It started off like a normal day. I got to Garth Hall, let the ducks out and went to the wellfield to check on Munchie. She had lambed. She had a lot of mud on each side, suggesting she had struggled to lamb. The lamb was alive but had a massive swollen head, another sign the birth had gone on a long time. At that point I was relieved they were alive! The lamb was massive! I went around then and met Emma by the quarry, she had arrived a few minutes after me. There was a new lamb, near the oak tree. I put that on my list. We went to the nursery and there was one in labour in there as well as number 7 twin ewe. Oooh. We left them and went to feed the chickens and let them out.
After that, we checked on Munchie again. They were both quiet and subdued. Hmmm. I wasn’t happy with them but we needed to check on the ewe lambing first. She should have had it by now. Over we went. No progress whatsoever. NOT GOOD. “We’ll have to catch her.” Did we have crooks? No. Did we have food? No again 🤦♀️So we would have to trap her! Off we went on a wild goose chase. Several times around the nursery, out the other side and above the nursery where we nearly caught her. Then she went down towards the LST but she crossed the bridge 🤬 and went back outfield. I left Emma to follow her and went to the LST for the ewe nut stash. When I caught up with them, the ewe was back by the brook up against the wall. Neither of us could get to her, the brook sides were steep at the point and littered with stones from the wall. We watched her for a while and I saw a place where I could cross. I made it over and got close enough to throw a few ewe nuts in her direction. She was interested which was news I could use to capture her. She eat a few and buggered off again 🤦♀️It’s amazing how they can evade capture whilst in labour! A few years ago, we chased a black ewe around the farm for 4 hours before catching her. I called for so many reinforcements there were seven of us in the end. I was able to deliver a live lamb then so I remained hopeful this time but getting it done quicker is obviously better.
The ewe went out and up the slope then across. We had to stop her reaching the ferns!!!! I got around her and put the tub of food down. She looked but was back off into the nursery. She headed down towards her original choice to deliver. I told Emma to stay behind and stop her going that way. I had an idea💡 I took the tub of food to the bottom left corner. There is a tree there and the best option to catch her. I got back behind her and Emma went to the other side. “Stay back until I’m nearer and we can trap her.” When I had blocked the one exit, I called Emma closer. The exit her side was completely blocked as it was narrow. The ewe’s only option was to come my way. I lunged, grabbed and held on for dear life. Good job Emma was there though because she helped and got a more secure hold. We had a bit of trouble getting her onto her side. I looked at the ‘business end.’ “I’ll hold her, you can pull this!” The head was out a bit but stuck. I talked Emma through it and she delivered her first lamb 👏The lamb needed immediate attention to clear his airway. It had to be repeated a few times but he was ok. With our attention on him, the ewe had sloped off and was tucking into the food 😂 We left them to bond.
We went back to the wellfield and put Munchie and her lamb in the barn. She had some painkiller, a drink and the thing that cheered her up the most – food. I milked colostrum off her so I could tube feed her lamb. The tube goes straight into their belly and is a quicker way to nourish them than getting them to drink. I couldn’t find my tubing kit or the barn one. He coukd suck my finger but not the bottle teat. We resorted to drawing colostrum up a syringe and he did get ‘some 🤦♀️ I was still a bit concerned.
