First lambs of the year, and they're triplets!

K7's ewe "Yogurt" gave us her first set of triplets this past Monday, 27 Jan 14, at about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was 21 degrees outside. Our Missionaries came over an hour later to go out with K7, but first we moved momma and her three babies into the dairy shed.

Elders Blackburn and Holyoak are an awesome duo.

After returning from their appointment a few hours later, they checked on the lambs, and ended up bringing the 3rd and weakest lamb into the house because his momma was ignoring him. I used to have the Spartan philosophy that if they weren't strong enough to survive, I didn't want them. Then I remembered that I was in farming to make money, and if we nurse the weak ones back to health, we can still sell them! 

It was showing signs of hypothermia and starvation, and it refused to take a bottle. Mom the nurse arrived home from the hospital at the right time. She brought in her midwife's bag, and whipped out this gadget designed for the opposite end of the body and slid it down the little guy's throat, so we could get powdered colostrum into it's body. 

She also listened to his lungs and heard fluid in them. 

At least he was peeing and pooping, which are good signs, but I didn't expect him to make it through the night. I slept in the office next to this bathroom," the ICU", and got up twice during the night. He was sprawled out and looked dead because I didn't see his chest moving, but he was still alive Tuesday morning, so we ran the feeding tube down him again. Later in the day I started forcing him to take a baby bottle with a bigger nipple, but he wouldn't drink much. Wednesday I stopped the colostrum and started him on powdered milk, which he seemed to like much better.

Here he is earlier today, Friday 31 Jan. Five days old and eating regularly. He's peeing, but not pooping so much, which worries me. The goal is to get him to 10 days old, at which time he should be well on his way to recovery and health. At that point, I'll move him to the dairy shed with a heat lamp in one corner and add hay to his diet. I take him outside on the few days the temps get above 40. Mom named him "Sparky", and I am the guy who feeds him every 4 hours, so he belongs to me now. I wash his towel every day and have K8 wipe the floor with disinfectant to avoid stinking up the house. He can almost jump over the buckets blocking the door, so I'll have to start shutting it soon.