a girl a crook and lambs tales

The sheep arrived eight months ago - eight shetland ewes and one little boy wether. Soon they were joined by another eight ewes from a friends flock. Thomas the tup was purchased and introduced to the ladies in November. We now join the story here as the first of the little ones arrive and I start my journey on a long steep learning curve.

Friday, 13 April 2012

Tam moves out!!

A few days ago we took Thomas our tup and his liitle pal Iggy ( named by my little great nephew) to another grazing field. He was getting a bit bossy and I thought that the ewes needed some piece and quiet. Loading two sheep into the back of Hugh's van was not an easy task - we really must get a proper trailer some day soon. Initially they were going to share a field with Becky the horse but unfortunately all Becky wanted to do was chase them round the field. So in the end they have a field to themselves and seemed quite happy when we left

On Thursday we saw the arrival of another two tup lambs - that's four boys and one girl. We need more girls !!! These wee ones have been giving some cause for concern. They are very tiny and initially were not feeding. The ewe was looking after them but they just had no clue how to suck. Eventually one got the hang of it but I soon  realised that I would have to tube feed the other one. Thankfully Pam had taught me how to do this last year but this time she wasn't there to keep me right. To make things worse it was now dark so the whole procedure was done by car light. What a relief this morning to find them still alive beside Mum. They seem to be feeding now. Strangely these tiny lambs smell just like babies - that sweet milky smell. They poo like babies too.......ha ha !!

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