farm | Vet Journey

I’ve done some more shifts since my first post about lambing!

On my second shift I got to bottle feed the lambs again and muck out some mother pens. 2 twins where born while I was there that I and were moved into a single pen.

We also transferred some ewes and lambs into the field outside to make room for some more ewes that would be lambing soon. I got to bottle feed the lambs again and spend some time with them. I also got to vaccinate a lamb against Orf. Orf is a skin disease that causes scabby lesions to develop on the mouth and nostrils. I scratched the lamb with the vaccine on the inside of its back leg.

I’m hoping to go back and do some more lambing at the end of April when the other set ewes are expected to give birth.

Below are just some of the pictures I took on both days

WOW!

What can I say?!

Lambing is an absolutely amazing, incredible experience. I am so grateful that I got the chance to do this. I was a bit nervous at first but as soon as I got stuck in I absolutely loved it.

First of all we filled the hay nets so the newborn lambs and ewes had fresh food to eat. Then throughout the 6 hour shift I checked on the sheep every half an hour for any signs that an ewe may be going into labour. Signs to look out for were pacing and if the sheep was constantly sitting down and getting up. By doing this it moved the lambs into the correct position in the womb. Most of the sheep were having twins but a few were having triplets. I then monitored the ewe to check the birth was going okay. If there was any complications I would hold the sheep while the farmer helped with the birth of the lambs.

Once they had been born and the mother had cleaned the lambs dry we transferred then into a separate pen. This was done by dragging the lambs and getting the mum to follow. The umbilical cords were then sprayed with disinfectant to prevent an infection.

I was also lucky enough to get to bottle feed some lambs who were being kept inside. This is because they may not of been getting enough milk or because their mother had unfortunately passed away after they had been born.

Below are some of the pictures I took while working on the farm! I’m really looking forward to my afternoon shift next Saturday and then my morning shift on Monday!