keeping my chin up...
well, at least trying to. This lambing season has been awful and tonight one of my favorites (Charlotte) had a secret lamb that didn't survive and I am totally crushed. Of all of the disastrous things that have happened here this season, this one is just so deeply sad. The lamb was fully formed and the right size for easy birthing and I have no idea why it didn't survive and I just wish that we could have seen her and maybe we could have done something.
The sheep had a nice little schedule and they were sticking inside the barn where we can watch them and then the weather changed and suddenly it's extremely warm and they have switched to sleeping outside. It's so easy to miss signs when we are checking in person. They are all milling around and our attention is drawn in 1,000 directions. When we are keeping an eye on the cameras it just gives us more opportunities, and I feel like it's been really successful in seeing early signs. We've been able to see early signs for so many unsuccessful births this season when it wouldn't have made a difference at all, but this one where we may have been able to do something, we missed it entirely and it is so so disappointing.
Because of the data limit situation here, obviously readers of this blog / vlog don't know why I'm in such a state, but we are setting records here for the highest number and most diverse lambing problems. Our team of vets are all saying that this has been an awful year for everyone and that they are getting calls for problems that they almost never see. This is simultaneously comforting and not comforting at all.
I have worked a little on putting videos on YouTube which can then be embedded here, but I do feel like I need to go over videos posted there with a more critical eye and I haven't had the energy or the time. My critical eye is tired. YouTube is scary, I thought I might do it someday when I've steeled myself for comments related to how ugly and/or stupid I am, and obviously I'm not ready for that right now. However, I've edited SO much video and I hate the idea that that time was wasted if the videos never go anywhere, so I'm going to work up the courage soon.
One exciting thing is that we had our very first set of triplets out of our ewe Bison (that's them at the top of this post). She is clearly thriving in the new feed system (even if it's a total failure for everyone else). One of those lambs is a ewe, so she's definitely a keeper for breeding if everything goes well. That is, if we are still sheep farmers this time next month.
I'm in a sad mood obviously, but lambs are so friggin' cute, I will definitely share more soon. Here are some photos from this week. I'll be back soon!
