Well the training seems to have worked.
Today we have moved all the sheep from the fields next to the barn. All the feet have been trimmed, all mucky bottoms clipped, and all the ewes dosed for worms... and any sore teats have been lubricated with vaseline... something that should work, as it was so brilliant in helping a wound on my face heal without leaving a scar, so in theory it should be perfect!
We kept 3 of our new mums aside to be placed in the field at West Burton, to help teach our 4 pet lambs how to be sheep, Holly with her two, Freckle with Daisy's brother and Willow with her little lad ... the same babysitter job that Millie and Maisy did for us last year........ sadly as they both suffered from mastitis they are no longer with us, but we do still have Millie's lambs Jonty and Totty of course!!
The Field training has worked a treat.... the 4 have been penned out in the main field every day this week, and are fully confident with the arrangement. The only difference now is that they have a trailer rather than the barn with a pen attached.... They travelled to their new residence in the back of the pick-up, I sat in the back with them.... Daisy, who has travelled before just climbed into my arms and went to sleep, while the other 3 bunched up together and were kept on their feet with a careful hand....
We had placed their yellow bucket filled with water in the pen, had hung their hay net and creep feed bucket from the back of the trailer, filled the back with straw and had placed their bale of hay inside for good measure, as they like to sleep on it...... everything looked familiar... so when Nigel unloaded them one by one and placed them in their new home, there wasn't even a murmur, they just started eating grass....... Daisy had a good look round and a bit of a reassuring rub of her face, as she's only 2 weeks old and is yet to start munching grass, although it won't be long...
We left them without a single sound being uttered! Job done, and worth the effort to prevent any anxiety! Tomorrow we'll put another rail on the pen... one that will allow lambs in and out but will prevent mums from getting in.... by then they'll know where they are safe.. especially if it rains.
Today we have moved all the sheep from the fields next to the barn. All the feet have been trimmed, all mucky bottoms clipped, and all the ewes dosed for worms... and any sore teats have been lubricated with vaseline... something that should work, as it was so brilliant in helping a wound on my face heal without leaving a scar, so in theory it should be perfect!
We kept 3 of our new mums aside to be placed in the field at West Burton, to help teach our 4 pet lambs how to be sheep, Holly with her two, Freckle with Daisy's brother and Willow with her little lad ... the same babysitter job that Millie and Maisy did for us last year........ sadly as they both suffered from mastitis they are no longer with us, but we do still have Millie's lambs Jonty and Totty of course!!
The Field training has worked a treat.... the 4 have been penned out in the main field every day this week, and are fully confident with the arrangement. The only difference now is that they have a trailer rather than the barn with a pen attached.... They travelled to their new residence in the back of the pick-up, I sat in the back with them.... Daisy, who has travelled before just climbed into my arms and went to sleep, while the other 3 bunched up together and were kept on their feet with a careful hand....
We had placed their yellow bucket filled with water in the pen, had hung their hay net and creep feed bucket from the back of the trailer, filled the back with straw and had placed their bale of hay inside for good measure, as they like to sleep on it...... everything looked familiar... so when Nigel unloaded them one by one and placed them in their new home, there wasn't even a murmur, they just started eating grass....... Daisy had a good look round and a bit of a reassuring rub of her face, as she's only 2 weeks old and is yet to start munching grass, although it won't be long...
We left them without a single sound being uttered! Job done, and worth the effort to prevent any anxiety! Tomorrow we'll put another rail on the pen... one that will allow lambs in and out but will prevent mums from getting in.... by then they'll know where they are safe.. especially if it rains.
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