I was up early (but not bright) to feed Ant and Dec. I was shattered. Dec still isn’t drinking well so we’re going to have to tube feed him for a while. I had a quick breakfast and then set about making all the milk for the other 9 of them. It was Jordan’s day off. When she arrived there were bowls, jugs, milk powder, bottles and sterilisers all over the kitchen. In amongst all that she helped and made herself a cup of tea. We do like our tea here at Garth Hall.
Finally I was ready and I went to put my ski trousers on. No sign of them. Very strange. We hunted high and low getting later and later. I was putting my dungaree ones on instead when Josh appeared. “They must be in the car then. If mine are here, I took yours!” At least we knew. We left and Jordan messaged Chloe to ask her to feed the sheep while she waited for us 🤦♀️
My watch did go off en route but I didn’t look until I got there. It was a photo of Broken Leg on the lawn this time!!! Chloe had sent her over the wall and back into the field. Jordan unlocked the padlock and I brought my crook, lambing kit, flask and bucket full of bottles. You’d think with three of us the bottle feeding would be less chaotic but there were still only 4 teats. Chloe fed 2 lambs at a time. Me and Jordan fed one each but I kept changing teats and bottles to keep everyone filled up. When everyone was getting full, we only had the flask left. This was for a later top up feed at lunchtime and to give Apache some. I leaned across and the flask fell off the table onto the floor with a sickening crash. “Oh no!” I picked it up. It was leaking out of the bottom. Jordan and Chloe couldn’t understand my anguish and were trying to get me to tip it the other way to stop it leaking. “Save that milk we can still use it. It’s tipping out!” I explained and shook the flask to get them to understand. We couldn’t give the lambs milk with glass in it. The remaining bottle was swiftly taken away from Lazarus and given to Apache. She refused to drink. Bless her. I got my tubing kit and tubed the milk into her. It looks like we will have to do this for a week or two. She will be ok to be weaned by then.
With that all done, Chloe had her obligatory cwtch with Kitty and we went off to check the sheep. Over in the cabbage field we looked across towards the quarry. “Is that a sheep on her own over there?” We went off in that direction. The wind was really strong, often taking our breath away. “Ooh we missed that ewe” I said. “It’s ok” replied Chloe “It was an tree!” 😂😂
There weren’t any new lambs so all we needed to do was feed the alpacas. We loaded the food into the trolley and off we went. On the way back, I had a brain wave. “Leave it here. I’ll collect it on the way back.” Next we went to refuel the poover. Chloe was left to drive that off. I took buckets and the horse poo shovel. Jordan got two empty bags and the trolley. By that time we were over by the gate, Chloe was still trying to start the quadling. I could see she was struggling. Jordan gestured to her to ring me. “I forgot to remind you about the fuel switch.” She got that started and drove the quadling and poover into the girls’ field. Jordan and Chloe were going to pick up poo and I was going to use the horse shovel to pick up the poo in amongst the hay. The poover sucks up hay too so we need to try to do this area separately. They started just inside the field but I had to go up to the ring feeder. I only had 2 black buckets, a pink horse shovel and rake and two empty camelibra bags but pulling up hill was really difficult. I had got as far as the start of the loose hay. I must have hit a bump, it was harder to pull the trolley, I pulled a bit harder, there was a sudden bit of give and it shot forward. Over I went onto my left knee. With the hay and the ground and all the padding I was wearing, I didn’t get hurt. I shot up and looked towards the others. No sign they had noticed so I carried on. “That was funny” Shouted Jordan. She had seen me. Bugger 😂
We picked poo until we were all shattered. When we couldn’t manage any more we left to empty everything out. Josh rang Jordan to say he was on his way to pick her up and bring replacement milk in a replacement flask. Chloe and I got on with unloading the poover and bagging up the Gardener’s Gold aka alpaca poo. Both of us had tired arms by now but we powered through until my phone rang. Josh. “Someone wants to look at the weanlings. Can you deal with her?” Now I am not the salesperson in the family but I was there so I was volunteered 🤦♀️ Long story short, I sold a pet lamb 😂😂 The lady that came to visit had a single pet lamb as well as her alpacas. A friend for her lamb would help keep it happy and healthy. So, Betty is going to a new home. One down, 10 more to go 😁
On the walk back up from the alpacas I had some sort of episode. I could not breathe. I’m assuming it was an asthma attack. I had one before in the summer after a walk in long grass. It frightened the life out of me because I struggled to breathe. After my dinner I had a nap and made Josh do the afternoon shift. As long as it doesn’t happen again I’ll be back to work tomorrow 💪
At 7pm Josh and I settled done for a training session on alpaca delivery or unpacking as its known. We ‘think’ our cria are due from the end of May. We aren’t expecting many this year. However, we will begin mating alpacas soon. Probably 20 matings! More on that when it happens. Even videos!
And finally a quick update on Ant and Dec. Ant is coming on well but unfortunately Dec isn’t doing so well. When they first came to us, they both drank heartily from the bottles. But now Dec is struggling to suckle. Josh failed to tube him too 😞 At tea time I tubed him and gave him glucose. I also fed Ant. Until they are both feeding successfully they will be staying at the house. Hopefully there will be a breakthrough with them soon. Josh went to make the milk for the evening feed. He told me he was making the same amount as he felt sure Betty’s portion would be shared out for the others. “No milk left now.” “There’d better be milk left!” “The last of it has gone in the tub.” One of us will need to fetch another sack from Arthur John’s then. Both of us will offer. Driving to Cowbridge is like a few hours off. I think I’ve got the trump card. I need to introduce Chloe to the place 😁 When Josh got back he told me there was a Betty sized portion left over 😞
Helen x
