To our surprise Bäh delivered a beautiful little female lamb out in the pasture Monday night, September 23. We had given up since she did nt show any signs. She still had not produced milk and her udder was not swollen the same day, but when I came to give them their evening meal she was lying down and did not rise up. When I felt her udder she rushed up on her feet, but layed down again when her bucket was empty. I went in to tell Rikard that we expected a new herd member during the night. Before we went to bed we went out to check on her and there she was in the dark, licking her first born!
Bäh and Ayin
We went after the metal fences and built an enclosure around the mother and her baby and gave her a hay bale to chew on and some straw on the grass to warm the little one. The night was dry, warm and still so we figured that they would be ok. The only problem was that Bäh did not let the new born come close to her udder. Oh no! Not another bottle lamb!
She just did not let any one touch her udder.
I went to the barn to get a halter to tie her to the fence, and our tenant Angelica tried to give her udder a massage so we could get some raw milk for the new born lamb. I put Ayin on Bähs back to warm her. After one hour we gave up, we were risking to get injured by her violent resistance, so I went to our kitchen to look for something to give the lamb. I found organic coconut milk and a jar with a couple of table spoons of milk powder left from bottle feeding the other lambs. Ayin sucked gratefully the warm coconut milk. She is so tiny, but seems to be strong at the same time.
We went to bed setting the alarm on 2 30 am. Here we go again. Giving the bottle every third hour for at least 2 weeks and then every fourth hour for at least another 4 weeks. And our volunteer Mary went back to the States this morning!
When Rikard and I went out the next morning there was a disaster. The fence was down and the horses stood eating from the hay bale. We had forgotten one open gate! First I thought it was Fagri that was responsible for taking down the fence, but Rikard thought it was the ram, Emmanuel. The lamb had survived all the chaos! I fed her and Rikard got the tractor, and the horsetrailer and we built a new better secured enclosure. Puh!
This, her first morning, I went around to collect frozen raw milk from the cow farmers in the area, Jacob in Midingsbråte and from Ulrik in Hackekvarn. There was a road construction so it took me 3 hours, but it was so worth it. We got 1,5 l for our baby girl. The next day I went to Tingsryd to buy more milk substitute powder.
I write this Friday the 27th when Ayin is 4 days old, on the train to Stockholm. Rikard texted that he has seen her skipping and running for the first time today. What a good report. She is a survivor!
Thanks to my dear husband, and to our dear tenant Angelica, I could fullfill my plans to go and see my children, and grandchild Greta, in Stockholm. A trip I had scheduled before I knew about Ayin.
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