Lambs Birthed at Saul High School

It was a first for W.B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences.

The Roxborough school, unique not only in Philly, but across the nation, hosted its share of animal births in the past.

After all, there’s a working farm right on school grounds.

But Wednesday night marked the first time for quadruplets, when a ewe, or female sheep, delivered four lambs.

That same ewe had given birth to triplets during the three previous years, said Saul teacher Gail Koskela. Even that was unusual.

“We typically birth twins here,” Koskela said during a visit to the school early Thursday afternoon.

Soon after talking about the historic moment, Koskela put on her gloves, quite literally, and coaxed another baby lamb out of a separate pregnant ewe. (Patch was there for the birth. See for more).

Students were hands-on during the births, with juniors and seniors from Koskela’s Beef and Sheep Production class helping to deliver, feed and care for the young lambs.

“I always love new experiences, [and] a birth is a new experience,” said junior Josie Baxt.

Baxt said she missed the delivery of the first baby, but being that she only lives three blocks from school, she was able to be there for the second. She even managed to capture the second birth on video camera.

“It was just beautiful,” she said.

Baxt helped clear mucous from the mouth of the lamb after it was delivered. The act enables the newborn to breathe better.

It’s also crucial to make sure the mother doesn’t reject the baby, Baxt said, so coaxing little ones toward their mother is also something the students had to help with.

One student, junior Josh Veloz, even had to get down and dirty, so to speak, and help “untwist” a baby lamb that was still inside the mother, according to Koskela.

Koskela said Veloz, who wasn’t immediately available for comment, was the first person to deliver any of the recent baby lambs.

“He was stoic,” she said of Veloz. “He was just professional and all that.”

Koskela said the first mother was four days shy of her due date. Sheep are pregnant for 148 days on average, Koskela said, or just shy of five months. Nine more ewes are expected to give birth within the next week, she said.

During the Thursday visit to Saul, Patch got lucky enough to see a birth in action. Just as students and Koskela were checking in on the first ewe, a second one was getting ready to deliver.

Koskela put on a special “OB” glove, and placed her hand inside the ewe’s cervix to check on the status of the baby. A few moments later, a lamb was born.

Students gathered around to lend a hand, with some helping to clear mucous from the baby’s mouth, and others toweling off the newborn.

Koskela, meanwhile, did her thing and backed away. Her humbleness was impressive given that she just pulled a baby lamb from the womb of a sheep.

“My main plan is to do as little as I have to and then get out of the way,” she said.

Some of the lambs had to be bottle-fed by students and faculty, since the ewes have a limited number of teats. Students were observed weighing the lambs, and placing them under heat lamps to incubate the little ones.

Koskela said she plans to get T-shirts made up for students at some point that read: “I Survived Lamb Watch 2011.” The saying is a reference to the round-the-clock assistance students and teachers engaged in throughout the two-day period.