 Photo by Sue Weaver Gracie says that being born is hard work. |
Last night, Wren had her babies in one of the stalls attached to the round pen. That’s only a little way from my buck pen, so Uzzi and I got to listen in.
Wren started having pains around 2 p.m. Mom was glad because the weatherman said it was supposed to storm close to morning and keep on storming for days. She wanted Wren’s babies born before the storm. So she rushed to put everyone in and fed us early so nothing would disturb Wren’s labor.
Mom was going to let Wren lamb wherever she wanted but Nick (Wren’s buddy and kind of a big, dumb boy) kept following her around. Wren didn’t like it, so Mom fastened her in a stall and Nick had to watch from outside.
After Dad got home and he and Mom finished an early supper, Mom took her birthing kit out to the round pen and sat down outside the stall to watch through the gate and be with Wren until her lambs got born. Dad kept coming out and saying things like, “Ow!” and “That doesn’t look like much fun.”
Photo by Sue Weaver Wren introduces her new daughter. |
Then at about 9 p.m., Mom picked up the birthing kit and went in the stall. She started saying, “Push, Wren!” and “Here comes lambie!” (Mom always says, “Here comes lambie,” unless she’s coaching a mama goat.)
Then, here came lambie. We heard Mom cry, “Good girl! One more push. Yes, here he is!” But then Mom got excited. She said, “No, no, here she is!” Last year all our lambs were boys, so Mom was hoping for a girl.
Dad came out and they ohhed and ahhed over the lamb while Mom dipped its umbilical stump in iodine and Wren cleaned it up. Wren is a good mama; she was excited, too. She licked and licked her lamb, but then she started looking worried and stomping her feet. She stopped licking, spun around, plopped down, and out popped another little girl!
The lambs are big, healthy and really odd colors. They are dilute blacks, but one has brown shadings and the other has silver under her wool. Mom named the firstborn Gracie (Wolf Moon Grace O’Malley after the famous pirate queen) and the second lamb, Sarah (Wolf Moon Sarah Grizzel after a cool old shepherd lady in the book, The Wee Free Men).
Once both babies were nursing, Mom and Dad packed up the birthing kit and went in to bed. But first Mom strolled over to Ramsgate (that’s our rams’ paddock) and told the lambs’ daddy, Baamadeus, “Well done!”
Mom got up several times though the night to check on the new family, and she took pictures of Wren and her little girls this morning. They’re pretty cool lambs, don’t you think?
