Well, something did eat the baby lambs. Seven of them anyway, in three days. And ran my best ewe down a steep muddy hill into the pond. So the ewes are coming up to the barn every night, and I have gotten a donkey and put in with them. The donkey was braying the first night we put her in; when I went out to check there was an absolute howling going on back on the railroad tracks behind the house. More coyotes than I have ever heard in one place. Great.
Put the ewe to sleep uyesterday. Ater three days of nursing care, antiinflammatories, everything we could do- which was not only time consuming but physically very demanding, we're talking about a 200lb invalid here- she remained unimproved, unable to coordinate her legs well enough even to support her own weight. Why is it always your best ewe?
So I'm out of milk replacer, the transmission is out of the truck, it's been raining for two days so the mud is bad again.