It was the last Thursday of the month yesterday, so it was Quiz night at the Bolton Arms in Redmire... our normal quizmaster, Leon, has not been so well over the last few months, and we miss his bonkers format and humor.... and hope you are fully on the mend Leon!!!! .. but we are lucky to have a stand-in if required... the lovely Terry from Naylor Myres in Leyburn.... very different in style, very challenging and he's very strict.. no clues or anything!...  what a good night we had........ even with a "Play the Joker" twist....Ooohhh the excitement! HA!  .... anyway I'll say this quietly... our team Cheryl, Ian, Nigel and me... we won..... Hurrah! very satisfying as we are hopeless at the dingbat round.... 

Went to bed feeling smug... up at 4.00 with nothing to report... and then a lovely surprise in the post this morning.... Nigel called up and said... "There's a parcel from Ann... shall I bring it up??"  Cheeky.. he's just nosey!  I declined!! "no later"!! Tee hee 

I have a really good friend in Hampshire, living in the same village some years ago and working together in our local social club where Ann was the steward and where I helped behind the bar.  Friday night was our regular session and we had such a good time, neither of us being backwards in coming forwards to put it politely. It became one of the best nights of the week and was always a late one....... closing the club on time then chatting for a couple of hours afterwards while we cashed up and chewed the fat...... as I remember 2.00 a.m. was a regular bedtime on a Saturday morning.....  couldn't do it now!!

I went downstairs for breakfast to find a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.. its not my birthday... or Easter... or anything special to celebrate... so very intriguing!  I tore it open.... inside was a box and inside the top was a one cup tetley teabag and a little envelope.... with "Saw this and thought of you"!!........ I unfolded the bubble wrap to reveal this delightful little mug........... Oh Ann thank you so much... its just beautiful.. and is now full of tea... the picture reminds me of Mitsie and Dixie last year.. compare the pic above.... although Mitsie would never let on that she might actually smile, she's far too superior and aloof for that sort of thing!...... its Peerrrfect! xxxxx

After yesterdays little glitch, everyone is fine in the barn today... both sets of twins are looking great and the first mum is back to her normal hungry self.

Tibby must have tripled in weight, when I picked her up this morning, the first time since Monday, the difference is staggering..... its about time they went outside actually but today is not the day..... we've had sun, some really heavy showers and hail so far..... Sunday is forecast to be nice so we might put them at the top of the Home field as the gate can be shut to keep them in and there is an old shed where they used to lamb before the barn was kitted out so there is shelter if needed... and its over the wall from Jame's house at the top so he can keep an eye on them!

Margaret joined the inside flock yesterday and has integrated back in, they all know each other so it didn't take long for the pecking order to reestablish.. ..

Now its more waiting and watching as there are more mums due, with the Jacob fit to burst...... will report any other events as and when.... so keep checking in!

First of all Margaret is much improved, she is up on her feet and eating again, and although she is puffing and blowing a bit, she isn't looking glazed any more. Once Nigel gets back later we will pop her in with all the other ewes.

Now when I arrived at the barn this morning, I had a quick look round to see if any of the ewes were lambing... there were none.. so I fed the two mums and Margaret in the pens and then took Melody's and the teenagers up the road and into their field..... they are so well trained.. I listen to make sure there is no traffic and then open the floodgate.... they bound up the road and verge, leaping and skipping for joy... I love it!,.... breakfast is served in the trough for most and with Melody's head in the bucket for hers while I stroke her and tickle her ears!

Next the ewes get their breakfast so they are out of the way at one end as it makes it easier to quickly do their water with the door open, then usually the hay is distributed... but not this morning.. 

As I changed the water in the pens I noticed that one of the latest twins seemed to have fallen over...... I watched...... no he hadn't fallen over, he was in some distress... writhing in the straw, then getting up, rubbing his side on the fence, and then twisting up before laying on his side and kicking his legs about again...... 

I picked him up and gently felt his tummy... he was full of milk and showed no sense of pain when I massaged him..... I checked his bottom.. he was clean as a whistle.. I stroked his underside from top to bottom... then checked the strength in his back legs... he seemed fine, then did the same from nose to tail on top... then I put him back with his mum as she was concerned about what I was doing and watched again.... he continued with this strange behavior...

No one had their hay and Dudley would have to wait.... I put him in the foot-well of the car and drove to Bainbridge.  He squirmed about all the way there, a 15 min drive... I went into reception at the vets and spoke to Davinia... Amy, another vet, would have time to help me so I got him out of the car.... she was so nice... examined him from top to toe, felt his stomach and his spine, tested the strength in his legs. She was much firmer that I'd been, much more confident, well she knows what she's doing!! Probably a bit of colic she said or could be a spinal abscess.. she put him on the floor and watched.. he stretched out his back legs uncomfortably as if trying to relieve something and toppled over of the slippery lino... She gave him 2 injections.. one for each diagnosis..... gave me two for the weekend in case he needs more and I returned to the barn.... he was better in the car actually... yawned at me a couple of times (with stress I thought) and sat quietly with his legs tucked under him all the way home.. 

