Little Lambs

Dione IV is at the boatyard and being moved between several working halls (grit blasting, steel working, primer painting, and the do-it-yourself hall) for over a month, and during this time we could not stay on board. We needed to find a place to stay close to the boatyard.

Highlights – the overview

After browsing the very costly options directly in Harlingen, we expanded our search to include a wider radius. We found a B&B room to rent on a farm about 8km outside of town and decided that would be a great option… not only because it was reasonably priced and close to Harlingen, but because they have lambs… lots of lambs. Sher was delighted at the thought of having little lambs at our B&B.

Not only were the sheep and lambs adorable, as expected, but we also had an unexpected surprise… several sets of baby lambs were born (out of the normal season) during the first week of our stay!

Captain’s Log (T-84) – the complete story

Typically, lambs are born in January and the flock is set out into the fields in May, so they would still be in the barn and close by during our stay. This was the case, however, we (along with Reinder, the host/farmer) had a happy surprise in store! What seemed to be several chubby sheep turned out to be several very pregnant sheep, and three sets of baby lambs were born within the first week of our stay. What an amazing thing to witness… even more so, an amazing thing to participate in, as Sher found out!

While the boat was in the blasting hall and we did not have access to continue working in the yard, Wim did some work in the workshop while Sher stayed at our place. When we found out that there were going to be lambs born within a few days, Sher immediately asked the farmer to notify us (day or night) so we could be present. It was only a day later that our host came to the door and said, “it’s time!”

Sher threw on shoes and a coat, sent word to Wim, and raced out to the barn. The ewe was making ready and we didn’t have to wait long. But there seemed to be a problem with the positioning of the baby and Reinder asked Sher (the only person there) to help and hold the ewe while he tried to reposition the baby lamb. It seems that there were two babies and the feet of one were coming out with the head of the other. So they needed to be rearranged. It was a tough situation and time was running short. If we didn’t get the first lamb out within a few minutes it would die. Finally, Reinder was able to untangle them, get the first lamb out. With some massaging, he got it to start breathing. Whew!!!

The mama ewe immediately started licking the baby and getting it moving. The second baby was still inside and hadn’t come out yet. The farmer told us that the second lamb would not be born until the first one was up and started nursing. And so it was… after the first one was standing up and drinking, the second little lamb was born. This one had an easier time of it and was up and drinking milk very quickly. We also learned that when the lambs are nursing, you’ll see their little tails wagging when they are getting milk, and if they aren’t wagging, they are not getting any milk.

But things still weren’t fine and there seemed to now be another issue… the mama ewe only had milk on one side, so there wasn’t enough milk for 2 baby lambs! oh no!!!! Luckily, there was a happy solution. A neighboring farmer had a ewe whose 2 newborn lambs died, so they brought one baby lamb to her to nurse… all was well with the new little lambs.

But wait!… two more ewes gave birth within a week after that! All proceeded without problems for those births, happily. What a delight to see all these baby lambs and how quickly they grew!!!

Our hosts are such lovely kind folks. You can tell that they really care about their animals and have good loving family values. Even when some of the sheep get too old to be productive, they still keep them and provide a comfortable retirement for them. Also, when a neighboring farmer lost a number of sheep to a wolf and decided not to continue on, our hosts took in the rescue sheep and are caring for them. These new sheep arrived while we were there and at first were totally traumatized from what happened, but within two weeks had recovered and became friendlier and curious. Thank you Reinder and Inge!!!