Maria has certainly held up during her lambing initiation. Today we completed one of the last tasks of our lambing season, we had Dr. Lauren Marsh come and castrate Jake, one of Ma’s two lambs. It is the one medical procedure I just cannot participate in. Blood and gore does not bother me, this is too much for me.

Maria happily held the lamb in her lamb while Dr. Marsh applied some local anesthetics and performed the minor surgery. I believe this surgical procedure is cleaner and healthier in the long run than banding. Jake and his sister are keepers, as are Liam and Pumpkin. The four lambs are staying at the farm. Ted the ram will go back to Vermont.

Dr. Marsh also examined Ma and found some issues. She has a fever, she has not yet cleared all of the afterbirth and her udders are not full of milk. The lambs are healthy, but thinner than they ought to be. We gave her an antibiotic a stimulant to open up her uterus and a kind of hormone injection to stimulate her production of milk. We will also offer the lambs some lamb’s milk that arrived yesterday in a powder form.

We will try offering it to Deb and Jake in bowls, one cup at a time as needed. Hope Ma’s troubles clear up. This is our fifth vet visit in two weeks.

Maria was a trouper, she held Jake firmly, watched the procedure, was a great help to Lauren Marsh. Maria says she will never lamb again, but I don’t believe that and neither does Dr. Marsh.