Off to Garth Hall to feed the rams in the barn and Elsie. Neil had left for Tregurnog with the tractor and trailer. I then went home and put dinner on. We planned to meet after dinner to introduce the rams to the first proper lot of ewes.
We met at 2.30. I arrived at 2.25. Neil was there. He had taken one bale out of the trailer already. Jordan and Louis were introducing Ally to Elsie. I went to help Neil with the second bale. I put the strapping around it. He reversed the tractor and pulled the bale out. Then he got the bale on the spike and took it to the barn. I walked around, opened the barn and put the 3 pet lambs in the pen so they weren’t run over. Neil put the two bales in while I got water and fed the rams. By then Rhi had arrived but Jordan had to go to take Ally and Louis back.
The three of us that were left got two groups of nearby ewes in. Baarbaara was already in the wellfield and she took them all over the far end. Course she bloody did. When we got them to the run, Baarbaara was buggering about again, leading them the wrong way. Jordan was back and she manned the gate. Neil drenched them and I numbered them with blue spray. There were 21 in that group. Neil hitched the trailer back on the tractor while Jordan showed Rhi the photo of her bruise. “I can’t see it very well.” “Exactly! I’m very disappointed with it!” It was then that we found out there had been an accident. While putting the bales in, Neil had accidentally knocked one of the gates with the front loader of the tractor. He was cross with himself. He warned us he was in a bad mood so we did all we could to cheer him up by mercilessly taking the piss. They went in ok. Neil took Rhi down in the tractor and me and Jordan went on his quad. The tractor and trailer went into the girls field. I collected a bucket of Camelibra and began calling and shaking the bucket. In they came. We then filtered Persephone & Bramble and Luna & Hennessey off for a bit of extra food. They would be going into the small field with the pod.
Next we took hurdles into the small field and set up a pen. I went to feed the ram lambs. I thought I hadn’t seen Ted but immediately dismissed the thought because we had to spray the ewes and raddle the ram. The first ewes had blue numbers. Neil insisted these had green letters. I got up as far as H. Neil wanted to mix the raddle. He was stirring so vigorously he was covered in green powder. Jordan offered to help him. She said she would hold the rams and Neil could paint. It was a really vivid green. He chose to put it on with his hand. He was covered in it. He kept on going “Grrrr!” and flexing his arms “I’m like the hulk” Without missing a beat Jordan retorted. “Wish v reality. I ordered the Hulk on Wish and look what I got!” Me and her were crying with laughter, it was my job to hold the gate in case the rams charged. I couldn’t even hold myself up, let alone the gate. I was laughing so much. “Cheers Jord!” But, Neil was laughing too.
The last job was to reset the hurdles between the two fields and then let the rams and ewes in. That job was done. We then moved the 4 alpacas into the field they had vacated. We gave them hay and ewe rolls. The two cria are a little small so I’m hoping to feed them up a bit. Neil went to move the tractor. He came back and said “We need the mule. There’s a dead lamb in the top of jail.” Me and Jordan went in the mule. Neil and Rhi on te quad. As we were driving up, the penny dropped. “I think its Ted! I tried to get out before Neil got there to warn him but he pulled up and I heard him say: “It’s Ted!” When Neil first came to help at Garth Hall, my father gave him Ted as a gift. Ted was one of 3 pet lambs. He would follow Neil everywhere and was so friendly. It was so sad. We put him in the back of the mule and we’ve left him for Layton to collect.
Neil was sad but very philosophical. “He went in his prime. I’m glad we didn’t have to watch him deteriorate or suffer.” RIP Ted. You will be missed.
Helen x
