In the glow of the setting sun on Monday evening Dot gave birth to twins. The last lambs of 2008 to be born. Dot is my oldest sheep (to find out more about her click on Sheep Secrets) and quite a character – even Robert has a soft spot for her and he has no time whatsoever for sheep. I was hoping to keep her away from the tups last autumn, but Dot had other ideas. I kept my fingers crossed that at least she would spare herself and have a single – but no, in true Dot style, she was in lamb to twins…yet again.
Old productive ewes carrying twins can run into problems during the later part of the pregnancy. Pregnancy toxaemia can develop as the fast growing lambs take more energy than the ewe can take in. If the signs are not seen early on the ewe can become so depleted she’ll stop eating all together; having reached this point it becomes very difficult to pull her back to recovery.
Over the last month I’ve watched Dot with an eagle eye and as soon as I saw her interested in food was waning I took measures to make sure she had access to an easy unchallenged measure of oats and molasses. Soon she was back to her old self, bright and lively, though still thin.
Dot gave birth on Monday evening with the minimum of fuss and bother. But she wasn’t out of the woods quite yet. With the unborn lambs having used up all her resources and her labour having sapped every last ounce of energy, she had nothing left to make milk with. It’s a fine line allowing the lambs to suckle to encourage milk supply and teaching them to suck a bottle to substitute the ewe’s milk. But with patience one eventually gets the balance right.
Old ewes can crash after the stress of giving birth, and Dot did. The immediate need for energy and the changing hormones can cause digestive upsets and prohibit the liver from working properly. So it’s careful nursing and feeding, letting the ewe have access to ivy and certain plants that will help her rebalance her metabolism. I gave her a multi-vitamin jab as B vitamins help kick start the liver.
We’re there! Today Dot is nearly back to normal and has begun grazing, making some milk and eating a small quantity of whole oats. Her lambs are bonny and bouncy and joy of joy the little ewe lamb is a replica of her mum – a mini Dot!
So here’s to Dot’s last lambs…and a peaceful retirement!
Locks Park Farm 
22 comments
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March 19, 2008 at 10:32 pm
eyegillian
Congratulations to Dot on her twins — and what a way to retire! And congratulations to you on your last lambs for the season! Now maybe you can crash for a while?
March 20, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Richard
You can finally get a bit more rest! And good luck to Dot on her retirement.
One of our older Southdown ewes (she is eight this year) went down hill very rapidly with pregnancy toxaemia back in January – we caught it relatively early before she went into a coma and resorted to Liquid Lifeaid, Calciject, Pro-rumen and a high energy feed – and after a couple of days she was back and eating and delivered us one ram & one ewe lamb at the end of February.
I would love to know more about how you tend to spot and treat ‘twin lamb disease’ – any extra expert advice would be helpful.
March 20, 2008 at 5:47 pm
elizabethm
Fabulous pictures. You work so hard. I am impressed. Hope you will have the chance for a bit of a breather now. Have also read back through the last few blogs and see you also have twin calves. Sounds like a very productive place you have down there.
March 20, 2008 at 7:56 pm
colouritgreen
glad she pulled through. When you say retired? do you intend to keep her then?
March 21, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Mopsa
So that’s Mini-Dot and Carry-One! You’ve just finished, we’ve just started…up I go, down I go, checking, checking. Love it. My Dot is Mrs Longtail, the best of mothers; she loves mothering so much I can’t deprive her, yet. Now you can have a really good series of snoozes and catch up on lost kip. xxx
March 21, 2008 at 4:08 pm
heidi
Congratulations to Dot and to you!
I love the pic, she looks so dear, and the babies look so healthy.
I will quit grousing about how tired Iam from work.
Enjoy a break and a nice cup of tea! For at least one minute before the next
chunk of work.
March 21, 2008 at 6:35 pm
paula
She has done well Gillian – but a victim of her own excellence! Hopefully she’ll accept retirement next year…
Yes, and I managed to get into some normal clothes yesterday for work; a bit scary out there in the urban jungle and I felt numbed by all the consumerism going on around me.
Only another seven cows to calve – one last night at 12am – so getting there…
March 21, 2008 at 6:47 pm
paula
Good old Dot!
You seem to have done jolly well in getting your ewe back on track again. Well done you. Did she milk ok?
As to how to spot it before it begins, well, I guess it’s in the ears first. There’s a slight lowering of them and the ewe seems a little…oh, how can I put it – remote? Then there is the slowing down of getting to the trough. They are all very small nearly imperceptible signs – but – it’s strange how you do notice them. Probably not that helpful at all!
But then this is your first year with your ewes and they almost always have problems when they move to a new place. It irons out once they’ve established their flock and have sussed out the grazing and your routine. Really, it gets much much easier.
March 21, 2008 at 6:53 pm
paula
Thank you elizabethm…yes, it’s all a bit productive at the moment coated with the aroma birth.
The twins are rather gorgeous; the whole herd seems enchanted by them too – they get away with all kinds of misdemeanours
March 21, 2008 at 6:57 pm
paula
I’m glad she did too, colouritgreen. If she allows me to retire her I’ll keep her and probably found the Dot Dynasty!
