Quintuplets!

In the end Baroness was the first to pop - which she quite literally looked like she would! While I was sat up in the field watching a ewe in the process of lambing I kept receiving excited updates via walkie-talkie that she was having another, and another, and another!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, several of the kids were small and weak, and very slow to get going. Some needed some extra powdered colostrum to ensure they were getting enough energy to get them through their first night. Unfortunately, despite this, two were hypothermic and not feeding by the morning and we had to bring them back to the house to get warm. One vet visit, tube feeding, steroid injections and intraperitoneal glucose later and they were still alive... just.

Over the next few days we had to tube feed them a few more times before we managed to get them back to suckling from their mother - although in between times they were still living in a dog crate in the kitchen. Baroness allowed them to feed for another week before she decided enough was enough and, despite feeding her other three kids, would not let these two latch on any more. From that point on it was over to us and the bottle.

It took another three weeks to get them strong enough to spend days out in a pen in the shed and another fortnight before they graduated to a grassy paddock. Bottle feeding has slowly reduced from every three hours to four times a day and they are starting to accelerate their weight gain. 

Two of the other three kids are also doing well and still with Baroness and the other nannies, but sadly one of them died suddenly one evening. We heard a strange noise form the barn, checked straightaway and only had enough time to scoop up the kid, rush back inside and get hold of a stomach tube before it died - likely from abomasal bloat, which some sources say has 99% mortality.

But, the chance of quintuplets is around 1 in 10,000 to begin with and even then most don't have five live kids. So to have four, and still have the two weak ones going, is a very rare thing.

The other nannies

With the job of keeping Baroness' kids alive still an hour-by-hour challenge, the next to kid was Isla and we were relieved when she had a strong single kid that looked to be up and suckling well. Isla was on her feet, very attentive and behaving like she was all done. We kept an eye out overnight for the placenta passing, but at 2am she was back in apparent labour. Unfortunately the kid was upside down and breech!

Try as we might, we could not get the legs into position to deliver the kid, so faced an anxious wait for the vet... again! She managed to deliver the kid, but it was already dead and even more sadly, it became apparent that Isla had torn her insides trying to deliver it. With the outlook in this situation very bleak we had to euthanise her. 

With lambing still in full swing this was another night where neither of us got much in the way of sleep, but we still had Isla's kid to look after, who by now was very hungry and cold. Luckily she took to the bottle immediately and we were optimistic. Sadly, this didn't last and she became very lethargic. A trip to the vet didn't identify a specific cause but they treated for bloat in case. We were advised to feed little and often - through the night again. Despite this, the next morning she was worse, so we went back to the vet and she had some steroids to see if they would perk her up. But nothing seemed to help and she slipped away around lunchtime. Discussions with the vet since suggest that she may have had an intestinal abnormality - as she hadn't passed any bowel motions apart from her meconium - and if so, there was never anything we were going to be able to do.

There was no time to reflect though, as an hour later Ice was in labour, but struggling. A quick check revealed she wasn't dilated and despite all our experience with a small breed of sheep, we couldn't get her opened up. Another vet visit ensued, and eventually a dead kid was delivered, but at least Ice was unharmed. This just left Idaho and India, and after all the difficulties and trauma so far we didn't know what to expect.

Finishing up

Both of the last two girls kept us waiting right until the end of the potential kidding window. We dutifully continued nighttime checks but the final day came and went with no signs of kids and we assumed that they hadn't been caught by the billy. This wouldn't be entirely unexpected as he was only in with them for two weeks - not quite a full oestrus cycle.

Then a week later Isla seemed to be in labour, so we kept a close eye on her. By late morning she hadn't delivered anything so we had a check and it didn't feel right. We spoke to the vet for advice and they said to try and deliver the kid and see how it went. After lots of manipulation and loads of lube we eventually managed to help her deliver a malformed, stillborn kid. Interestingly the vet said that they can hold on to these for months - delivering a long way past a potential due date. At least with it being fairly close there hadn't been any decomposition and the chance of Isla having an infection was reduced.

Bottle feeding

Ever since that first week with Baroness' kids we have been bottle feeding the two smallest - Sage and Turmeric. Eventually they started to gain weight at a decent rate - although they are still half the size of their siblings, Coriander and Pepper.

Once they were big enough we would lead them down the track to a grassy pen in the field for the day, and then bring them back to the barn at night for protection. Hopefully it won't be long before they are big enough to join the others around weaning time.