Farm Diary continued (6)
29th March 1999
I haven't done anything more to the last page.
These pages will be fairly rough notes over the next couple of weeks, just
to keep people in touch. (Incidentally, if you do read this it would be nice
to get some feedback). It's good to make a record, as, judging by previous
years, the memory of the lambing weeks turns into a bit of a blur.
I thought I'd put a picture of the young stock in the woods here, as they've
been a bit left out.
Saturday was a beautiful day, and the young chicks were happily running out in the field. Two more lambs born.
Thomas and Mary came home after lunch, so we left them to do the midnight check and went to bed early.
It was a cold night, with the moon shining brightly through wispy clouds and very peaceful at 3.00am when I went to check the sheep. The cows, in the opposite side of the shed, make the most peculiar snorty, snorey, groany noises.
Then James went to check the chickens and found thirteen dead. Disaster.Phoned Jo and Richard, who were also dismayed.
It was an icy cold day with the wind blowing from the South-East, which is the worst direction for us, blowing straight up the valley. We kept the chicks in all day and they seemed happy enough.
Last night I was relaxing with Mary and James called that there was a sheep having twins, and two dead chicks.
Ended up with the sheep having one lamb and one shrivelled dead foetus (when
she'd been scanned we could see that one lamb was much bigger than the other).
We were out in the wind and the rain tacking up plastic sheeting over all
the ventilation holes that faced the wind and then putting down more straw.
There was one more dead while we did that. They pile on top of each other
and the one underneath can get squashed (by squashed I mean really flat, like
something from Tom and Jerry). We seem to have cured the problem as there
have been no more casualties. We both feel rather bad about it, as it shouldn't
have happened if we'd realised what even a small draft could make them do.
They are funny little things to watch,chirping all the time, rather ugly,
as they've just lost their baby fluff and their feathers are only just growing.
Vera and the other sheep don't look as pretty as usual as they're given molasses in late pregnancy, and they get it all over their faces.
I woke James at 1.am as there was a problem with one of Vera's lambs having a blocked anus. We managed to clear it, and gave it a couple of soapy water enemas, which helped. It looked much more comfortable when I checked it sometime later. (I'd originally thought it was having a fit, it was thrashing about, so.) James took it in to the vet this morning and she gave it a gut relaxant. It stands a fifty/fifty chance of survival, apparently.
We're having to check the sheep a little more frequently than usual as one of them prolapsed quite badly, and instead of just having a plastic prolapse 'spoon' in, which they can lamb over, she is all trussed up. If it wasn't that her wool hides most of the strapping she'd look like a bondage freak. She'll need unstrapping as soon as the lamb starts to come out.
