Next job - Build an ark!

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is very wet.  Sadly this means I can no longer put off tidying the house - luckily I have run out of washing up liquid so it will be all a little bit of a half hearted clean up!
Tyke is soaked . . .

 

Wonky is soaked. . .

 

I could go on . . .



As I type I am looking at the barn opposite the house and watching the pair of swallows, I presume it is a pair - they are pretty similar to my untutored eye - going in and out a hole in the door.  They are lovely to see.

We finally finished back house paddock and the girls have all moved in there.  They were very excited and there was a great deal of jumping around and dashingto and fro.  There are still a couple of loose fence posts by the Grave Digger's and one corner that needs a bit of attention but they are safe for now.  We then went back to the fields to move the sheep and lambs back into the top of third which was supposed to be the hay field for this year but it has a lot of thistles and docks in it - they need tackling later.  This means we have made the, possibly daft, decision to use second for hay, hoping it grows in time (Tractor Boy was a bit dubious about this!).  Time will tell!

When we arrived back home I expected the alpacas all to be leaping around in the lush grass of their new paddock but, no, they were all in a big group by the gate waiting to go back into their old bald paddock!

Bobby

Short blog as I am up to my ears in shearing diaries - we really need someone else in on this shearing lark as it is so hard to coordinate everything with Carl available dates and Sam available dates and Sam's boss has now decided to silage cut in the busiest shearing time - HELP!!

Sad news today as Mum's dog, Bobby, had to be put down - nothing could be done and she was starting to suffer.  Mum was very brave and made the only decision possible but she will find it hard.

Sad Goodbyes

It was supposed to be calming down here but it is still rather hectic.  Today I said a very sad goodbye to little Slug who has gone to his new home which is a really lovely place and where I know he will be well looked after - I will miss him though.  He also has a new and rather more sensible name - Bob!

We also said goodbye to Gloria and Bea.  Bea has always been one of my favourites as she is such a friendly girl.  I feel guilty for selling her but her new owner is a delightful lady and she will give her lots of attention so Bea will, I am sure, be very happy.  Gloria will also be missed as she is such a pretty girl and so curious - ah well!

This afternoon Carl's parents came over to see the new house and, I am very pleased to say, they were able to witness the lambs racing in their lamb gangs which is one of the funniest sights around.  I will attempt to get a rather amateurish video of this.

Back to fencing

Yet another busy day.  As well as sorting and moving the sheep we have been ear tagging and micro chipping and Carl has been fencing the back paddock.  Carl is feeling ill so fencing was a little slow going and he seemed to spend a lot of time in the bushes - I have my suspicions that he took a book in there with him!

I am trying to hurry him along as the paddock the house girls are in really needs a chance to rest and a bit of rolling.

I have been letting them in the orchard (it is just a bit of fenced off garden with 6 apple trees, a medlar and something else which could be a cherry tree but orchard sounds good) but I have to stay with them or they eat the trees.

The Poly Tunnel is coming on but so are the weeds!

Calming Down

Sorry I haven't blogged but it has been a bit busy.  Today things have calmed down slightly with just one birth - a tiny black single from a ewe lamb.  No problems at all with the birth and she loves it!  I took the chance during the lull to get my hair cut and it looks horrendous.  At mother's birthday lunch last weekend one of my brothers laughed at my hair (he has a beard like a member of ZZ Top) so I thought I had better do something about it but it looked better as it was.  I met The Inhabitant of Reddleman House in Stur and asked her opinion as to whether I should have a fringe.  She looked at me as if all hope was lost and said she really didn't know - so I knew there was little hope of any improvement.  She is remarkable and remembered all the names of my brothers and their children - more than I could do.

Anyway, a few more photos.  First up is an alpaca one - Gloria, I will be sad to see her go.

Lounging around

 

"I want to be a tyre fitter when I grow up"

"MUM!"

 

Just pictures

These are the slugs, Judi - Grace's lambs - one of whom is scared of Grace!

Grace had ringwomb and the lambs had to come out by ropes after a lot of easing and stretching..  Grace ended up in a bad way and could not stand so I had to bottle feed the lambs and then take one away for the night but she is now improving dramatically and loves her lambs despite one running away from her!

A ewe with a lamb - but she hasn't lambed yet!

Stumpy's smallest  lamb at a day old and very dopey.

