The Hitchhiker's Guide to Kidding and Lambing

I know some of you have already BTDT or started earlier this season, but I do know I have some readers expecting their first mammal babies and maybe a little bit nervous about it.

My feeling is that there are three things you should remember in kidding.

1. 99% of the time, the animals should be able to do this fine without you.

2. Even if you have to intervene, 99% of those times, everything goes ok.

3. It gets easier if you know what to expect.

Here's a (very silly, non-technical, done by someone who likes to make a big deal of how gross it is - of course, he's a guy and never given birth himself) video that will give you a rough sense of a normal kidding (it was quads). Do note if you don't want to see animals giving birth, you shouldn't watch these videos - don't whine about it in comments later.

This is a much less silly video of a delivery of abnormal presentations:

Note that it is possible to handle those things with comparative aplomb, even though you are scared out of your wits.

If you are expecting babies you've probably read everything on the internet twice, so I won't duplicate that information, just note that kidding or lambing is a lot like hitchhiking the galaxy - Don't Panic! and have a towel handy.

Sharon

Tags

More like this

Are you new to this parenting gig? About to give birth or adopt or take on a foster placement? Or maybe you've had one easy kid, and are about to go to two and sense that things are about to change radically. Or maybe you have them, but you feel like you are missing something in the "how to stay…
The first person to ever refer to me as middle-aged in print was my friend Rod Dreher.  On the one hand, I appreciated the publicity.  On the other hand, I was 34 at the time, and I may never entirely forgive him.  Still, the shock has waned, and I have come to terms with the fact that if I'm not…
In the past week, I've had to have some uncomfortable conversations with students. In each case, the student is failing my class. (And we're not talking barely failing....we're talking obviously failing.) In each case, the student had no idea that s/he is failing my class. The student had no…
The End of Wall Street's Boom - National Business News - Portfolio.com It seems I'm obliged to link to this. Apologies for the delay. (tags: politics economics culture business books) MPR: Challenged ballots: You be the judge Do you like politics? And radio-button Internet polls? Well, this is…

The music in the first video was nauseating. Beyond that, I don't think they're going to thank us for the fish. ;)

I think one of the keys is that you limit it to kidding and lambing and not just livestock giving birth. Having raised sheep, cattle and pigs, pigs need the least help, sheep need a little more help (probably more than 1% but less than 5%) and cattle need more help.