[Jacob-list] new Mom

[SharHill at aol.com]

Hi all,

Our Corriedale cross ewe lambed yesterday afternoon.  2 ewes this time!  
Everything is fine now, but this was her first time lambing and she didn't 
seem to have the faintest clue about what was going on.  She got the first 
one out, and I cleaned out its mouth.  She didn't turn around to check it 
out, so I put it up  near the mom's head and she tried to butt it away.  She 
showed absolutely no interest in it at all.  I ended up having to dry it off 
myself, and she would have nothing to do with it.  When the second one was 
born, I put it near her head and she briefly licked its head and then lost 
interest.  I dried this one mostly myself as well.  We had to hold her still 
to let the lambs nurse, as otherwise, she kept running away from them and 
butting them occasionally.  Finally after about 3-4 hours she let them nurse 
without being restrained by me and showed some interest in them by sniffing 
them etc.  If I hadn't been there, these little lambs would have died, as she 
had no idea of what she was supposed to do.  They made it through the night 
just fine and she is acting more motherly now, but I was wondering if this is 
common behavior for first time moms.  Do you think she will do better the 
next time around?  What a shame it would have been if  these pretty little 
things had died.  One of them is coal black with a white toupee, and the 
other is colored almost like a Jacob, but with a solid black body and white 
marking on the head, chest, legs and tail.  (the dad is our Jacob ram).  I 
can't wait to see what the wool will be like.  It looks now to be nicely 
crimped.

It was an exciting afternoon.  It all happened right when I brought the kids 
home from school, so they got to see the whole thing.  They were impressed, 
especially my daughter.  One of the lambs kept climbing up in her lap.  She 
was enchanted.  This was my first time to witness the birth of lambs, so it 
was pretty special for me too.  

Sharon