A Market, twin lambs and house viewings

Today has been one of those days. I was booked to go to Botton Farmers Market, as always on the 3rd Saturday of the month.
As Frea was due to lamb on Monday, but has been looking very large and uncomfortable, we decided to pen her up yesterday, just to be on the safe side. Tim did the 4am check, nothing was happening, but when we went to feed and let the chickens out at 7am, Frea was very restless and not interested in her food. By the time we had fed up she was showing strong signs of giving birth. I made a cup of tea and took it to Tim in the barn and then went off to Botton, but not before ringing my fellow smallholder Jayne, asking her to pop over in case Tim needed help.
Well he certainly needed help! There were legs and heads in some very strange positions. So additional help was called on. Pete, one of the local farmers, was rung, just as he came in for his mid morning coffee, to come and help. He managed to sort the legs, heads and bodies out and quickly delivered Frea's twin tup lambs.

Frea with her lambs

The little lamb laid down, was the first to be delivered and he's a bit snuffly, so has been given a shot of antibiotics, he also has a "wonky" leg, due to weak ligaments. We know from experience that given a couple of days, it will sort it's self out. But all in all 2 very big, heavy lambs.
I came home from Botton Market early as we had a house viewing this afternoon, which took place, thankfully between the rain showers. But whilst Tim was dealing with Frea and her lambs, the estate agent rang to say that we have a viewing on Sunday afternoon as well. We are certainly getting viewings, which is good, especially as our smallholding is not being actively advertised by our estate agent. It's just on their web site and in their shop window. Let's just hope that sooner or later one of the couples that want to buy our smallholding can sell their respective properties.

Things happen when you have lunch....

Today I had a trip over to York for a dental appointment and as one of the Scotties was due to lamb tomorrow. Tim stayed at home to keep an eye on her.
He checked her at 10am and 12am, nothing happening so he decided to have some lunch. When he went out to check on her again at 2pm, a little head peered out from behind the ewe, followed by a 2nd head!

A pretty little gimmer lamb

A little tup lamb

Let's hope that the rest of the ewes lamb as easily as Missy and this Scottie have. Next ewe due is Frea on Monday so we will bring her into the barn on Friday to be on the safe side and we will be on lamb alert from Sunday.

A surprise delivery!

This morning when I went to let my chickens out and feed the ewes. Missy didn't appear for her breakfast and normally she is the first to be in the barn.
I saw her loitering by the shelter in the field with a very wet and bloody rear end and by her side was a lamb!
This young man was not due until Wednesday, or possibly Tuesday morning.
It took him a little while to get used to his extremely long legs and enormous feet, and we won't mention the ears

But on the whole he's doing well and tonight is trying to bounce around the pen he and his mum are in, in the barn. Though the weather is nice, I think he and his mum will be in the barn for a couple more days.
The next ewe is due on Thursday, so we will bring her into the barn tomorrow morning.

Getting Ready for Lambing

At the weekend we strawed and disinfected the barn down and built 7 pens to put the ewes in as they are due. A pen between the 2 hay racks - this can be a favourite one by the ewes as they can help themselves to the hay!

Here are the 4 main pens and the ones that will be used the most. Each pen is 6 x 6 giving the ewes plenty of space with their lamb(s).
First lambs are due on the 14th March by Missy. Who is looking as if she is only expecting a single lamb. But you can never tell.

Caution Wide Load....

This is the sign that should be put on the rear of quite a few of the ewes at the moment. They are certainly very wide. Missy is the first ewe due on the 14th March (which is 2 weeks on Wednesday), isn't looking too wide, so I suspect she is just having a single lamb, where as Frea (due 19th March) is very wide. I'm hoping it's because of the way the lamb(s) are laying, and not more than twins. Next week we will have to start and set up the lambing pens as the following week Missy, one of the Scotties and Frea will be penned up in readiness for them to lamb.
On Friday we finally collected our Mazda Bongo Camper van. It's everything we hoped for, the conversion is so professional and the 7 hour ride home was very comfortable. I can't wait to try it out.

Snow, flooding, cocktail party and a walk on the beech

It's been quite a week. We have had some snow, but nothing like what we had last winter and what some parts of the country have had this week. We've had about an inch of snow, if that, and the coldest we've been is -3.5, though the wind chill has made it feel a lot cooler.
On Saturday our friends Frayalyn and Mark, along with their dogs Lunil & Bill, came for the weekend. We had just sat down to Freyalyn's amazing currys, and I had popped back into the kitchen to retrieve some more naan breads, when I heard running water, and was faced with water running from the shower room into the passage and quickly spreading in the direction of the office and utility room. The tap connector to the sink had blown apart, hence all the water. Thankfully Tim has fitted all the sinks, bath and loos with water shut off valves, so he was able to turn off the water to this sink and we all left our curry's and armed with mops and towels, spent the next 15 minutes or so mopping up the water. Once most of the water had been mopped up we returned to the dining room to our curry's. Tim was first into the dining room and all we heard was him shout HOLLY!!!!!
She was helping herself to 3 plates of lamb curry!!!! Thankfully Freyalyn had made plenty so there was still plenty for the rest of us to eat. In our haste, and panic, we forgot that Holly is a rescue dog and despite being with us for the last 8 years, any unguarded food is fair game as far as Holly is concerned.
After the excitement of the flooding and curry eating dog, Freyalyn and I were invited to a Cocktail Party, one of my knitting club friends, Carol's birthday party, and of course we all had to take our knitting! It was a pleasant evening in good company and not too much alcohol was consumed, though it transpired that we were not the only ones who had, had to deal with a flooding, Carol too had to deal with a flood that morning.
This morning we woke up to a thaw, what ever snow we had, had gone, though where the snow had been walked on and had formed ice, the melting snow had made some of the yard into a skating ring, with Lunil & Deefa doing very good impersonations of Bambi on ice.
After our usual hearty breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, black pudding and toast, we went for a walk on the beech at Runswick Bay, low tide being mid-day, so we were able to have a good long walk. After the snow and ice we have had it was interesting to see how many new boulders there were on the beech, you could see where they had hit the sand and bounced down the beech.
Here are a couple of photos of a recent cliff fall, the seaweed, debris from the recent high tide. The dogs all seemed to enjoy their time on the beech, though Deefa did disgrace himself by having a go at Lunil. He really doesn't like the idea of any dog not walking close to their owners. He's a typical sheepdog, we should all be rounded up and walking nicely!!!!!
It's been a good week and hopefully next week we should be picking up the Camper Van.

Sheep pre-natal check up

As the first of our sheep is due to lamb on the 14th March, just over 5 weeks away. Now is the time we give the pregnant ewes their final pedicure, wormer and pre-natal check up. Thankfully, due to the mild weather we've been having recently, the ewes are in good condition, which considering their ages, ranging from 3 to 7+ years, is a good thing to see. Now is the time to start giving the ewes some feed concentrate, we give them one that is high is glucose to help against twin lamb disease, and by the time the majority of the ewes lamb at the end of March, they will be given a 1lb of feed each. We have been giving them some feed concentrate since we put the tup in. We always do, as it gives us a good chance to watch the ewes come to the feed troughs and we can quickly spot any problems as well as who's been covered by the tup. Now the feed troughs have been moved into the lambing barn to get the ewes used to being in the barn again as well as us moving amongst them, though as far as Allium is concerned, there is no way she is coming into the barn whilst we are there. She is like this every year, when she's in lamb!