Growing problem

Our strange weather took another turn towards winter this morning so nothing got done outdoors until a full cooked and several cuppas. Finally the sleet stopped and the sun came out allowing some progress to be made in addressing a growing problem, the pigs.

These chubsters are now 20 days old and taking more room each day. We need an ark to house them and mum, not the floaty type but a bomb proof wooden house that stays dry and has room for a large quantity of pork. Based around two pallets which refused to be the same size in any way except in height, this construction will keep them off the floor, a rubber mat will cover the pallet slats, and out of the wind, rain and sun. Sections are ready to be moved to the new pig pen (where the fish farm was) in the morning when we hope to rehouse mum and piglets with minimum of fuss. This is likely to be quite entertaining as seven piglets unleashed on the smallholding will no doubt have their own sense of direction. I had a lot of help making the ark, the pocket rocket felt he had to inspect every aspect of construction.

Good news on the lamb chop front, Izzy, the small creature taken from death's threshold yesterday, was alive and well this morning and reunited with Springtime and her brother, Audi, in the sheep pen. Hourly checks have been in place to make sure they continue to thrive, Audi has no sense of direction and needs help finding the milkbar.

Friday the 13th

The reason why Springtime, not Easter, was so gigantically massive became very apparent this morning when I did the rounds. My initial feeling of joy was followed by an immediate sinking feeling as Springtime ran along the runway to get breakfast followed by a solitary lamb. Given her size she had to have had twins, where was the second. Having fed and fought off the rest of the greedy flockers I spotted a crumpled blob of white motionless on the hard concrete floor. Not good, the lamb was freezing cold (we had a frost) but the last vestiges of life were refusing to leave so I stuffed it into my jacket and was about to fetch help from my beautiful and oh so patient wife who was feeding and watering the infant when I saw another lamb lying on the straw in the shelter. This lamb was massive, dead massive, the birth sac had not cleared its nose and it suffocated, not far away was another not quite so big but equally dead lamb, this one with no sign of cause of death, just lifeless. Panic set in, were there two ewes that had given birth? A quick check of the lined up backsides (the fronts were hoovering up breakfast)revealed that only one had given birth and she had had all four. This is unusual, especially in a breed that almost always has one large lamb, rarely has two, but four!

The lamb in my jacket was now needing urgent attention, days gone by we would have stuck it straight in the rayburn but since its forced demise I stuck the lamb in a box on the cookers plate warmer with two hot water bottles and an angle poise lamp for good measure. While that was taking effect I milked Springtime to get the vital colostrum milk for the ailing lamb.
The one with mum was now feeding, good news. The one on the cooker was responding well to the heat and took 25ml of the milk. This was followed by several other small feeds and at this point it is snoozing in the kitchen under a heat lamp while the one with mum is warm and cosy in a deep straw bed. Hopefully both will be with us in the morning.





The journey to work was also eventful, and very productive. A ewe was on her back in one of the militias fields so I did the decent thing and tipped it the right way up. It was very grateful and no doubt will name one its lambs after me. Not too much further down the road I got over 30kg fresh of venison thanks to a driver who was obviously vegetarian and left the victim of their sudden meeting for me to pick up.

Gentlemans excuse me!

Crispen was caught taking liberties at the breakfast table with Springtime.

Thinking she was otherwise engaged he sought to have his wicked way with her.
Springtime had other ideas and showed she was not such a captive audience for the randy rams advances and after a quick up and over
she managed to finish breakfast with her honour intact.