Soixante-Douze Deux

When I woke up this morning it was raining heavily; but by the time I went out to feed the sheep, it had stopped.

The sheep were rather subdued this morning. They didn't yell at me when I opened the door and walked out of the house -- although they were all gathered together and staring at me.

When I counted the sheep --I do this every morning and evening in the manner of a prison head-count to see if anyone has escaped or been eaten -- I only counted ten sheep, not eleven. I counted again. Soixante-Douze was missing. Since she's always the first one in the chow line, and she was nowhere to be seen I figured she must have had her lamb, or was in the process of birthing. Her udder had reached enormous proportions in recent days.

Since my track record for live lamb births is not a stellar one, I was worried that I would find a drowned lamb that Soixante-Douze had just plopped out into a puddle during the rainstorm. I searched the pasture and couldn't find her. This was a concern because every other sheep had given birth out in the pasture. They didn't go into the sheds. The sheep only use the sheds in the summer to escape the flies . . . they don't go there to lamb or to get out of the rain, and they aren't interested in the sheds in the winter. So not seeing Soixante-Douze in the pasture, I hesitantly checked the sheds.

Soixante-Douze was in one of the sheds with a little lamb that was probably not more than half-an-hour old. Sheep want to give birth away from the flock, so I guess Soixante-Douze's only choice if she wanted to be alone and out of the rain was to go away from the large fir trees that the sheep shelter under during rainstorms and have her lamb in a shed.

It's a girl so it doesn't have to go to the butcher. She's nursing well. She's all white -- taking after her mother and not her black-eyed and earred father. And she's very cute. So I had a very happy morning. Nothing like a perfect baby lamb to make you happy.

I had the Husband hold her while I cut her umbilical cord and put iodine on it.

Mother and daughter are now bonding in the big barn.