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Lambing came and went –not without its
challenges! One ewe lambed somewhat earlier than expected-one of last year’s
tup lambs-luckily not the ewe’s son- had managed to retain parts of his
anatomy and left us a present. The real drama happened when Maisie lambed. She
produced twins: one strong strapping adventurous male and one weaker female
with breathing problems so that she could not bleat. Cutting a long story
short we brought Molly inside, put her in the bottom oven of the
Stanley-hypothermia is a huge problem for weak lambs- and set too with the
homeopathy. The books describe Carbo Veg as a “corpse reviver” and I certainly
won’t argue with that. She was lying flat out on her side, showing little
signs of life, but as I put a drop of the remedy into her mouth she picked her
head up and shook it. We continued to treat with Carbo Veg and Rescue Remedy
throughout the night, along with Aconite, Tungsten and Ant Tart.
Once daylight
came I was able to go milk her mother and we then managed to get milk into
Molly. After that I fell asleep in the lounge with Molly on my lap which was
fine until Nature took its course and the milk came out the other end. By
morning Molly was strong enough to put back in the pen with her mother and
brother. Her breathing was still rattly-harly as they say here-and so she was
carefully watched for the next few days and my fingers were well crossed when
I let them out of the pen. There was final twist to my adrenaline levels when
I checked the sheep early one morning to be met by Maisie bleating. My instant
reaction was “oh no, what has happened to Molly”. Nothing! Molly and brother
were still in bed and Maisie wanted to go off grazing but did not want to
leave them! Sounds familiar? Molly’s breathing ahs improved dramatically and
she has certainly discovered her bleat.
We finished up with 11 lambs- a lot of
big single tup lambs and when you think that they arrive with the horns
already protruding…The last cow to calve-Gemma-
produced a strong bull calf all by herself –a lovely surprise at 6am.
The final event for April was the visit from the man from the “Soil”. We duly passed with flying colours and the farm is officially organic and I have the certificate to prove it! It has been an interesting and enlightening journey so far and long may it continue. Plans for the future include buying a new bull and ram- mating fathers and daughters together is not a good idea, developing products from the sheep’s wool, setting up a supply chain south for the extremely tasty meat we produce, getting the farm onto the Soil Association’s list of organic farms open to the public and of course designing a web site for the farm. This is the final instalment of the diary. I hope that you have found it enjoyable and if you want to stay in touch please contact Sato. Once the web site is up and running I will let Sato know and she can then pass the details on.