Breech

Well, last night we had our first breech birth to contend with. Tinker Bell was the one, she's pictured in the above photo. She's the the one in the front and right with the black face looking at the camera.

It seemed she was a bit over due judging by her condition. For over a week it just seemed like it would be any time. Monday she was having contractions but, nothing happened until last night.

Finally her water broke and things went pretty fast after that. Kelli called our friend and neighbor to let her know it started. The whole family came over and before long something was sticking out that they thought was a foot. It wasn't a foot it was a tail. Not a good thing! Kelli got out our trusty sheep book called 'Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep'. It told what to do in case of a breech birth.

It required reaching in and repositioning the lamb. We were pretty sure that Tinker Bell had at least two babies in there. She was huge.

In just a short while Tink was getting into some heavy pushing but, nothing doing, that baby wasn't budging. We really didn't expect any trouble with her because she's a big sheep and Dakota the daddy is a Shetland. But, here we were anyway with a stuck lamb. Everyone was hovered around and sensed that something needed to be done so Kelli reached in and tried to do what the book said. She was unable to reposition the baby so she just starting pulling.

Then out it came. Then boom, boom out came two more, immediately after the first one came out. Kind of reminded me of a cork getting unstopped. That first lamb was like a cork and once she was out the rest followed lickety-split.


The story had a happy ending as you can see in the picture of the momma and two of her three babies. We weren't all that sure about the little "Cork" which I think is an appropriate name. It was kind of touch and go with her. Oh and did you notice I said her? All three lambs were girls. I was beginning to think that all Dakota could make was boys. Anyway the breech baby wasn't doing so good. While the other two started trying to stand up very soon, she could only hold her head up.

After awhile the neighbors went home and we all left Tinker Bell alone to do what she needed to do. Every little bit, one of us would go out and take a peak. The other two lambs were up walking around but, the first was still not getting up. Tinker Bell went to work cleaning her up. So we figured she'd know what to do and we'd just let her do it.

After a couple hours Kelli went out to find that Tink had given up and was just concentrating on the two that were walking around and by then feeding. The temperature had dropped quite a bit and ice was starting to form on the weak lamb. Kelli brought her in and put her in a sink of warm water.

It was touch and go until late. And sometime in the middle of the night Kelli put her in the warm water again which the book recommended. We hadn't wanted to make the water too warm but, the book said to make it quite warm. After a while the lamb began to revive and was squirming because of it becoming too warm. That did the trick and it's been up hill ever since.


Here in the picture she is in Kelli's lap. She was even walking around the house when I got in tonight. She still seems alittle weaker than her mates outside, but hopefully she will continue to improve.



Below are some pictures of the lambs right after they were born.

The one that looks orange was orange. There's nothing wrong with the picture. We all remarked how unusual she looked. Today she is a kind of very light reddish brown mixed with blond.

Below Tinker Bell gives the orange one a big lick.

The orange one is the strongest of the three and was up walking around in no time.

Life on a farm makes for many memorable moments.

Until Next Time