March 21, 2008 at 7:05 pm
paula
That’s her…and I love the dot-and-carry-one, hadn’t even thought of it!
It’s funny how animals get named isn’t it? Dot has dots on her ears, and I guess Mrs. Longtail has – well- a long tail. We also had an Abscess, yup, we won’t go there!
And you are just entering the nomansland. Thinking of you.
March 21, 2008 at 7:10 pm
paula
It seems to be a busy, busy March this year Heidi – but I have theory about March, tell you about it soon.
Though I think it might be a brandy rather than tea at the moment – join me?
Dot has given me around 18 lambs over her life. Quite good for a mini sheep thing.
March 23, 2008 at 12:14 pm
alifelesssimple
Awww, they look so sweet!
A few years ago when I was helping a neighbour lamb, I helped a 18year-old ewe lamb. She was the neighbours daughters pet lamb from when she was little and wasn’t meant to be in lamb but had jumped in with the ram. She didn’t need any help, I just kept an eye on her, and had plenty of milk for her single (I think it was a ram) lamb.
March 24, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Jane
Noticed you hadn’t posted recently. So just thought I’d check you were “surfacing” from the lambing OK… Hope you’ve had a great Easter (lots of rest?). Take care. Jane
March 25, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Oliver Hilliam
Dear Paula
Well done on all your excellent work on the farm and the blog! I’m contacting you on behalf of Dan McLean (CPRE Director of Comms) regarding photos to accompany your interview in the CPRE Annual Review – sorry to have to contact you through the blog. I know that your blog always has the most wonderful photography and I wonder if you could suggest two or three possible images featuring yourself and the farm? We have a couple that we have used on our website but it would be good to use something new. If you could forward any high-res images to me at oliverh@cpre.org.uk that would be extremely helpful. Feel free to call though reception on 020 7981 2800 (I will try to call you later).
Best wishes,
Oliver Hilliam (CPRE)
March 25, 2008 at 8:08 pm
paula
They do alifelesssimple – and it’s good to see another new face here.
That’s remarkable…18 years old and thought Dot was going some! I know it’s sooo difficult to keep a ewe away from the ram if she has other ideas.
Wow – will have to keep a chastity belt on Dot if we persevere…
March 25, 2008 at 8:11 pm
paula
Just a bit soul tired Jane, flat, lifless…and thanks for concern and good to know you’re noticing.
Should rally round soon and get back into the flow.
Bless you.
March 27, 2008 at 8:47 pm
LittleFfarm Dairy
…..so with your lovely little ewe lamb, it really is a case of ‘joining the Dots’…?!
Congratulations, it must be great to crack open that brandy with the relief that it’s all over for another year – & that thanks to your patient care, everyone’s sailed through it, especially that wonderful matriarch, Dot.
We’ve still got four to lamb (two more lambed this morning); then it’s on to Phase Two kidding in April; then Phase Three in May so a few months more of wet &/or crunchy clothes, splotches of purple spray on everyone/thing, bumps & bruises, & sleepless nights. In fact I worked out that just with basic bottle-feeding of all our charges, plus twice-daily milking, I’m already working an eight-hour day….without all the rest of the farm & business stuff to contend with – plus the working day starts at around 0530, & finishes at around 11pm.
Ohhh, to sink into a hot, deep, foamy bath with a good book, a large glass of wine & without a care in the world….wishing you the opportunity to recharge, bounce back & love living with a good nights’ sleep, again. And Dot too of course…..
Incidentally, I was fascinated to note that your newborn lambs are almost identical to ours; our ram is a Greyface Dartmoor but the Mums are Shetland x Ryeland. Amazing fleeces, aren’t they?
March 28, 2008 at 12:04 pm
paula
It’s always a bit of a downer when friends and neighbours reach the end of lambing/calving or whatever and yours still stretches into the blue yonder.
And yes, it’s the aftercare and maintenance that’s so wearing. The constant bottle washing, warming, mixing, feeding; water bucket, hay-nets, bedding; milking, cleaning, washing-down, processing…back to lambing, kidding – and that’s just the outside stuff!
Light at the end of the tunnel suddenly creeps up. Promise.
If you’ve seen the sheep-whispering post, that’s Dot’s little ewe lamb. She’s the only lamb with a fleece like that this year; a true little hill sheep like her mum, the others have tighter curls. Interesting that yours look similar. Are they longwools when grown?
Take care.
March 29, 2008 at 7:02 pm
LittleFfarm Dairy
Yes, they have the most wondeful fleece –
long but tight ringlets & the local spinners just love ’em! In fact I sold all our ewe lambs to a neighbour last year owing to the superb quality of the fleece. They may be a triple-way cross – but Greyface Dartmoor MacDougal evidently has strong genes & the lambs all come out looking near-as-dammit just like him, regardless of their multicoloured ShetlandxRyeland Mums!
March 30, 2008 at 8:13 pm
paula
Do they have the mixed colour wool of their dams?
I tend to use my lambskins for beautiful things – beanbags, cushions and the like. Fab to cuddle into.
April 1, 2008 at 9:40 pm
LittleFfarm Dairy
No; all come out white like their Dad. Shame in a way as some of our ewes have really pretty-coloured fleeces.