And this is wild scottie- who is not so wild now - with her little lamb lying down and the huge one who got stuck and had to be pulled out about to drink - not even a day old yet!

 

56 lambs so far and only about 8 to go!

Monday continued

11am Raining, attempt to catch crazy Scottie cannot.  Wild Romney starts.  Try again to catch Scottie, jump from Mule wielding crook, forget about no brakes situation - mule starts rolling towards Angelina's fast asleep twins.  Dive back into mule and divert tragedy - get hit on head by wildly flapping windscreen wiper motor.
11.30am Raining, Super human powers kick in - mentally put on my wonder woman gear (in reality am wearing an all in one fluorescent water proof suit with reflective stripes).  Some how I catch hold of one of Scotties horns and I have her  - normal presentation but stuck fast.  To cut a traumatic tale short involving  the use of bailer twine as lambing ropes, I sadly delivered a huge dead lamb.  I nearly had him but he started to breathe before he was out and his chest was so large he didn't slide out quickly enough.  THEN  the Romney had delivered but it wasn't breathing despite me swinging it, a finger up the bottom got it going in the end and he was fine.

By this time I was mildly traumatised and it was still raining.

Then yesterday one of the slugs was hypothermic so he was rushed to mum's for warming and when I went back to collect him he was tottering round the garden.
Today I had one stuck monster Sam and Kristy got out whilst I had popped off to the shops and this evening it was lucky we were all there as I had a leg back stuck HUGE one with a normal size twin.  We got the positioning right but then he just would not come out.  All is well now but some are very big lambs and the bigger they are the harder they seem to be to get going, they just lie there.

Tomorrow I shall do photos, I hope!

Oh, and one ewe, who I am sure has not lambed, has a lamb with her and is feeding it!

another day

6am Raining, all calm, Grace's lambs have bottles - more on her another day
6.30am Raining, realise 32 is not asleep but comatose, cannot find needle for Calciget to fit syringe
6.45am Raining, find needle, cannot warm calciget on vehicle heated as vehicle does not have heater - does not even have windscreen - boil kettle, inject.
7.15am Raining, ewe recovers, her lamb going hypothermic - obviously has not fed since yesterday evening.  Kick start, warm, bottle, grab mum, stick baby under
8.15am Raining, crazy Scottie starting
9.15am Raining, crawling around trying to get close enough to see if black Scottie presenting properly - she is, go to feed Grace's (the slugs)
10.30am Raining, no progress from Scottie

Got to go finish tomorrow, maybe!

What next?

This is going to be quick as  lambing is not going well at all.  I have had one lambing through a prolapse with the afterbirth coming before the lambs (truly).  I couldn't do it - Sam had to get out two monster lambs with ropes and his hands were blue by the time he did.  One huge thing with the spine coming first - a dog sitter I call it with all legs and head pointing backwards.  I couldn't do it - Carl did.  One ring womb which miraculously I did manage to gradually ease open but then I couldn't get the muddled up twins out - Sam and Kristy did.  Basically, I have lost all confidence that I can lamb anything now.  31 lambs and 19 ewes to go - I think.  And to end some pictures before I go and check the twins from Grace (ring womb)- Grace is not in a good way.

Reddybrek and her twins - The Thugs

PLEASE let me play with the lambs

Black Scottie's lamb

Probably best not to mention the Mule incident but I will - we are on steep slopes and the Mule does not have a handbrake so Carl has supplied  me with a block of wood to put behind the tyres.  This is difficult as on Friday I needed to catch Pugsly urgently due to head and one leg situation.  I thought the Mule was secure when I dived out of the Mule to rugby tackle her only to be lying on the ground with her and hearing a rushing sound behind me as the Mule gathered speed down the hill, crashed into the fence, broke the windscreen.  On top of everything else I am driving around with no windscreen and a windscreen wiper motor dangling precariously in front of my face.

Chaos!,

Lots to say but no time to say it!
Lots of photos but no time to upload!
In brief - 10 lambs yesterday and 6 (so far) today.  This morning Stumpy was a nightmare with two of the dopiest biggest lambs I have ever seen - combined with a prolapse and afterbirth before the lambs - honestly, Sam agrees that is what it was.  It took an arm up to he elbow, lambing ropes and lots of rolling around swearing.  We now have 21 lambs but poor Grace looks like hers is on the way so, it is now 9.30pm, pitch dark and her last lamb Shovel was a real drama!
Got to go!