First Born in the Frost

Hot on the heels of Olive, and just as I suspected, Heather was next to give birth. I went to feed the lambs in the kitchen first thing this morning at looked outside at the pets as I always do. Some distance away, on the side of a hill, I saw a large white ewe lying down with little black things next to her. My first thought was that this was Rosie with her two lambs but the more I looked the more I doubted myself. Very quickly I realised Heather had had her lambs out in the frost.

I fed the lambs, threw on some outdoor clothes and took my camera to check on her. Sure enough there she was with two lambs. One of them was standing but the other was lying down. The one that was standing was good and strong but the one that was lying down was freezing cold. I snapped a few photos of the stronger lamb before deciding to bring the cold one into the warmth of the kitchen.

This bigger one is called Charles. He looks like he has a love-heart on his forehead.







The other one, little Craig, came around after an hour in the kitchen with a blanket around him and the heater blasting. I brought Heather and Charles into the shed and put warmed-up Craig along with them. But as the morning wore into afternoon, I noticed that Heather wasn't as interesting in Craig as she was in Charles. She wasn't standing for him to suckle and even sat down on him at one point! Thankfully I was able to get her up straight away and he wasn't harmed. But that decided it - he was coming into the kitchen! So he's there now, a good little sucker like his mummy was. Hopefully between us Heather and I can raise them both well.

I think Lois is going to lamb next. She was acting oddly in the field this evening so I brought her in but there were no real signs of lambing just yet. We shall see!