Prepping for Lambs

Lambing is imminent, I do believe. We'll see whether it happens tonight, tomorrow, or Tuesday. I do have to work in the morning but only half the day. I hope it happens before my full work day on Tuesday! Bonnie's due date is officially tomorrow, the 23rd.

I've borrowed Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep and Raising Sheep the Modern Way from the library. With the knowledge I gained from the books and the recent MSBA Conference I have put together a few supplies:

-Clean, dry towels to assist with drying off the lamb, if necessary.
-7% tincture of iodine to dip the navel
-Dull scissors to snip back the cord. 2" is the recommended length.
-Glass bottle and nipple (we don't have any pop bottles!)
-60 cc syringe and size 8 french red rubber catheter, for tube feeding. I hope we don't need this one!
-Elastrator and bands. I won't use these until 2-3 days for tail docking and again around 10 days for castrating.
-(not pictured)We also have an ear tagger and tags to ID each lamb before they leave the lambing jug. That way we can know for sure who's who.

I've been crawling around in the pen like a fool trying to get a good look at her udder. Wednesday I noticed it starting to swell. Now it is huge! Tonight she didn't have much interest in grain and walked away from the feeder. She was scratching at her side with a hind foot. I know kicking at the sides is significant but I'm not sure if the scratching was unusual. She is "talking", making little grunting sounds every so often. There is no obvious discharge or contractions yet.

I think she is quite enjoying playing this game and having me dote on her. Brian has forbid me from checking on her again right away so I'm waiting rather impatiently for the next check. Wish me luck or say a prayer for me - I'm way more anxious than the mama ewe! :)