Can't save 'em all

The new lamb only made it for a week. :(

In hindsight, we should have realized that he wasn't getting strong enough fast enough - they are sometimes a bit wobbly for the first few days, and we did check on him and his mama regularly ... but the time got away from us and we didn't really process the fact that it had been nearly a week and he was still shaky on his legs, and occasionally cold in the mouth.

If we had it to do all over again, we'd have brought him in for bottle feeding - I think his mama just wasn't quite enthusiastic enough about taking care of him, so although she'd let him nurse (and whenever we went to check we made sure he got something to eat), I think it was too much of a hassle for him to make the effort as often as he needed to. Of course it's always possible something else contributed, especially the cold (it was a very cold week) but ... well, you can't save 'em all.

The Boy was very sad, as was I. He and I talked about what we had done in this case, what we'll do differently next time, and what we have learned, and having learned from it, all we can do is move on and do things differently with the information we now have. We are still really new to this, and it's part of the process of learning - and experienced shepherds don't save 'em all, either. It's part of the process.

So, the Blizzard baby has passed on, and we're now anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next lamb. Pugsy is in the barn, as she was starting to show early signs of lambing - but that was a few days ago and now she's just standing there, irritated at being separated from everyone else and looking like she ought to deliver any minute ... and nothing's happening. Cherub is so heavily laden she walks on stiff peg legs when she gets up from chewing her cud ... but she still manages to jump the fence and get into the bale storage for her favourite snack.

Lambing is always an interesting adventure, that's for sure. :)