9. Valais Blacknose Twins!

June trundled on under a “grey lid”, the term my siblings used to refer to the constant state of the sky in our non-existent summer. Jo-Jo got bigger and bigger. Jeenie did too but we didn’t know if she was in lamb for sure or not, having not bothered getting her scanned a third time. I didn’t really want to keep them indoors as the end of pregnancy drew near, but was anxious too about them being outside. On the evening of the solstice I did a last check on all 46 sheep. While upstairs an hour or so later, I looked out the window at the late dusky sky to see Jo-Jo in a corner, with tiny twins behind her trying to stand up. Galloping downstairs shouting '“she’s had them, she’s had them!” to no-one in particular I raced outside to find Jim. He looked down the field and froze, there was a fox right beside them hovering motionless.

We ran out and grabbed both lambs neither of which had even been cleaned off yet, and pushed Jo-Jo up the hill to safety in the stable. We settled her down, got hay and water in and left her alone with the lambs. Usually the mother will be left undisturbed for at least an hour with newborns and preferably not interrupted at all. She will clean off the lambs, often consume the placenta which triggers hormonal release for colostrum production, and bond with the babies.

When I checked her the next morning she seemed disoriented, and a little distant to the lambs and not fully engaged. We had to move her so fast due to the impending fox attack, it probably sent her into mild shock. I called the vet and got her checked out, and indeed she had a high temperature and was a bit dehydrated. Recovering well over the following few days, her little girls were mad to get out and run, being incredibly strong and alert from day one. Giddy rascals, they decided that Jeenie was their stand-in mother and the little group of four have continued to thrive all summer. Jeenie despite being the size of a small house was not in lamb, so hopefully she will be successful next season!