Baby Lambs - Twins at that !

At last we had the sheep back again - five months after they 'escaped', and then were 'found', we had them back in our field. Hopefully, they had been serviced by the ram, and were pregnant. Our mentor on these matters, thought that they were but of course only time would tell, but we were ready. We modified, and repaired their pen, and checked the fencing. One big bonus was that the field had had time to rest and the grass was thick and green for them. We spent a long time just watching them from the gate. They seemed content at last.

The same couldn't be said for poor Arthur though. We had to take him back to the Vet. His sore wasn't getting any better, and he was keeping us awake at night by continually licking it. It got to the stage, that I had to move his bed right next to ours, so that I could put my arm out in the night, and  pacify him without getting out of bed ! This time, he had another injection and antibiotic tablets, but no diagnosis was made - maybe a bite, maybe an allergy, maybe an abscess ..... Anyway, two days later, we decided to try a different Vet, with a different view point. He shaved the area, inspected it under a magnifying light, and then prescribed cream and more antibiotics. This time, thank goodness, the treatment worked, and Arthur recovered, and I slept through the night again ! Needless to say, this is Arthur's new Vet !

When we fancy a trip out, we enjoy visiting Brest. It only takes us about 40 minutes to get there, and there are a lot of individual shops - as opposed to chains - and it makes a pleasant change. There is also a KFC there !! We didn't realise how much we would miss takeaways and junk food. We didn't eat that much of it back in the UK, but when it is not available, you want it badly - so, on the rare occasion we visit Brest, we stop off for a KFC - a real treat !

We hoped to make a concerted effort on the vegetable patch this year, so we asked our neighbour if he would plough the designated area for us as a start. He very obligingly did this, and I know it wasn't easy, even with the tractor, as it hadn't been worked for many years. It gives a huge psychological boost though to get a big job like this done. After a few days, he returned to rotavate it for us, and we managed to get some manure on it beforehand, so that it would be dug into the soil at the same time. The next step was to harrow it - listen to me with all these technical terms !

Three weeks after the sheep returned, we had twin lambs - it was very exciting ! Craig went to let them out of the pen one morning - we had made the decision to pen them at night, so that if they did give birth, they would be secure and warm - and the older of the two sheep looked very uncomfortable. He rushed back to the house, and called me to watch. Unfortunately it became evident very quickly that there was a problem, and the lamb was stuck. All those years of watching 'Countryfile' gave Craig the confidence to help deliver the lamb - at that point, we didn't know that there were two ! The first lamb very quickly recovered and the mother cleaned her. Everything looked great, until we realised that another was on the way. This time though, she delivered her second with no problems - strangely, or so I thought, standing up, so that the lamb just landed on the grass. We were the proud owners of two female twin lambs - they were so cute ! They became our responsibility too though - we had to dock their tails, put cream in their eyes, tag them etc etc.

One of our big headaches, is trying to keep on top of the grass cutting in the back field. Ideally, we would like to cut it ourselves, but as yet the tractor is not up and running, and it is really too much for the strimmer. Having goats is another idea, but not one that we really want to follow, so we wait until we see a farmer pass by with a topper on the back of the tractor, and ask if he would be prepared to help us out. Most times they have been very obliging, but it would be great to be able to do this ourselves.