Monday morning, Sharon gave us three more little lovely lambies. Han Solo, Chewbacca and Millenium Falcon! And yes, we were pretty sure Sharon would give us triplets.
Sharon was a triplet, herself. Big brothers Berg and Pete are long gone from the farm, but Sharon got to stay. She is the daughter of Shirley, whom we said goodbye to almost a year ago. Shirley was our only other ewe to ever give triplets. She did it every other year. Sometimes twins, sometimes triples, never a single.
We had high hopes for Sharon. Her mom did great with triplets. And aside from her last set of babies, Shirley was always able to feed all of her babies.
Sharon did surprise us with three her first time out of the gate. It's relatively common for ewes to have singles their first time. It's pretty rough on mamas, having never done it before, three would be a lot to handle. But Sharon did it.
Something was a little off. In 2014, she gave birth to Sol, Nanna and Gersemi. Sol was a large lamb! Nanna was quite a bit smaller. Gersemi was clearly half the size of Nanna. She was just too tiny. She did not survive. I was heartbroken. Even though Sharon appeared to have enough milk for all three, the littlest just didn't make it. Assuming a possible genetic abnormality, or that she was getting squeezed in the womb and couldn't develop properly, we let that go. Things happen sometimes.
In 2015, she had Twlight Sparkle, Shining Armor and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was this gorgeous light brown ewe, that we planned to keep in our breeding program. All lambs appeared to be normal size this time, and indeed, Sharon seemed to have enough milk for all three. We were watching the lambs, trying to make sure they were all eating. We thought we saw all three of them bonded to their mom. Sharon is a good mom, but not super vocal. Other mothers answer every time their lambs call, others call for the lambs if they wander from their side. Sharon doesn't talk that much. Pinkie Pie also passed away. I attributed that to assuming she had latched on and likely hadn't, and her brother and sister had been eating just fine.
Now here we are again. She had triplets. Again, one very unique color pattern, this time a ram lamb, that I'd like to keep for breeding. I've been sitting in the barn with them, just watching. Trying not to interfere (doing it anyhow). Just watching. We swore this time we would pull one off her, no matter what, and bottle feed it. Bottle feeding STINKS. We work off the farm, so we race home to feed the little ones, we are getting special equipment that will allow them to have a bottle even when someone isn't there to hold it for them, but still. Bottle feeding is not the same. They don't grow as big, they get attached to us, and don't have a mama protecting them. We do this when we have to - if mama abandons them, if mama dies. It's just not the same. So I've been watching. Chewie and Falcon seem to pair up and drink from mama. Han has to fish around and wait for them to be done. All three have full tummies, all three are going potty, so I know they are all eating. But I need to be sure.
This year I am taking birth weights of the lambs. If I weigh then every other day, I'll be able to check for growth and make sure they are getting enough food. If anyone seems to be left out by mom or their siblings, we will add a bottle. Sometimes when we do, we completely break the bond, and then we are forced to bottle feed forever. Formula is not the same as mom's milk. It doesn't have the natural colostrum that they need. It doesn't give them antibodies from mom's immune system. It doesn't get them probiotics. And they can only get it when we give it to them. It's not what we want to do. So far so good with these three little ones. I think they are going to make it, without a bottle this time.