This morning started pretty much like any other morning, but turns out forecast called for an assisted lambing. I woke up, grabbed my milk bucket, and headed down to the barn to milk Ruby. It was a bit chilly, right around freezing, but was a sunny and clear morning. After milking, I opened up the gate from the paddock behind the barn (that I have been shutting the mamas and their babies in at night) to their larger pasture. As each one was running by me, I gave them a good once over like I always do when I saw it. Stimpla’s water on the verge of breaking. It was too late to grab her to reel her back in, so instead, I lured the rest of herd (minus Reykja and her lambs who were with Stimpla) back into the paddock and locked the gate.
Now if you don’t follow me on Instagram and are a little unfamiliar with the personalities and relationship I have with Reykja and Stimpla, let me quickly recap. When we brought them home earlier this winter, they were a bit on the wild side. Stomping, heat tossing, untouchable. Reyjka was clearly tamer than Stimpla, and it was easier to win over her affections in the coming months. Stimpla, was and still is, much harder to win over. At this point, I still cannot walk right up to her and freely pet or scratch her like I can Reyjka. I always have an eye on her, and the slightest bit of skin on wool is a win. This was a real concern of mine when it came time for her to lamb. What if she required an assisted lambing and I couldn’t catch her? What if she ran away from me, or turned on me?
Fast forward back this morning at 6:45 am, and Stimpla is running around with her water hanging out her backside, following Reykja, who is chasing after her twin lambs. She desperately needed to settle, and find a place to bed down. But, she wasn’t ready and any physical pressure I put on her trying to get closer stressed her more.
So, I let nature take its course and I hung wayyyyyy back. Like, binoculars back. After about an hour, Reykja and her lambs finally decided it was time to settle down. Then, Stimpla finally bedded down up on a knoll next to a fallen down pine. Her water still hadn’t broken at this point, and she was getting restless. For about the next hour, I watched her get up and down, scratching at the dirt no less than fifty times. About every ten minutes or so when her back was turned to me, I would take a few leaps closer to her and sit. I needed to get closer to see what was going on and how she was progressing, but I was afraid if I just freely walked up to her she would spook and bolt.
Finally, her water broke and the pushing began. She was straining silently, and it was tough to watch. Up and down, repositioning. Each time those hooves and nose she worked so hard to get out would get sucked back in. After watching this for I don’t even know how long, I realized she wasn’t going to pass this lamb on her own. She just couldn’t get the head past the bridge of the nose. I then spent what felt like eternity contemplating what to do? I was so afraid she would run if I tried to assist and I’d never catch her. But she wasn’t doing this on her own, and letting her exhaust herself with no lambs passing wasn’t an option. I kept running all of the worst case scenarios through my mind, putting off the inevitable. It was now or never, and I mentally was preparing myself to pull (if I could) a dead lamb. So, I intervened and hoped for the best.
I managed to capture the entire assisted lambing on video which can be seen below. It took a few attempts on my part to intervene, but thankfully she didn’t completely run away. By the third try, I think she finally had reached the point where she was exhausted, and realized I was there to help her.
After pulling the first ram lamb, she quickly passed a ewe lamb on her own while I was getting my kit. In the end, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. I truly believe this will establish a level of trust with her. I hope you enjoy, and I will say this is one of my prouder homesteading moments, and I am starting to rack up little collection of them 😉
Happy Lambing,
I really enjoyed this. I’m new to sheep farming, Icelandics, just about a year. I’m curious why did you shake the lamb like that? I’ve never had to help yet, sadly we lost 1 to illness and another still born.
The shaking helps clear the nasal passage of any ambiotic fluid/birthing goo so they can easily breathe!