I posted your page yesterday morning then pulled a sweatshirt over my nightie with yoga pants underneath, dragged on my gumboots and popped out to check Mama again before beginning the mornings work. I walked into bedlam. There were four lambs born. Two flat out on the straw and not moving and two struggling to their feet. I had checked her at 4 am, John had checked her when he went to work at 5.30. This was 7am. She had slipped through the cracks and had her lambs without me, the last one had been born just before I stepped around the corner of the barn. And he was still in his bag, quite still.
I tried to revive the big last born lamb to no avail. He never breathed. Then miserably I turned to the other one who looked dead as well. I smacked her and swung her and smacked her again, and rubbed and rubbed and then with a great shudder the wee thing coughed and lifted her head. 
This is Meadow. She and I and Mama struggled to keep her alive. As I dried the other two and tried to get them to drink, I hung Meadow over my knee with her head downwards in an attempt to drain her lungs. She rasped and coughed and wheezed. I rubbed her dry and kept rubbing to keep her breathing. She could not stand or drink. Her head was down. I ran back to the house and grabbed the colstrum milk from the freezer and started it thawing. By then the other two had wobbled to their feet and The wee Murphy immediately found the nipple but he kept falling off as Mama paced. Mama was still in a panic about her dead lamb, returning to him again and again to wake him. I was quietly drying the lambs and rubbing Meadow and moving lambs again and again under Mama to drink but it was not working. There was too much going on, it was bedlam. The place was a mess. She would not be still.
The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful still morning so I decamped the three lambs and Mama outside into the small pen in the Salad Bar Paddock. This had been Mama’s field for a while now. It must have been about 8.30 by then. And warm, much warmer out there. Here is Minty, Meadows sister, moments later. 
I laid Meadow down and raced back to the house for more towels and a warmie for her. This is what I found when I returned. 
I am still not entirely sure what Mary’s Cat thought she was doing. But seconds after this Mama bore down on her, scattering Lambs and the cat was evicted. I wrapped Meadow and fed her a sip of the warm colostrum. Mama still would not let Minty feed so I gave her some as well. The Murphy (who I have discovered I have no single shot of, I will fix that today) was the strongest and seemed to be able to feed OK as Mama relaxed . 
See Meadow’s cold downy ears but at least by now she was lifting her wobbly head by herself, which was a good sign I thought. So we continued with the drying and feeding and watching. Mama was observed chasing a chicken out of the pen! 
She was in quite the mood for a while. Minty was wobbling about well. They were warming up and much to my delight Meadow was able to finally stand and shudder about. Three hours after her birth. 
They all got a wee feed from Mama. 
Meadows was so excited about being on her feet,
…that she proceeded to fall asleep on her feet. By the way that is a red rag in the background, nothing icky.
Now everyone was up and warm and dry and had a drink. Then the wind begun to blow. Of course it did. I went back to the barn and cleared out the dirty straw and cleaned their pen. Put down fresh straw and by 11 am they were all tucked up in the Sunroom in the Barn.
All the bad smells were gone and Mama settled down beautifully. Below is the only shot of all three. 
I will get a better one today. Well the next one is all three as well but The Murphy had laid his wee headie down already. Lambs only hours old need their sleep. 
The Murphy seems to be working hard at not getting in the shot, I will get a better one today. But look at those smiles.
Good morning. Everyone had a good night. The Murphy is feeding well and has not really needed supplementing. Meadows continued with her colostrum for a while and I am hoping she will start drinking properly from her mother today. It appears that Minty will be the one I will adopt. She and her Mother have not taken to each other. So Minty will be the old folks home lambie.
Minty actually weighed in as the biggest at a little under 14 pound, with The Murphy at 13 and a half and Meadows at 13. The one we lost was bigger than them all. So Mama was carrying around 50 pounds of weight in the end. No wonder she was big.
Now I am off out to work. Please excuse any errors as I am working fast today. You all have a great day. Oh and I must tell you, last night I forgot to lock the peacock back in. So he took himself up into the rafters of the barn with the other birds. Good Kupa. He is now totally free, this is a good safe place for them all at night. No dogs can get them up there.
