Thursday morning dawned bright and early with blue skies and no rain. I was eager to see if everyone was alright after Storm Dudley.
The sheep looked OK so I headed for a quick check of the alpacas as there was a visit at 9.30. The entire track down to the office was pouring with water. I thought the brook had burst its banks but it was actually the volume of water pouring down the field. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I scraped a few channels out using the heel of my wellies to try and divert the water into the brook rather than down the field.
On my way back up to meet the visitors, I noticed an ewe that didn’t look right. I went over and she didnt move. Never a good sign. She was breathing heavily too. Worse sign. I rang Josh up for him to collect her and put her in the barn. The same thing as Ginger Nut. In retrospect, Patricia had some similar symptoms too.
Josh went to collect her in the mule. I was in the wellfield feeding the silvernoses. I can hear “Baa, baa!” Where was it coming from? It seemed to be behind me and they were all in front of me eating. I did a quick name check. Dawn was missing. Still plenty of Baaing from behind me. She was only stuck in brambles. Funny though. Something made me get my penknife this morning as I was leaving the house. I’ve been changing coats regularly because I have to dry them due to all the rain. So lucky I had it with me in order to cut Dawn free. Lots of pulling and wool cutting later and I got her free just in time to open the gates for Josh. He had to carry the sick ewe into the wellfield. It’s not good news if you can carry a year old ewe that far. She was obviously weak and skinny. No offence Josh!
Just in time, I met the couple who came for the visit. On a visit we walk around the farm, looking at the views. I was able to point out something new this time – the broken wind turbine up in Gilfach can be seen in the distance. Next it was over to the alpacas where I think the visitors enjoyed themselves hand feeding. The girls like being hand fed. In fact Alexa and Eden came straight over and just waited to be fed.
We walked back up and then in to see the silvernoses and pets. Ted came ambling over, friendly as ever. But this time, he looked different. He looked like he had been playing with his mother’s make up. The high energy licks that are out for the pregnant ewes are very popular. Especially popular with Ted. The lick is red so sheep look like they have lipstick on. Ted had it on his lips, all the way up his nose and a big patch on his right cheek. He looked so funny. I took a photo to send to his dad (Neil) on the Garth Hall chat 🤡😁
After the visit, I did some research on the sick ewe. Josh suspected pneumonia. I was thinking pasturella because the weather is relatively mild and wet. I looked on Ladies Who Lamb, on Facebook and then in my big Veterinary Sheep book. Pasturella Pneumonia seemed to fit the symptoms exactly. Heavy breathing, neck extended, weak and drooping ears. The same drooping ears that Ginger Nut had too. Luckily we had given Ginger Nut the right treatment. A quick ring to our vets to confirm we had the right antibiotic and we could treat her. We got to her earlier than Ginger Nut so I’m hopeful she should recover.
We went back straight after dinner to give the antibiotics. I had seen another ewe lamb with drooping ears. The vet confirmed that ewe lambs are the most susceptible to this. With Storm Eunice on her way we needed to carefully check the whole flock. There are about 30 ewe lambs but about 117 sheep in total to check. I did the walk around while Josh did the antibiotics and began clearing space in the barn for more pens.
I couldn’t find the ewe lamb. She had quite distinct facial markings, like Devil Ram and Achilles’ mother. No sign of her though. I went back to the barn. Josh was hard at work (for once) clearing space for another pen. We filled 4 feed bags with hay for me to take down in the mule. The weather is still too bad to use the tractor. The mule is a little pick up. I had to put the hay in the cab with me though so it didn’t blow away. That was a squash I can tell you 😁
I carried the hay bags over the brook and put 3 in my trolley. I took the 4th into the weanling pen and also gave them their food. At that point Neil arrived in his quad with the feedbags I’d asked for. He was closely followed by Ted, jogging along beside him. I explained about the other ewe and where I had last seen her. Neil could take her up in troop transport so we decided to wade back across the brook to find her. Ted was with me. He looked at the brook. It’s 3-4 steps to cross it. I encouraged him, Neil called him from the opposite side but Ted wasn’t having any of it. He started running back up the track, heading for the bridge. He was going the long way round. Neil and I continued along the front in search of the sick ewe. No sign. We searched and searched then gave up. Just as we approached the crossing point on the brook, Ted came jogging down towards us. He had been all the way around and arrived just as we were crossing back over. I felt so bad. He was so pleased with himself. Bless him. “I’ll be there now. Wait for me!” said Neil to him as he got on his quad to go back to the barn.
We were all up at 5am on Friday to check and feed all the animals before Eunice hit. Don’t get me wrong, it was windy but not noticeably more considering the red warning. The vast majority of the sheep were sheltered in the nursery. Everyone in the barn still showing good signs of improvement. The empty feedbags that had hay in them blew across the field to the alpacas amusement but nothing else to report!
I left at around 9am and it was only then that I felt the wind was worse than usual. The wind was blowing in a southerly direction, blowing the trees on the lane away from me rather than over me. But the noise! I’ve never heard the wind as bad. I thought there were tractors on the lane it was so loud! Looks like we’ve been lucky with the wind in comparison to the amount of rain we’ve had…
Well that will teach me. I thought the blog was written and that Eunice had come and gone in a whimper. I had a message from my best friend asking if we were all OK. I had literally put my phone back down after replying when I got another message. The ponies are out.
So battlestations were activated. If the ponies were in Garth Hall it was likely a fence or tree was down. Josh was off on a stag weekend. He’s NEVER there when something goes wrong! 🤦♀️
I drove up Stinkpot Hill, looked across the road into Pantglas. FULL OF SHEEP. Oh no! (or something similar) I went all the way around the roundabout and drove into the field. There is no gate at the bottom so I needed to block it. Sheep LOVE to escape. I had a look. Absolutely loads of them. Huge sighs of relief. Not my sheep. Luckily I knew who they belonged to so I gave him a quick phone call. I then left for Garth Hall and promised to be back down in a bit.
The lane was littered with fallen branches. The wind must have got worse after I left this morning. I reversed the car down the drive, well away from any trees. Neil arrived and we went down to help Rob with his sheep. They were out because of a fallen tree. One good deed done.
We fed the alpacas and then helped put the ponies back. It seemed that a gate had blown open, allowing them in. Second good deed done. We fed the sheep and checked on the sick ewe in the barn. She is up now and eating hay. Ginger Nut is looking good too 👏
I was back home when Neil messaged to say he had found an ewe stuck in the brambles. It’s just been one of those days. We have been lucky though but I’m glad Eunice is gone. What on earth will the rest of the weekend have in store…
Helen x
