Knox

On Sunday, March 10th, June Bug birthed a ram lamb.  June Bug is the Cotswold ewe that was pregnant when we bought her and this was her first lambing.  To make a long story short, she was in labor for a very long time and we ended up assisting her with an enormous lamb.  By the time we finally were able to help her get him out his tongue was blue and swollen from seemingly being outside of his mouth as he was trapped in the birth canal.

We were really surprised that he was even alive considering all that he'd endured.  He has been a fighter but has continued to have some issues that we attribute to his difficult birth.  We feel that some of his difficulties may be due to the hypoxia/anoxia that he endured during the process.  So we've lovingly named him Knox as shorthand for anoxia.  We just sort of have a weird sense of humor like that.  And, to be honest, we really didn't even name him until he'd survived a few weeks.  We just kept referring to him as June Bug's lamb and doing all we could for him including treating him for aspiration pneumonia, a result of the difficult birth.  But he is almost a month old now so I will share some of his pictures.

June Bug moved around the barn yard as she labored.  Nacho, who we purchased along with her, was curious about the process.

Once we finally pulled her lamb, June Bug was almost too exhausted to pay him any attention but she was soon trying.  She did most of  his clean up as she lay next to him.  We shifted him around to make it easier for her to work.

We milked her out and tubed him for the first several feedings as he was not strong enough to stand let alone to get up under June Bug to nurse.  And, although there is still a slowness about him so that we think he will always be "special", he is trying.  

He does try to play with the other lambs.  His mother remains extremely attentive; she has been amazing.  He rests more than the other lambs but he seems happy.