With Henrietta having lambed, we thought the most challenging part of lambing season was over.
Tiffany's lamb, Juniper, died last night. She seemed okay when she was born. She was less wiggly than the norm when I clipped and dipped her, but I didn't think it was anything too abnormal. I saw Juniper latch on and nurse, I was confident in Tiffany's skills as a mother.
We checked a lot during the day. Juniper seemed a little droopy, but until early evening, nothing seemed wrong. At our early evening check, we noticed that she had lost the ability to suck. Scott stayed in the barn most of the night milking Tiffany and feeding Juniper with a syringe, but she still died around four o'clock this morning.
There are quite a few things that could have went wrong. Juniper was not early, but Tiffany did deliver her four days before she delivered Galena (so not early for a sheep, but early for Tiffany). It could have been a virus or a birthing injury or some sort of unseen physical problem.
Now we need to do everything we can for Tiffany. We need to make sure there's nothing physically wrong with her. We need to keep her from getting mastitis. Also, according to what we've read, a lot of ewes who lose lambs get depressed and die, and we don't want that to happen.
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