...And Then This Happened

No snow this time ;-)

I'd always planned to retire this sweet old ewe over here.  I can't remember where she originally came from, but she was part of a small starter flock for a new shepherd several quite a few years ago.  Due to an unexpected move she had to give up her small flock and they ended up at Final Frontier Farm.  

The shepherd's name was Krista and I don't know if it was because this ewe stood out as she was a different color or maybe just extra friendly or...I don't know...but we started calling her "the Krista ewe".  She was a good momma and over the years became just Krista.  You've seen her here a few times (put Krista in the "search this blog" box).  My favorite post was with her personal guard dog, Stella.

After the horrible outcomes from the last two bottle babies, I really had my doubts if I'd ever put myself through that again.  My thinking was "only if someone really needs me"...but then those were exactly the lambs most likely to have issues that could break your heart.  When Kathy gifted me Early's sister, that seemed like the best of all possible worlds.

While Ellie was having a big time being the star of the show here bouncing on and off and on and around between her mom and Uncle Willard and Aunt Cheeto, I knew she'd Willard would have more fun if she had some friends her own age to play with ;-).  I worked out a deal with Kathy to bring Krista on over when she lambed.

Krista, the old pro, had her two lambs up and nursing the other morning when Kathy found her.  Everything seemed okay, but as the morning progressed she could tell the smaller lamb wasn't nursing as well as she should.  She stomach tubed her to get some colostrum in her and increase her energy and  I worked with her that afternoon trying to help her get it figured out.  

She knew where to go and how to latch on, but couldn't figure out the sucking part.  We tubed her some more and again that evening and by morning we thought things were looking better.  She stayed bright and active and wasn't 'crying hungry', but she was still not getting enough to eat and starting to fall behind.  

Her lower jaw sticks out just a bit further than it should, but not so much that you'd think it would cause that much trouble.  She still constantly tries to latch on, but after a second or two her tongue shoots out the side of her mouth and she loses any suction she might have almost had.  Krista is being very patient with her.

I spent yesterday trying to get her latched onto a bottle in hopes of being able to supplement her and occasionally she figures it out and gets pretty excited about it...and then loses focus and forgets how to make it work.  At least with a bottle I can keep poking her tongue back in her mouth and it takes much less effort for her to get the milk flowing.  

Today is a new day.  Keep your fingers crossed.  In the meantime, we need some new names!  The little girl is a tough little scrappy fighter.  Her brother is bigger, but a relaxed sweet lump of a lamb.  He's growing like a weed and will soon be able to keep up with his crazy cousin Ellie...Willard hopes ;-).