Last year we got 7 'orphan' lambs from the mart, one died of rattle belly, one got eaten!! (by a badger I think) but think he had died first, another died of ........ something I cant spell this early in the morning, let me try Coccidiosis?
?? Well we think it was that. And the other four have grown into stonking great VERY tame hoggs. Two are wetherers so their destination this morning is the slaughterhouse and will return to the freezer, the two ewe lambs, we have decided to sell at the mart, they will have to go as feeding ewes today apparently but, well, thats the 'learning curve' for the year over. They were bordering on dangerous because as soon as they saw me (Mummy!) I would be nearly knocked flat in the field and with the other inlamb ewes, they would set off galloping, ewes following, so we thought they had better go rather than risk injuries or losses to lambs and ewes.
Hope we dont end up with orphans or triplets this year, but if we do, at least I know we are prepared for the hard work of rearing them, so to the four who have left this morning, I actually thank them for letting me learn SO much about them, and the 3 that didnt make it, I thank them too, for allowing me to realise just what can go wrong.
We are lambing late, 1st May as we are outside and waiting for much needed grass, but, I feel quite excited now for the next stage of learning in our sheep keeping!