Hi All
Today at 8:00 this morning, I was walking up to the sheep when suddenly I saw one of my ewes pushing. As soon as I walked up to the ewe, the lamb popped out. I brought the ewe and lamb down to the little pen where my father and I lambed the second lamb which came out backwards. The ewe would not be able to lamb this lamb on its own, so we were glad we were there in time. One lamb is a female and the other is a male but he is tiny.
This week I have had a few questions. My first question as come from Simon E.
What does the term wet adoption mean and when would you use it?
Well Simon, wet adoption is when you have a lamb that is dead but the ewe has a lot of milk and you hope she might accept a foster lamb. You soak a foster lamb in the fluids from around the dead lamb and hopefully a bit of the placenta. Finally, firmly but gently, you tie the diagonally opposite legs on the foster lamb together with string, for about 45 minutes. String helps because if the foster lamb immediatly jumps up to its feet the ewe will be suspicious and may try to knock the adopted lamb away.
The next question was I asked was from Peter who asked 'I am hoping to buy some in lamb ewes and I would like you to tell me what the prices are like or should I buy ewes and lambs and what would those cost?
In last week's sales Mule in lamb ewes were around £180/head and Mule in lamb gimmers £170. Ewes and lambs are scarce at the moment so I am not able to give you prices at the moment I'm afraid. More will come to market in the next month. I think I would advise you to buy in lamb ewes at the moment.
Speak tomorrow with some photos.
Jack
