights,
saw Sadie sitting on the stoop all by herself. Sadie came in as
soon as I opened the door. There was only one scenario I could
think of that had Sadie returning to the house without Pam. That
was that Pam had left Sadie outside the gate while she went in
to check on Floppsy and Rachel ....and that Sadie got tired of
waiting and came up to the house on her own.
I went out and over to the corner of the house and yelled, "Pam!?" Pam's voice came up from the paddock, "Do you have Sadie?" I told her that I did. Pam then yelled, "Rachel's had a lamb ...and another one's on the way! Please bring the stuff down."
I put Sadie in her crate. Skye and I grabbed the "lambing supplies" and rushed down the hill.
It turns out that when Pam had gone into the shed she had discovered
Rachel in there licking off a log-legged, white ram lamb ....
WHILE
part of the head and one leg of a SECOND white lamb were emerging
from her other end. Of course, by the time I arrived down at the
shed, Pam had rearranged the "missing" leg and the second
lamb had been born. Rachel was lying down, obviously tuckered
out from her exertions. She was vigorously licking her first lamb
-- having only ever delivered singles, we wondered if she even
understood there was now another lamb "back there" needing
her attention.
Rachel and Pam busy themselves with the firstborn -- No. 2 has JUST emerged.
Pam cleared the amniotic bag away from the second lamb's face and suctioned out its mouth and nostrils. She also instructed it that it should make some noise so its mother would know it was there!!
Rachel did seem VERY perplexed when she heard No. 2's baaaing coming from her hind end. We were more than a little worried that Rachel might refuse to accept the fact that she had TWO lambs altogether and would reject No. 2 altogether. It was about then that I remember we even had a discussion about the possibility of grafting the second lamb onto Bluet who'd had a single and obviously had enough milk for a second baby. But, it was pretty late in the game to be trying to trick Bluet into believing that SHE had a SECOND lamb.
Rachel
finally struggled to her feet. We put the two lambs side by side
so Rachel could easily attend to both -- WHICH she DID! It was
obvious that she was not going to reject the second lamb. Thank
goodness!! While the second lamb was being licked off, No. 1
found Rachel's teats and filled his belly with colostrom.
Rachel licks lamb No. 2 -- No. 1 takes a rest after finishing his first meal.
We discovered that TWO miracles had been bestowed on Rachel this year. Not only had she, after all these years, finally managed to have TWO lambs, ...the second lamb WAS A EWE!! Rachel had NEVER done THAT before!!
While Rachel attended to her second lamb, we weighed and iodined No. 1. The not-so-little boy weighed 11.25 LBS. Magoo's Finn genes were obviously expressing themselves in this boy's LONG legs.
After the little girl had nursed, we processed her umbilical etc. She was even heavier at 11.5 LBS! Poor low-slung Rachel had been carrying around almost 23 pounds of lamb!! We tried not to think about how things would have gone if all 23 LBS had tried to arrive as a single lamb. The ewe lamb's legs were just as long as her brother's. Both lambs had very cute "mascara-like" coloration around their mouths and noses.
We closed the rest of the flock out in the paddock so we could lead Rachel out and around into the maternity shed without them all joining in. It was obvious that Rachel remembered this step in the post-partum process -- she hurried past us and her babies and was in her jug waiting for us when we all arrived in the little shed.
It is a real relief for us shepherds to have Rachel's lambing out of the way. Her prior propensity for dropping single lambs of ever-increasing size had been constantly on our minds. In her own way, I expect Rachel is even more relieved than we are!! <BG>
That evening, during chores, I noticed what I took as an indication
that this year's lambs might have a higher FIQ than normal (FIQ
= "Flock Intelligence Quotient" ...you knew
that, right!?). While their moms were eating their hay, the lambs
grouped together and started their regular nightly running. Pam
and I refer to this as the "wave". The usual wave consists
of the lambs running from one end of the paddock to the other.
They then
pause, re-group and mill ...until one or two, overcome by whatever
communal force is at work, hop in the air and take off running
back from whence they came - all the rest join in a hot pursuit.
The lambs' excitement, exuberance and enjoyment is a real evening
treat for us -- it's very hard not to just waste time -- standing
there watching them. The sound of 48 or so little feet pounding
on the ground is impossible to describe.
Well, anyway, back to the FIQ: this year's batch of lambs are sometimes "waving" in what I consider fairly geometrically advanced "figure 8's". Instead of just the usual back-and-forthing, these lambs are running around the feeders -- first one feeder than the other -- clockwise and counter-clockwise. It's VERY entertaining to watch the traffic at the "intersection" midway between the two feeders. It's sort of like Christmas Eve outside the Maine Mall where shoppers have to decide whether they're getting on I-95, I-295 or the Maine Turnpike == complete CHAOS! We're wishing Agway sold lambsize crash helmets!! <G>
We continued regular checks on Floppsy throughout the evening. She was utterly bemused by the attention -- acting less like she was going to have babies than she had been a week ago. First-time moms can be tough to "read" == they don't necessarily understand what's going on and aren't, therefore, very likely to offer much help to us bystanders. Our only solace in Floppsy's case is that she's one of Kate's daughters, and a Kate's a very experienced lamber. She also takes after her Mom by being a big girl == lot's of room between the bones of her pelvis == no cause for us to expect problems.
It was a little easier to sleep this night -- Rachel was finally off the expectant list .....and she'd had TWINS!
