Another Lamb, But it looks kind of iffy...

Right out in the field!

I only left for an hour. Do you think she could have waited? No. Jackie decided to have her lambs in the pasture while I was with James at his Highland dance class.  I say lambs, because there were two, but one did not make it. Wish I knew why it wasn't breathing or moving or even warm when I found it lying on the grass.  Jackie was still trying to lick it clean even though there was no life left.  She would go back and forth between licking the alive one and the not alive one. Right away, I knew I had to get mama and baby into the barn, and into the jug that I had just laid fresh hay in earlier.  Even though it was a beautiful, sunny Sonoma County day, a cool breeze was coming up promising to be a lower thirties kind of night.  
I picked up the still wet lamb and walk toward the barn thinking Jackie would follow me.  But, there were two lambs.  So instead of following me, she stayed where she was trying to get the first lamb to move, all the while walking around confused as to where her other lamb had gotten to.  It took me picking up the lifeless lamb and hiding it, before she would head into the barn, following me while I was holding the lamb that still had life. Okay, got them in. Now what?

My helpful husband with his tools.

My supportive husband, Doug, knew his part in this already.  Digging the grave.  We have had to do that several times so far on The Derby Farm.  Without my asking him, he went and got on his boots, grabbed the shovel, the wheel barrow, and the lime, and headed out to the lamb graveyard we have going in the 'oak tree yard' part of our property.  He tended to his work of digging, while I tended to the animals in the barn.
The newest lamb in the barn has shone no interest in getting up.  No interest in nursing. It appears to be very weak.  Jackie is attentive, though, and continues to clean it off.  The best thing is to let them be for awhile, I think. Besides, it is getting very cold outside, and I need more layers as well as dinner.

The heat lamp is on.  We'll see if it helps.

When I am properly layered, I head back outside with a bottle of lamb formula just in case.  My thinking is that if she is too weak to stand, maybe a little warm milk will give her some energy so she'll try to nurse later.  There were sucking sounds and milk disappearing, so she must be getting some sustenance. But it is cold out here.  I can't lock them inside by themselves, then the other lambs will get cold.  There is no way to get the whole rest of the flock locked in the barn either. A heat lamp!  As much as I really don't want to use one, to get this little lambie through the night, I think I had better do it. The scary thing is the chance of fire in the barn with all the dried hay around.
Got the heat lamp plugged in and in a safe spot.  Got her to nurse one little sip before she collapsed back onto the hay.  Not much more that I can do out here tonight.  As I was preparing to leave the barn, really hoping that the heat lamp would (won't) start a fire, I look across in the dark night and see a fire!  On the other side of the trail that runs behind the back of our house, but further up, there is definitely something going up in flames. Not sure if it is a house or trees.  Sirens blare in the cold night, but no sign of any fire trucks yet.  This made me second guess and double check the heat lamp, but I am still worried.  Worried about the lamb surviving the night, and worried that there could be a fire here.  
As I sit writing this blog, they have put out the neighboring fire. The fire in our wood burning stove has gone out, and I need to get to bed.  This lambing thing is tough.  Tough work and tough emotionally.  I have to be tough inside, and yet still compassionate.  Always a balance.  Balance is tough, too.

This is Jackie because she has a 21 on the tag in her ear.

I'll let you know more if the newest little lamb makes it through the night on The Derby Farm.