Good morning. My camera and my dog and I are off out into a misty morning! Have fun.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
109 responses to “New Lambs: Meet Minty, Meadow and The Murphy”
CongratulatIons to you all on these very exciting arrivals! Such a shame that one didn´t make it, but nature has a funny old way of dealing with things. And good old Mama just got on with it when her time came. They are perfect, long may they flourish!
They are doing so well today, at this very moment they are sleeping in a shaft of sunshine that is picking its way into the sunniest pen in the barn, this is why we call it the sunroom.. Morning tanya! c
They are soo cute.
Morning Alison, give my love to the beach! c
Oh I am so pleased to read this post! Those three are beautiful lambs.
they are pretty aren’t they, have a great day hon,. c
Congratulations to the whole farmy! What a wonderful addition. I’m sure the whole experience was quite intense having to save baby Meadow and making sure everyone was off to a good start. They are so sweet. Looking forward to more posts about them. All the very best these coming days, Celi!
Thank you and good morning! So far so good! c
Wow! It all happened so fast. So sad about the one lamb but happy for the three beauties. Mama must feel lighter than air this morning after her ordeal. Life is rich, is it not?
It is sad about the big lamb, if i had been there i may have saved him, but one of those things I suppose. c
See! I just knew that she would deliver when nobody was watching. They are so cute and I never knew they could be so big at birth! ouchies for Mama. t
I know, a shame really that i had not been watching, then we may have had four live lambs but oh well, they are a good size! c
I am so sorry for the loss of the lamb. The three little fighters are adorable! When I worked on a sheep farm, I was amazed at how tame the bottle-raised lambs could be. They were like puppies with hooves. Minty will have a great time at the old folks’ home!
Minty has learnt fast too, already she comes to me when the others go to their Mama, but she could not have raised all three, one of her nipples has always had a flow problem.. c
Finally! The delivery. While the loss of the biggest lamb saddens me, I am so happy the other three are thriving, thanks to your intervention. What sweet, sweet faces these babes have. I believe they’re even cuter than baby calves, with which I have such familiarity. We never had sheep on our dairy farm. Good to hear all is now also going seemingly well with Mama. Congratulations, C, on these new, delightful additions to the Farmy.
Morning Audrey. poor old Mama is limping again this morning, so I shall have to look at her foot tonight, but she is gallantly standing for her lambs every time they call to her.. c
Félicitations. But I am concerned for you, Celie, you must be worn to a frazzle. Your care for these littlies is exemplary. At least the three survivors will be around to benefit from the love and devotion to be found at the farmy.
Not quite a frazzle but the house is showing some signs of neglect. I am sure that now we finally have these little feet on the ground i will get back into a better routine myself! there will be night feeding for a while though.. ah well.. c
They are adorable!! So sorry about the one that did not make it!
Morning Pink, I must pop over and see what you are up to, i could do with something pink this morning! c
I must say, I am proud of Mamma and proud of you! Such work you two accomplished to bring these adorable fluff balls into our world! Excellent. I am just beaming for you, smiling from ear to ear. That warm mid-morning sun must have felt delicious to them. 🙂
Thank you Jess, at least she has no trouble birthing. They are still scrawny but doing well.. and thank you so much for all the moral support!! I had a wee wine on the verandah at the end of the day just like you said.. c
Congratulations! What a morning! I was reading as fast as I could- I can’t believe all that you and Mama went through. The lambs are beautiful. Yay!
In the end we have three healthy little lambs so all good, it is a bit frightening though trying to make a lamb live, but at least meadow pulled through ok.. you have a lovely warm evening.. is your weather cheering up? c
Well done all of you! i hope you are having a wee rest too somewhere in the day, new life is always miraculous and such a joy, xx
I actually feel like taking on new projects now, i had gone into a single minded watchfulness this last week that is not very productive, but am raring to go now! Morning joanna.. c
CONGRATULATIONS! After all you patient waiting, what a reward. I know you’ll be sad for a while about the lost lamb but as always, Mother Nature knows best. Weel done Mama, what a star!
Christine
She is a star, the old girl, she will be sleeping a lot today too! AND she is eating like a horse! cc
Wonderful, exciting, marvellous and miraculous! Well done to you all. Sorry to hear about the largest of the lambs though but that’s how nature works.
Strange isn’t it, he was a big boy but DOA. nothing to be done about it. if mama does this again i think i might set up camp in the barn for the last week! c