I got up and set about making milk for 8 lambs. It’s a logistical nightmare. As Josh said “Our kitchen isn’t that small but we’re bursting at the seams.” We have to have 2 sterilising buckets to get all the bottles in and then we have to try to find somewhere to store them. They were staying on the floor as they have lids but the dog has been caught opening the lids and drinking the water. Twice. I thought one lid was lose so I put that on the bottom of the stack but then I caught her opening the other one. No wonder she’s had a slightly dodgy tummy 🤦♀️
There’s so much powder it has to go in my mixing bowl. It was such hard work mixing it today I might use the electric mixer tomorrow… Then I have to tip it into the large wide jug for easier pouring then into the small jug to be able to pour in the narrow bottles. When the bottles are full I have to make more milk for the flask for extras for any that need it. I got all that ready and went out to the car. It had been frosty and so the windscreen needed scraping. Of course it did! I’m a bit short to reach the middle of the windscreen but Josh wasn’t up so I had to manage. When I went round the other side I passed the pillar on the edge of the wall. “Ivy!” I needed ivy for the sick ewe so I pulled some off there and bundled it in the car. Not much traffic on Sunday mornings. Apart from the fact they are tree felling on Stinkpot Hill. I keep forgetting about that. While I was sitting there I thought of checking if Josh was up. Then I remembered leaving my phone on the side of the sink in the shower room. Bloody marvellous. One of them will notice eventually and Neil is normally early so I could get him to let Josh know to bring my phone.
Neil wasn’t there. No sign of him and I couldn’t contact anybody. 8 hungry lambs and one pair of hands doesn’t go down well. Each of them are STARVING. There’s no point panicking. It’s best to try to take 2 out as they have peace to feed and then move onto the next 2. Josh can reach over. I cannot so I carefully undid the pallet gate a little bit. WOOSH! I was hit by a woolly tsunami of bodies and bleating. The first two mouths got the teats and we were up and running. Unfortunately for each mouth on the teat there were another 3 frantically trying to get on. It’s best to remain calm. There really is plenty to go around. They will all get fed eventually. Just not all at once.
As some finished they moved off to play but not everyone. Even though they were full to bursting a few of them still tried to get more. Greedy little buggers! Miraculously I reached a point where each of them was sated. Phew! I tried to get them to follow me outside. Now they were full not one of them would follow me so I had to start catching. The fattest ones were slow enough to catch and I began hauling them two at a time to the outside pen. When there was only Susie and George left I hit snag. Too fast for me. We ran around the barn for ages. They enjoyed it. Me, not so much. With them done I checked on the sick ewe. Originally I thought she was dead but not quite. She looked really ill and her lamb was cwtched up to her. So sad. I lifted her head for water but she didn’t want to drink. I didn’t think the ivy would help but I put it by her. I also fed Psycho Bitch and made sure she had water.
I fed all the other sheep and then started on the alpacas. Still no sign of Neil but also, no sign of Woolly which I was pleased about. I transferred the alpaca food to the little red trailer and started the quadling. The very second I started the quadling I heard “Baaaaa!” Woolly. Bloody awesome. Not! She followed me to fed Leo and El Cap. She accompanied me over to the weanling pen and she ran up the field after me to feed the other boys. Then I heard Neil’s quad. Just in time to help me with Woolly. Yay! As I pulled up by the girls’ gate, he got off his quad with his machete in his hand. I thought for a moment it was curtains for Woolly but he did something by the fence and came over to join me. “She needs to go back in there doesn’t she?” He gestured to jail with his head. “Yes please. She’s institutionalised.” We opened the side gate. Neil shook the bucket and she followed him in. The rest of the feeding went without a hitch. “I’m off to check my mole traps.” “Can you let Josh know I’ve forgotten my phone and ask him to bring it please? I’m going to poo pick.”
We set off to our respective jobs. I was going well and getting into a nice rhythm when the poover started coughing and spluttering. Just like it does when out runs out of fuel. I knew this wasn’t the case though because Josh offered to fill it yesterday. One final cough and it died. Hmmm. I took the fuel lid off. Completely dry. Not really shocked. Josh forgets. Nothing for it but to refill it myself. I went to the small gate. As I went through, I saw Neil heading towards me with his phone in his hand. “I’ve got really good news for you. There’s a walk booked at 10 and they’re up the top waiting!” “I’ll bloody kill him!!!” We were not expecting a walk. “He says he’s on his way…”
So I had to go up and apologise for being late. I hate being late. We walked down and chatted. They both had lots of questions too that I was able to answer. Then, the bit I dread. Trying to catch the boys. It’s nigh on impossible in their new field, especiallyfor one person. What made it worse is that I had fed them because I didn’t know there was a walk booked. I got a bucket and I tried and tried. They did not want to know. It didn’t help that we’d had them in yesterday for toenail clipping. I was half way up the field and feeling a mixture of anger at Josh and despondency at the situation when I saw Josh jogging down the slope. With Josh’s arrival, Neil came to help too and we got them sorted. Josh accompanied them on the walk and I went back to poo picking. I also got my phone back off Josh. I rang Jordan because she was cooking dinner to give her an eta to aim for. Neil went off to collect the headstock for the afternoon job on Percy.
As I was finishing my job, Neil said he was off home. I went with him and Josh followed closely behind with the couple that had been on the walk. As we were going up, Neil told me the sick ewe had died. Her lamb needs food and at her age is finding the transition to our teats a tad difficult. He had put her on Psycho Bitch for a drink. She tolerated her once she had been tipped but would not allow her to drink otherwise. She’s now in with the pet lambs so we’re up to NINE. What a joy!
“Right I’m off tara!” Off I went to the car with the bucket of lambs bottles. I reached in the pocket of my ski pants. No keys. I reached in the pocket of my hoodie. No keys. The special breast pocket with the zipper wher I always leave the key. No keys. Then I remembered I had put them in the bucket. No keys. Oh FFS mun 🤦♀️ They must have been left on the table in the barn. I stomped over crossly while everyone else, including the visitors were looking at the pet lambs. Not in there either so I went through my pockets again. The keys hadn’t appeared in that time. “Lost my car keys!’ “You left your coat in the office, maybe they fell out there” I left my bag and Neil took me down on the quad to be quicker. I checked in the beet pulp. No keys. I moved some buckets. No keys. I picked up a third bucket and there they were! Yay 👏 Straight back up and I was just leaving for a second time when Neil called me: “You forgot your bag now!” I went over to collect it and headed to the car. Neil called me again. “What now?” I thought. I looked over. He was tossing a mole up in the air, he’d found one in the trap. I smiled and gave him a thumbs up but that was it. Home for a rest…busy day tomorrow. Poo pick in the boys’ field that me and Chloe are really looking forward to 😁 No, we really are. It’s satisfy.
Helen x
