Delilah went in with the ram the same time as the other ewes but took longer to take, after her third cycle she didn't come back into season but when scanned she didn't look in lamb! Knowing Delilah like I do I didn't feel this was right and three weeks later she was rescanned and sure enough on the screen her little lamb was clear to see!
Our first lot of lambing happened the end of April/beginning of May and the lambs were growing on well and as June rolled on with its warm weather Delilah got bigger, her udder filled and she was happy to lay down for a cuddle rather than keeping up with the flock.
On the morning of Saturday 13th June she started isolating herself from the flock, laying away, standing alone and taking herself off to the shelter while they grazed.
By late afternoon it was obvious that by the end of the day her lamb would be here. I bought her into the stable with Demelza for company to give her a bigger freshly prepared indoor space, she ate her feed and picked at hay, walked around, looked at her tummy, all the usual early signs. At about 22.00hrs things changed, she pawed the ground got up and down and started making progress. As with her last lambing and different from the other ewes Delilah is quite noisy during the last stage of her labour, is she calling to her lamb or the other ewes? I don't know but the others answered her even from the field! Watching on the camera from inside two big pushes and the lamb was out at 22.35hrs! I popped out to check it was ok and moved them into the pen then left them to bond! Another ewe lamb! Fairly well marked and very strong, up within a few minutes looking for the udder. Delilah has incredibly large teats when she gives birth so she needed a little help to start but within an hour was up on her own, drinking well at literally filling out in front of our eyes.
A fantastic end to Lambing 2020!