18 March 2020

Christopher & Friends

Before evening feeding yesterday I managed to get a few photos taken of life in the lambing shed as it currently is. Heather and her son Charles are doing very well. She's devoted to him - I saw her lying down with him in front of her and her chin resting over his back. It was very cute! I managed to catch this moment on camera too:





You'd almost think he was embarrassed! "Not in front of Ruth, mum!"

My pet sheep lambing started with very bad luck, which then turned into good luck, and now it's medium luck. Heather wasn't fussed about her second lamb, Craig. He was smaller and not as strong as his brother. I bottle fed him for a couple of days but he took a bad infection and despite my best attempts he didn't make it.

Meanwhile Lois had twins, but one of them, a ewe, was dead. One of those things that doesn't really have an explanation. The little boy is alive and seems well, and he's called Christopher. He's finely built, even by newborn sheep standards, but Lois is doing her best for him. I'm hoping to get them both outside into the field soon.

It was quite dark in the shed so these photos aren't the best but this is him:





Lois's next door neighbours are my current (and growing) collection of pet lambs. A couple that really stand out for me (and not just because of their colour) are Ivy and Edith, two little Suffolk/Mule crosses whose mother didn't have milk for them. Ivy was born with ingrown eyelashes that cause her some irritation. This is very common amongst lambs and is something she will grow out of. I just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get any worse.



Her sister Edith is fine.



Keeping all of these pet lambs going is a full-time job! It's not quite at the stage yet where it's a pleasure to feed them. They still need to be held by someone else so they don't drop the teat all the time.



Christopher again.







A Mule and her babies.



A gorgeous Suffolk/Kerry Hill cross ewe lamb. A keeper for sure!





Olive's twins.



Charles. He has such a funny face!



Chloe.





Colin.



Just waiting on Penny to have her babies now...

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