March 22 -- Wed: -- 6:40 AM -- The dogs and I went down to the shed for a first check. Of course, there was nothing unexpected down there == there was Floppsy in the back right hand corner with two freshly arrived lambs == one black and one white. The black one was a ram and he was HUNGRY == he was studiously searching under Floppsy for the food source he just knew had to be there ....somewhere. Softly congratulating Floppsy on her successful enterprise, I removed her cover so its rear leg straps wouldn't impede the little boy's quest for breakfast.
Floppsy had things well in hand. She was dragging about four
feet of amniotic sack around behind her and seemed to think that
it was "someone" sneaking up on her. 
But, she was
busying herself licking off her little white ewe lamb. So, not
having thought I'd need a telephone, I headed up to the house
to get the Head Shepherd.
Floppsy tends to her girl while the boy has breakfast
I fixed Pam a cup of tea in an insulated travel mug while she readied herself upstairs. Back down at the sheep shed, Floppsy's little boy had obviously located "breakfast" while I was up in the house. His belly was remarkably filled out. The little girl had now begun her search.
We
did our usual newborn lamb routine. The black ram lamb weighed
8.75 LBS -- the little white ewe was only 6.5 LBS. I
went up to the house and mixed up a small bucket of warm, yummy
molasses and water for Floppsy to have her in her jug. Being Kate's
daughter, we figured Floppsy would LOVE the molasses === Kate's
a fiend for it!
The little girl lamb searched EVERYWHERE for her first meal!
As a matter of fact, Kate actually chased me into the shed trying to get her nose into Floppsy's bucket!
We carried the lambs out and around into the maternity shed. Floppsy had no trouble with the concept of having to follow her "floating" lambs. The dogs and I were up back in the house in time for the final weather report on the "Today Show". I had my second cup of coffee!!
The lambs' late afternoon "wave" running is proving infectious. Today, one of the yearling ewes started charging around with the little ones. She was sure that age qualified her as "the leader" -- meaning that all the lambs should/must follow her. She was completely frustrated. She'd head off to the right, the thudding stream of small black and white bodies went left.
March 23 -- Thur: -- 5:45 AM -- One of those very special mornings -- the sun was rising in the East back behind the barn and sheep sheds while an almost-still-full Moon was a good hand's width above the Western horizon.
Despite the crowding in the big shed, Cassie had managed to clear out a back corner for herself. Of course, she's the "alpha ewe" in the flock so she'll get pretty much whatever she wants or know the reason why. She was lying down looking very "attentive" with her ears swiveled way back. I leaned against the wall and watched for a while. She did not do any heavy breathing, laboring or the like. I turned off the big mercury vapor "yard light" and went back up to the house to brew some coffee.
-- 6:30 AM -- A few Moms and lambs were now up and out in the day, ....Cassie was still in the back of the shed. ....her ears were relaxed and she was quietly cudding == no lambs coming THAT soon!
Morning chores happened ...and even lunch, without Cassie acting unusual.
-- 2:00 PM -- On my way out of the shop, I stopped down in the paddock for a looksee. Cassie was wandering around with the rest of the girls -- checking the feeders for those super-desirable last bits of hay or grain missed by all others.
-- 4:25 PM -- I was working at the lathe when Pam called me -- portable phone to portable phone. She needed me out in the paddock. She was out there with Cassie and THREE newly born lambs! Pam sounded a little excited!! <BG>
I had the camera with me and stopped as soon as I exited the
barn to grab a shot. 
It
was frustrating -- what with the paddock fence and a pile of apple
tree "trimmings" being between me and Pam, coupled with
the fact that I did not have my "long distance" eyeglasses,
I couldn't really see much of anything.
Obscured view of Pam, Cassie and lambs from up at the barn
After
I got down and around to the sheep shed, I had a much better look
at what was going on. All three lambs were obviously up and moving
around. I could tell that Pam and Cassie were, let's say, debating
about who was in charge of the situation. Pam was anxious to ensure
that each of the lambs had gotten, or was getting, its share of
Cassie's "licking attention" and the all-important colostrom.
Kasha can't figure what all the excitement's
about.
Her lamb is CERTAINLY not concerned!
Pam would be happiest if she could see each of the lambs nurse in sequence ...1 ...2 ...3. Cassie, of course, didn't see any need for military-like precision. She'd done this triplet-thing a few years ago. That she had three babies and only two teats did not matter much in her mind. She knew it would all work out ...she just knew it!
Pam **thought** that there were 2 ram lambs and 1 ewe ...she was **pretty** sure about that. <G> I readied jug No. 3 in the maternity shed for the latest brood. Pam hoisted one lamb, I scooped up the other two and we guided Cassie to her jug.
Pam
had, by then, confirmed to her satisfaction that there *were*
2 males and 1 female. She had also decided that the girl had been
delivered first, then the bigger of the ram lambs and then the
smaller. She had made these determinations simply based on which
lamb looked to be the driest.
A "downview" of Cassie in the jug with her THREE babies
One by one, I carried the lambs over to the big shed and weighed them. The little ewe weighed 10 LBS. even. The big ram lamb was 11.5 LBS. and the little guy was 8.75 LBS. Cassie had been carrying around more than 30 pounds of lambs!!
It was about then that Laurie, our "just-down-the-road-neighbor" showed up with her two little kids Kyle and Morgan. Laurie and the kids hallooed down from the barn -- wondering if they could come down and see any lambs. <G> We were very happy to show off Cassie and her recent achievements. Morgan's just a couple of years old -- it was nice to have some real teeny lambs that she could get close to. As Laurie and the kids were leaving, Morgan yelled back, "Bye cows!" <BG>
Okay!
That's IT! All the lambs for year 2000 are on the ground and
now accounted for on the WWW.