Puddin’ Pop does not conform to any set of ideals I have in mind for her. She is a rowdy gal who has taught me not to bend too low with my hair in a ponytail unless I want a good ponytail yank. She loves a good back scratch. With her, I have learned several lessons in shepherding when it comes to assisting with lambing and milking. I always know when it is feeding time because her bleating can be heard in the back of the woods. If you can’t tell yet, she is not a bump on a log.

So why would her lambing be any different this year? Don’t worry, Puddin’ did not disappoint. Lambing has occurred at night this season. I am not talking 5 o’clock in the evening…nah, more like 8 at night and beyond. I could hear her bleating inside my house and I was trying to get my warm work clothes on as fast as possible. I nearly hit my head on the lavatory trying to get on my wool socks.

If you have been following along with the other lambings, 30 minute timer was set when I officially confirmed the water bag had presented itself. Two hooves and a lamb muzzle appeared but unfortunately she did not progress as she should. Tommy guided her on her side against his lap while I suited up with gloves and lube. Right after this moment, if someone stepped out of their home-the noise coming from Puddin’ Pop would send you over to see what in tarnation was going on. She bleated & bleated while I lubed around the behemoth of a lamb. I pulled in a downward arc as she pushed. The struggle was getting the baby out past the eye part of the skull. If we didn’t make more progress soon, I would have to cut the opening to give her a little more room. Whew! No cutting necessary and out came a 13 lb. girl lamb. This lamb looked like a giraffe with gangly legs and long body. 13 lbs. is the largest lamb ever delivered at WoollyShire. The girl giraffe was up in 7 minutes and cruising for a teat. As if trying to break a lambing record in 10 minutes from the first delivery, the water bag had presented itself. Game on! Here comes the 2nd lamb.

In true Puddin’ Pop fashion, this wasn’t going to be easy either. One leg came out about 4 inches like an earthworm coming out of the ground. I thought to myself…that is weird and I knew in my heart it wasn’t right. Then the one leg was sucked back in. I read my book for guidance and waited the 30 minutes. Alas, no progress just bleating distress. Maybe I should have intervened sooner instead of telling myself that maybe the lamb was readjusting.

Tommy held her while she stood. Before I went in, I said trembling, “I don’t know if I can do this. If the lamb’s heads is turned around-I am going to have to push the lamb all the way back in and adjust. We might have to call a vet.” If you know Tommy, he doesn’t always have a lot to say and the best thing he could do was not say a word. Right after I said that, I got on the ground and started to feel around on how the lamb was positioned.

Feeling around in a sheep’s birth canal is similar to reaching around on the side of your car seat while driving looking for the chapstick you dropped. Adrenaline coursing, I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears. I felt the lamb’s head and it was not turned around. Now I have to find the other front leg and make sure the one leg that was reaching out was actually a front leg. I found the front leg that was tucked back further. It seemed to be caught on the birth canal. I don’t remember how I got it loose. It popped out and met the other leg as soon it loosened. Now the head needs to catch up with the legs. And we are back on track, I pulled in a downward arc as she pushed. This lamb came out with more ease than the first girl lamb. In no time, a 10 lb. boy lamb was out and up in 7 minutes looking to nurse.

Armed with warm molasses water and alfalfa hay, Puddin’ was ravished. She cleaned her lambs while snacking. Due to the labored births, the amniotic fluid was orangey which is a sign of a hard or long delivery. It also made the two lambs resemble giraffes! Tommy and I waited for the boy lamb to nurse and for the afterbirth to present itself. Not for lack of trying or shepherd assistance the boy had not nursed for almost an hour. That was my cue to get the bottle ready and to milk Puddin’. GREAT…she totally loved being milked last summer (not really).

We were able to milk her with Tommy holding her and the boy got right on the bottle without much hesitation. And his milk coma soon followed. We waited to see if he would nurse on his own however his milk coma had him out for the long haul. The afterbirth had begun to present itself so we loaded the single mother and her two lambs into the lambing jug where they will spend three days bonding and resting.

When I came out the next morning, the boy lamb was nursing on his own and Puddin’ had practically eaten all of her hay. I learned valuable lessons and came to the realization of two harsh truths that night. I will not be breeding Freddy D and Puddin’ Pop again because after two seasons of two hard lambings-maybe Freddy D is too big of a ram for Puddin’. I will breed Puddin’ with a smaller ram this fall but if the same difficult lambing takes place, I will hang up Puddin’s lambing days and let her cause ruckus with her personality until the sheep come home. It was scary that night and I know, one of these times I will lose a lamb or sheep. I will keep trying to prevent the fateful day from coming.

Enjoy the photos of Puddin’ Pop and her two lambs. We have one lambing left and Banana Pop is not giving me any signs of when she is going to POP.