This was the smallest lambing group for me in long time. Half the number as usual.
Since the flock is comprised of older ewes and yearlings there are plenty of singles and enough twins and not a single set of trips or quads. It was the near perfect pace for lambing when doing so on one’s own.
I had two great saves this lambing season, the kind of saves that leave you feeling like you still have it in you, and there is someone on your side. Both were ewes having birthing trouble. Both ewes were caught on open pasture with a leg crook. This is the closest to what I think it might be like to rope a calf by the rear leg. The exultation I feel with making one of these catches is likely equivalent to a sports professional making a score in a playoff series. And yes, there is a wide grin and a happy dance, notwithstanding the trouble in the first place.
In the first case the lamb was very large and even though the pull was pretty simple the lamb was lost, head too swollen and birth time too long to save it. The second ewe was an experienced ewe with a lamb coming hind feet first and locked up. The lamb was successfully pulled but not breathing. A few head shakes and tickles with grass up the nose and she took her first gurgling breath. At last check mamma and babe are doing fine.
On account of the heat wave rolling across the prairie the morning rounds are early and the evening checks are late. The ewes graze very early in the day, disappear into shade during the heat and rise again late in the evening for a second graze. The guardian dogs are lying low and only sort of interested in eating. The magpies however, are ever vigilant. And the lambs,… in the cool of the evening the lambs are beginning to run and dance and crash and burn as only lambs can.