Him mum was delighted to see him..... everyone got the rest of their breakfast.. although it was brunch by then and when James turned up I told him what had happened...... 
"All bunged up aye?....Haven't seen that in years" he said.... "Used to give 'em caster oil you know... won't 'urt 'em... just clears 'em Out!" 
"Have you got any?" I asked ............"No" !!
         ........ so I'm glad I'd been to the vet!!  

When I left the barn he was settling down with his brother having had a nice warm drink...... no more writhing..... just needed a sleep!

Nigel got home in time to come on the evening rounds to feed and check the stock... the lambs were fine.. the mums to be were all fed.... Melody's gang were brought in from their field for tea, and we loaded up to feed Sammy's field and Dudley's gang...

Sammy and her lot came over to the troughs and tucked in, but casting a beady eye road the perimeter of the field showed Margaret, half way down the wall on the edge, and not making a single move to join in the feast......

We went over.... she's one of Nigel's favorites, which is why she's called Margaret... think she reminds him of someone!!!...... she looked glazed, so while I stroked her and kept her calm, he went for the trailer....

She got up and went in without any problem, and we drove her to the barn to put her in a quiet pen.... we treated her with calcium and and antibiotic, then tried to get her out of the trailer..... it wasn't easy as she didn't want to get up... we carefully slid her out... she's a big sheep being a texdale, so it took come muscle.. but eventually got her settled on some dry straw with a dull light so she could see where she was.....

We have just been back...... she hasn't stood up yet, but her ears are pricked, her eyes are bright and she is chewing her cud..... 100% better than at 5.30...... I really thought we might loose her... Nigel will do the midnight call and I fully expect her to have eaten the nuts we've left and to have had a drink.... Phew!

We won't put her out again even though she has 3 weeks to go before lambing so she'll be put in with the other waiting mums for an easy life and some TLC.

We had a lovely start to lambing this weekend, with a further set of twins early on Monday morning..... nothing had been showing at 4.00 but when Nigel went in to check on the way to work at 7.45 there they were......

I went to the barn after breakfast, to feed and water everyone, picked them up and lead our second mum with her 2 boys to a clean pen next to our first mum..... who incidentally has not been very well really... 

She had eaten and drank very well after the birth but later that day had decided to just sit down... when we asked her to get up she was stiff and uncomfortable. We gave her an injection of antibiotic...... and later thought that perhaps if she was feeling rather bruised inside, it might be advisable to also give her some anti-inflammatory too.... the next day she still wasn't showing much interest in food or in drinking,,, the lambs were on the go but we gave them a top up with a bottle to make sure they were warm and fed, they both took to that immediately. They were also both insistent at grasping which ever teat was showing from their mums sitting position, latching on and sucking for England..... although she wasn't showing signs of moss (calcium deficiency) (sometimes sheep can be suffer from low blood sugars) we gave her some calcium for good measure......... 2 hours later she was much more lively, less lethargic was showing signs of protection towards her lambs, eating hay and drinking water and the lambs had obviously brought her into milk as they were both full to the gunnels and very sleepy........ she is much better now, eating a few nuts, nibbling some roots and gently eating hay... but not quite as perky as we'd like..... the lambs are full and starting to bounce about.......

Nothing else to report just yet..... so I'm off to see if the camera battery will charge and then post a picture so you can see what I'm talking about...!!

........... ah here we are...... small relaxed young lady... called Tibby.. she has lovely brown tips to here ears... and her rather more inquisitive brother...!!!

After winning the rugby... Hurrah!!...... we have just been back to check on the new arrival...... and great news... "She" has a little brother..... mum is all cleansed and both lambs and mother are looking fed and happy!  

Now begins 6 weeks of 4.00 am visits.... and lots of early nights for me!

We did the final touches to the maternity unit this afternoon, water buckets at the ready, all pens bedded with clean dry straw, and all the racks full of fresh sweet hay.... we removed a lame ewe from Ashford's field in the afternoon as she seemed to be showing signs of her udder bagging up early, treated her feet and popped her in the barn with the first lamers. There was some jostling for position with a new sheep in the flock, but that will sort out soon enough. 

After some running repairs to fences at Newbiggin, retrieving the final lost hurdles we need for pens (what is it about grabbing the first thing that comes to hand??)...... we fed all the sheep at the barn, brought Peewee's lot in for the night then drove back to West Burton, feeding Sammy and Smudges flock on the way past and then did the same for Dudley's on the Aysgarth road... we got home around 4.30. just in time to start watching the rugby England v Ireland..... we had set to record earlier!........ then settled down for the rest of the evening...

One of the ewes in the barn had seemed quiet in one corner when we fed them but she had tucked in.... we made a note to check her later...... however James had been for a look at 4.45 and had got straight on the phone... there was news!!

