After checking all the animals last night, and witnessing Dixies delight to see Nigel this week, we went over to North Walden to check on the spained ewes and Sunshine the late lamb... he was bouncing around like Tigger, but his mum was standing at the top of the field instead of mixing in with the flock...
Sunshine went up to get her.. and she trotted down, but on inspection of her udder it was a bit red, and Sunshine had a smudge of red on his nose... he has obviously been a bit rough and has caused a sore... trouble is that when a lamb does this it can lead to mastitis if the udder isn't used properly... ewes tend to kick a lamb off a teat that feels wrong so it becomes a vicious circle.
After a little chasing we left them and I went up the hill on my own with a bucket... they all have trust issues with Nigel unfortunately... when mum put her head in the bucket I carefully grabbed her and shushed her... she submitted immediately, getting a bit frisky when Nigel came to take over, but we had to check her.... While Nigel milked her out, I went for the trailer and some antibiotics... by the time I returned we managed to pop her into the trailer after and injection and some spray to stop any infection.... but catching Sunshine was another matter.......
His 12 aunts have taught him well... he is a confident wick little boy,... and we had more chance of catching an elephant in Bishopdale last night than catching him... he's a big bold, healthy lad, so we released his mum and will take pens up later tonight and try again!!... we need to get them both inside in case mum does develop mastitis because Sunshine will need to learn to take a bottle.... he's not quite a month old and has a little way to go before he's big enough to wean.
Sunshine went up to get her.. and she trotted down, but on inspection of her udder it was a bit red, and Sunshine had a smudge of red on his nose... he has obviously been a bit rough and has caused a sore... trouble is that when a lamb does this it can lead to mastitis if the udder isn't used properly... ewes tend to kick a lamb off a teat that feels wrong so it becomes a vicious circle.
After a little chasing we left them and I went up the hill on my own with a bucket... they all have trust issues with Nigel unfortunately... when mum put her head in the bucket I carefully grabbed her and shushed her... she submitted immediately, getting a bit frisky when Nigel came to take over, but we had to check her.... While Nigel milked her out, I went for the trailer and some antibiotics... by the time I returned we managed to pop her into the trailer after and injection and some spray to stop any infection.... but catching Sunshine was another matter.......
His 12 aunts have taught him well... he is a confident wick little boy,... and we had more chance of catching an elephant in Bishopdale last night than catching him... he's a big bold, healthy lad, so we released his mum and will take pens up later tonight and try again!!... we need to get them both inside in case mum does develop mastitis because Sunshine will need to learn to take a bottle.... he's not quite a month old and has a little way to go before he's big enough to wean.
RSS Feed
