As I write this blog, I'm sitting in the back of our lamb-a-van watching a ewe giving birth. Almost magical, if it weren't for the lamb poop on my trousers, straw in my hair and only 3 hours sleep. Unbelievably, we are over halfway through the girls, with their due date not actually until 5th March. I have booked 2 weeks off work to specifically coincide with the start of their lambing, and half of them have gone early...
Whilst that aspect is annoying, the ride so far has been a bumpy one. We didn't have the best start, with one of my Suffolks suffocating a lamb of hers and another ewe going into early labour and losing her babies. This all happened very early on and so we were quite demoralised. You spend 6 months getting them to the end of the race, and feet from the finish line they fall over and break their leg.
But then we had a couple of days rest, a bit of time to recoup and now the lambs wont stop coming. These lambs are big. They are brutes and they are thriving. Up in mere minutes and the ewes are amazing. Such fantastic mothering instinct which is great to see as a large proportion of our girls are first timers, so not without risk that they wont want their lambs. Cheviots are known for their mothering skills and they're certainly living up to the hype!
I can't write this blog without mentioning our lovely Clarice! I think she looked set to pop for around 18 days, and finally, at 00:30 on Thursday , I woke up to see she had started. Her water bag was out and had popped, so without a known timeline of how long she had been going, and the fact that we were on edge about every lamb from our earlier experiences, I instantly wanted to give her a hand. There a not many girls who will let you walk up the them in a big pen and help them lamb, but this girl is a star. She did us proud with a huge set of twins!
We have turned a handful of ewes with lambs at foot out to pasture, but since then its been horrid weather. Raining and cold. With how much we have invested in the flock, we're playing it carefully and waiting for a bit of nicer weather before we send some more out into the paddocks.
All the commercial girls have now lambed - Elsie the Southdown had a lovely pair of twins, 1 ewe and 1 ram. I also had the pleasure of helping my favourite ever girl, Myrtle, birth her twin boys. I was given her as a day old orphan and have watched her grow into a sizeable ewe. She's certainly my sheep bestie! There is always the risk that a sheep who is very petted up (over friendly) might not be a particularly good mother but she has exceeded expectations and is tending to her boys very well.
During all this, we have also been calving! In our herd, we have a total of 9 calves currently on the ground, with only one of them a heifer calf! Holly had a beautifully marked red and white bull calf, with Sweaty Betty and her sister also having red bulls with lovely white splodges on their faces. Mrs Evans and Cookie both needed some help as their calves were breech! Its in cases like this where Gary's talent and ability as a stockman really shines through. Breech calvings are not easy by any means and you have to have confidence that ultimately you will be able to get that baby out the back door. Kudos to Gary for safely delivering those 2.
Calving is also underway on the farm with 7 calves so far. We had a small issue with a cow going down with milk fever. This a lack of Calcium in the blood and can occur after calving when the cow is producing large amounts of milk, primarily colostrum. We were quick with providing treatment and are happy to say the old girl was back on her feet within 24 hours and tending to her calf!
For now the sleepless nights will continue, but this time of year reminds us how wonderful our jobs are. As a pair, we truly love bringing new life into the world, and seeing the result of at least 6 months hard work. So far, we are incredibly proud of what we have produced.
Onwards to the rest of the babies arriving!
Stay safe
Zoe xx
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