Take Cover!!

Having basked for days in glorious sunshine the weather finally broke with a vengeance.

Yesterday we had to take cover from the sun it was so strong, as did our animals. Maude, one of the Ryeland lambs came back into the yard from the common and keeled over by the stables. Even to my untrained eye it was obvious something was seriously wrong. A close inspection revealed that she was infested with maggots, her back left leg was home to a mass of the crawly flesh eating fly larvae and untreated she would probably die. We were lucky she had the sense to return home as another day and she might have been a goner.

All the sheep had been treated for maggots last Friday, preventative treatment is routinely given. All were checked and clear two days ago, its best to do this especially if a period of hot weather follows a wet spell, it creates ideal conditions for the flies to lay their eggs on the backsides of the sheep, who being messy bottomed types usually have a load of pooh welded to their buttocks.

Clearly the prevention hadn't worked on Maude and she was being eaten alive by the wretched things. After a good trim with the scissors the maggots were revealed, there were hundreds of them in a writhing mass, we killed them with a mix of jeyes fluid and warm water. Once the wound was cleaned and much TLC given Maude returned to her usual self and stood in the feed bin bleating for her mother Rosie. We kept her under observation for 12 hours but in true Ryeland fashion was now more concerned about getting her stomach full than worrying about having backside like a baboon, on account we had sprayed it purple with antiseptic marker.

Happy to be reunited with her companions she is out in the rain that has just started sheltering under whats left of the trees in the lane.

The two characters lurking under the bush are Katy and Daffodil, they lie in wait and as soon as they sense the chance they will try to get in the cottage. Sheep are not stupid despite what people think. They know where its warmest and driest, but as that is where I am they are out of luck.