The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Pedwardine on April 23, 2012, 03:21:26 pm
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Typical with me advising people to not dwell on what went wrong with lambing only to go out and find Beauty's teeny ewe lamb has died. She'd been a quiet little thing, not much baaing and we'd been feeding her tiny amounts every few hours. She didn't seem able to latch on to mum very easily but the suckling action was strong enough. I cried a stupid amount and held her for an age, the inside of her mouth was still warm so it hadn't been long. Kept thinking 'if only I'd gone out a little earlier' and suchlike. So terribly sad but Beauty wasn't upset, she knew what had happened and the wee one had died seemingly in her sleep cuddled up to mum. It could have been worse but goodness it hurts when they've been okay for a while and then die. I'm very resigned when they're born dead or die within minutes but she was such a cutie, just so, so small there was always going to be a chance it would happen. She only weighed 1.9kg but one went out on the field a few days back weighing just 1.2kg. She is constantly attached to her mum's teat though! Sometimes you just don't know why and I don't know that it helps if you do. She was beautiful. Never got a picture. :'(
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:bouquet: Can't say any more than that.....It would make me cry :'(
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Thanks Sylvia.
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So sorry .... tears in my eyes :bouquet:
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Huge hugs...and with you being so tired I bet you are on the edge at the moment.
I truly sympathise. Our boy lamb did not have any life in him to start with, but for you to lose one where you had contact and nuture....I feel your loss. I was near tears, and I have actually had some sleep recently.
:bouquet:
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You're all lovely.
Thankyou.
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So sad. You know, there are some hard nosed 'sheep' people out there that constantly make me feel stupid, naive and out of my depth but on here I don't know if it's because you can hide behind the PC or whatever, but it seems there are a LOT of people who do 'get' the emotional side of it. After all, we all 'smallhold' for our own reasons. I would cry too - I 'get' the emotion and am really very sorry you've had such a shock.
Mx
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:bouquet:
I really feel for you too. :'( :'(
After spending so much time and effort, not to mention affection, on the little abandoned lamb I had last year, and then for him to go back to his own field and contract something that if I'd kept him another month he'd have been able to resist, was very upsetting for me. :'(
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I'm so sorry about your little lamb {{{hugs}}}
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Isn't this forum a wonderful place! I'm sure OH thinks I'm barely away from it (He might have something there ;)) but I find such strength and encouragement. Am I a sad arse in that I arranged the tiny body to look like she's curled up sleeping? It made me feel better somehow. I did that once before with a few weeks old lamb who got electrocuted on the fencing. Now that was something which could've been stopped and I still find it a little painful to think about it. Ewes and lambs were on friend's and neighbour's field and they cried too. These precious lives should be mourned shouldn't they? I cry when I take the ram lambs to slaughter too but I keep it in until I've walked away and am driving home. I've always been an emotional girl.
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:bouquet: so sorry
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If we didn't care about them, what would be the point. They're little 'souls', however you express or understand that and we have something in common with them therefore. It would be wrong if we just thought 'easy come, easy go' wouldn't it? Hurts of course, but 'better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all'.
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:'( Really sorry to hear about the wee lamb - so much emotion at this time of year :bouquet:
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{{{hugs}}} Thanks for caring, and for sharing :-*
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Sorry to hear about your lamb, she sounded a lovely little thing.n :'(
Unfortunately I've had to become hardnosed over the years to the amount of lambs I've lost - I used to work with commercial lambs so it becomes a regular occurrence. I've not been on here long but it's so nice to see that there's genuine empathy and feeling amongst smallholders than the cold, cynicism of the 'big' farmers I normally associate with. :-*
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Oh dear, I am sorry pedwardine. Each one is precious. We had twins on Sunday, one huge and the other tiny. He's a sweet little thing and suckling well but I shall be watching him like a hawk.
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Aww, so sorry Amanda :'(, big hugs. I think we smallholders by and large have more empathy with our animals than the big farmers, as we have smaller numbers and tend to get to know the individuals. As you say it's worse when they live for a bit then expire for reasons unknown. I felt very demoralised when I pulled out two dead lambs this year, it affected me for quite a while and even my friend who was helping!
With the lambs destined for market I try to keep them at arms length and don't get attached to them, but it still doesn't rest easy with me when I load them all in the trailer :(. It's going to be very hard with the Gotlands who are sooo friendly - and this year particularly the little hypothermic twin ram lamb I am bottle feeding and sees me as mummy! :-\
When I first moved here my farmer neighbours used to scoff at me keeping pet sheep and pigs, they all thought I was quite mad!
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:bouquet: ((Hugs.))
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Aaw so sorry Pedwardine, i know how heartbreaking it can be with the tiny ones. i lost a little lamb last year 'Pumpkin'. In my head i knew she wasn't 'right' but never the less she had more care than my grown up children (they understood) and when she died we all cried. so i can put my self in your very sad shoes....have a big hug from West Yorkshire and remember how beautiful she was.
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So sorry to read of your wee lamb Pedwardine, off out to check my wee ones now
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Gosh this post has done me more good than any other, having cried buckets for the 4 lambs lost thus far this lambing season from a large sheep farm up the road I now feel less wussy!
My 'better' half tells me not to get so emotionally involved, but when they are hopeless case bin ends with just one chance I feel the need to at least try, rather than leave them in the 'lamb box' to surely die. Any warmth and affection is better than none surely.
I tell him if the alternative is not caring I'd rather cry but I still feel a bit of a gimp! Girls huh! =D
On the plus side, I have 2 at 4 weeks which are getting much stronger, and would definately not have survived without the Florence Nightingale style intervention but I'm definately not counting my chickens (appologies for mixing metaphores!) as everyone keeps telling me they are born to die.
Children are so much easier to raise! So sorry to hear about your little one, but thanks for raising the issue of weeping! =) xx
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We lost our tiny wee thing (mentioned above) yesterday. Guess he just wasnt strong enough. He was half the size of his brother. I had a good old sob and a good long hug from OH which helped. :(
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So sorry Mrs J :'( Fleurky, don't change.
You know when I take my boys to THAT place, it gets to me so much because I have loved them even for that short duration of time they're looked after by me and OH so I have to continue that level of care by being with them to the last stage. OH has said he'd do it on his own but the one time he did he got back with red eyes having missed a red light and getting in the wrong lane on the journey home 'cause HE was so upset. If we're gonna do it at all we do it together. We do get over it but it never becomes 'easier'. I kind of don't want it to. The hurt indicates the love you see?