We finally got to check and feed the alpacas and rams. All was well down there, luckily. We went to check on the ewe in the nursery but I was looking forward to an early finish. It’s always good to finish early on a Tuesday because I have Riley at 1pm. It’s just stupid though isn’t it? I should know better than to celebrate an early finish, shouldn’t I? The lamb Emma had delivered was up and drinking. All good. Then Emma waved me over to the other nursery entrance. Number 7 ewe was back, pawing the ground and looking uneasy. She was definitely lambing. We settled down to watch. It was windy and taking too long. I left Emma watching while I went to check on Munchie and her boy. They looked ok, but not good. Still a bit up in the air. I got water and took that back with me. I collected the remains of the tub of ewe rolls from the ewe and her lamb in case we needed to intervene with number 7. By the time I got back, the first lamb had been born 👏 Excellent. We waited for the second. I did announce at one point, “I won’t watch a twin birth again unless I’ve got a camping chair!” The whole thing took ages. Jordan was on standby to bring Riley to the farm. “Make sure you bring his wellies” Then finally, she started pawing again. It went on a while. We finally noticed the little bag of blood after the first lamb. I hoped pushing that out would push the 2nd twin out too. I saw what I thought was the fore bag for the second lamb but realised it was the lamb still in the sac. We rushed over to break the sac. Her mouth needed clearing too. Good job we had stayed. With her crying and shaking her head, I knew she was ok. Emma had time to stay a bit longer. She kept an eye on them and then gave the ewe her water. I dashed off to get home!
Jordan was there before me. I ran in and washed my hands. I made chips, including extra for Riley. He’d had dinner but he comes to my house and thinks “food” 😂 He had a yoghurt pouch straight away followed by the majority of a packet of tomato wheels. When I got his high chair out he got excited. He had a fair few chips but shared some with Skye. I left a few on my plate and he pointed so he got those too 😂 We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Teletubbies. That bloody song has been like a earworm in my head all evening 🤦♀️ Riley can show you where his head is and where his nose is so I tried to teach him where his belly is. I think we were making progress when Jordan arrived to pick him up. I put my walking boots back on and went back to Garth Hall. I’d have an early finish though. I convinced myself of that. Talk about idiot!
I got there and decided I would go and see how Munchie and her lamb were doing. I went into the wall garden. I could see Neil sitting on the floor in the wellfield. He must have let Munchie out. I headed towards him but was distracted by a lamb crying. Crying from in the railway carriage. I followed the cries. There wasn’t a lamb there though 🤔 But I could still hear cries, from behind some old stacked up windows. I looked in and saw a tail. This tail had a black spot above it. Wonder! We hadn’t been able to find him all day. I couldn’t even reach him, he was in so far. I rang Neil, we moved the windows and got him out. He was taken back to his mother. Phew. Close call!
With them reunited, Neil went off to feed the ewes and Emma and I went to bag up the poo we had emptied out yesterday. The poo we had intended to bag up in the morning. It took a bit longer than we had hoped but two of us working got it done. There are 9 more packed for tomorrow. I collected my coat and took my phone out. Missed call from Neil. I rang him back, no answer. We started walking towards the slope. We saw him driving around at the top, assuming he was on his way down to pump water. He drove off though 🤔 We had to walk up to see what he was doing. He met us. “Are you sure she had twins? There’s only one now and she isn’t looking for another one!” We were dumbfounded. He then went off after another ewe. “This is new, its not hers it’s the twin!” We tried to find the photo of the lamb so to see if we could work out if it was the twin. Meanwhile Neil trapped the lamb, it was a ram so not the one we wanted 🙄 Emma was the one to have the💡moment. “It might have followed an ewe up when you were feeding.” Neil rode off. In the distance, silhouetted against the setting sun, I saw him pick up a lamb. The lamb we had been looking for 👏 It was a bit confused and was following him for ages. He finally got her to her Mam. I could finally go home. I’d been on the go 12 hours by then. Emma fed the chickens while I fed the ducks. Wonder was stuck in between the telegraph poles so he had to be rescued again 🙄 I took the eggs and left.
Poor Skye hadn’t had a lunchtime walk so she was desperate to go out. I had a quick shower then and some tea. I had to send Jordan my click and collect order too before I could do this blog. As I was having my cup a soup, Neil rang. “Number 3 is pushing Wonder away now.” That left us with one option. To be honest I was convinced this would happen. He took him to the barn, made him a bottle and he has become a pet lamb. I’ll feed him in the morning and before we leave. He’ll get an afternoon and evening feed so probably more than he was getting from his Mam. When he’s a bit bigger, we’ll train him on the bucket.
What a manic day!!!!!
Helen x