Our first lamb of the season has been born..... just a single... but up and running with a nice loud voice...... I picked it up and lead mum to a nice clean pen, gave her a drink and some nuts and root beet in a bucked (really helps with milk production)  and stood back to watch... she was ravenous..... ate lots and then made sure that junior was getting a good suckle too...... in the excitement I didn't check to see which *variety* it is but I'll have a look later and let you know...... we're back for a spag bol now and then we'll go back to double check that they are OK in an hour or so......  after watching the match!!

Dudley's gang, over on the Aysgarth road, have the use of an old hay rack that was constructed years ago.  It is essentially made from 2 old single bedsteads, you know the ones that were wired in a metal frame, long before pocket springs and divans were even invented..... someone has welded cross bars and uprights to hold it together  so it stands up without unbalancing and falling over..... recycling for practicality and cost decades ago when necessity was the mother of invention and the word wasn't so trendy.

Sunshine, our late lamb from last summer is part of Dudley's gang this winter, he is perfectly accepted, but is rather low in the pecking order so is sometimes persuaded to move along with a look or the promise of a but!  At the hay rack there is room for all 12 sheep to feed around it, but Sunshine has worked out a way of avoiding his discipline!!

I had wondered why I kept finding poo in the middle of the rack when all the hay had been eaten, and yesterday found the answer...... Sunshine can fit in the inverted triangle at the end of the rack and instead of being shoved from pillar to post now makes his way into one, and climbs up over the hay I have packed into it... he stands on top like a "king of the castle" and munches his way though as much hay as he wants... when he has had his fill he simply just jumps down and there isn't a thing anyone can do about it...... Clever boy!

On Tuesday morning Nigel and I whizzed round all the sheep first thing in the morning as I had to be in Leyburn for my Lambing Course at 10.00 sharp.

6 of us were there, some with no experience of lambing at all, some with a little, and 2 gentlemen who had more than most.

We started with a slide show and a cuppa, giving information of the how to do thing and how not to do things, including hygiene standards for both us and the animals, and then we all washed our hands and went out into the yard for the practical part of the course......... and much the most informative!!

Davinia, our vet, had a large wooden box lined in plastic, with a whole the size of a large saucer in one end and a addition of a screen attached above it..... a mock sheep if you will... all our training was to be done blind with the help of 2 deceased lambs...... which were in a large bucket of water...... just defrosted I think... 

With our arm length yellow gloves we were each given a normal presentation to "feel" and deliver through the whole using only one gloved hand...... that all went very well......

Next we were shown how to use a head snare, a wire devise for assisting in difficult births..... its loop slips over the head of a lamb, so that it fits at the back of the head in a normal presentation, then the ears are flipped through it too and then it is tightened up to the open jaw with a slider so that it can't move, but prevents strangulation...... very clever.... it gives purchase to the lamb but leaves room to manipulate without the added constriction of your hand... allowing some easing and some assistance when a ewe strains...... It can also be attached into a jaw and with the slider and the back of the head for assisting if your lamb has its head back... well that's the theory anyway...... 

We were also instructed in the use of lambing ropes, and glucose injections and were presented with as many awkward deliveries and multiple deliveries as could be mustered... giving us all a taste of what can happen, and how to sort out potential issues as and when they arrive.... all of course by touch with one hand........

The key seemed to be...... Don't panic... give yourself time...... as long as the lambs are inside then they are safe for the time being giving you thinking space... and now a bit more confidence to do what is required rather than the mild panic I have suffered from in the past with a call for Nigel to come and do the business....... This year I hope to be able to do much more!!

Thank you to all concerned for a brilliant day!

We have spent the whole day getting the barn ready for lambing which starts some time next week... the nursery was all cleared & disinfected this afternoon and is drying out ready for the pens to be constructed.. We have reclaimed all the components from their various other uses.. A big bale of straw has arrived together with another of fresh hay........ The wire racks have been rounded up too and we have invested in some hay nets for all the additional pens we'll need later.... Just the water buckets to collect, the reclaimed crystalix containers to wash out for feed and we are ready!! 

The first batch of ewes are inside at night and out in home field when the weather allows....... today has been glorious with the first warm sunny day in ages...... they have all loved being outside in the fresh air.... in fact Melody and her gang are staying out tonight for the first time in ages... they are in the field next to the barn so there has been much conversation with them all day... Melody particularly..... she likes to chat if she can hear me close by... neither of us know what the heck we are talking about but we both ramble on endlessly to each other!! I'm preparing her old pen to look just as it was when I raised her last year, as she is in lamb and I want it all to look familiar for her.... ok I know its a bit over the top for a sheep but think how you'd feel??

I have a lambing course at the vets in Leyburn on Tuesday, I hope to have the confidence to assist with any difficult births this year as over the last 3 seasons I've felt rather useless when something serious has been required. I'll have a much better idea of what I'm doing, and hopefully won't feel so nervous about it!