It was a horrible cold wet Friday... 21st March...
I went to check the barn as usual first thing in the morning then progressed round to feed Dudley and his harem on the Aysgarth road.... but where was Tuesday?
I fed them and then went to the top of the rise to see where she was....... nothing there...... then through the gate to the next part of the field which runs parallel to the road..... Oh no... not yet...
Tuesday was laying under the lea of the wall with a tiny new lamb under her chin. It clean but damp with rain and was curled up in a ball with its head drooped to one side and was shivering furiously. Not far away, still and cold, with a small hole in its birth membrane where its poor motionless little mouth had been cleaned, was a perfect lifeless 2nd lamb.
I ran back to the pickup, bombed home, made up a bottle of colostrum, hitched up the trailer and drove back as quickly as I could....... I picked up Tuesday's live lamb and all 3 of us walked briskly back to the open trailer....... Tuesday knew exactly what I was doing and followed without question... the trust we have built with her is worth all the time we have invested. I put the dead lamb in a sack.
We had a clean dry pen already prepared with straw, and after taking a good amount of warm colostrum they settled down......... but there was a problem, he was too early, too big for his skin and his long rabbit like legs weren't working properly, but Tuesday loved him.
I went back an hour later, picked "Oscar" up, balanced him with my forearm under his body and between each pair of legs and offered him Tuesday's teat.... bingo... he's a good sucker....... that's half the battle!
Each day I massaged his joints and tried to make him take his own weight. I fed him at every visit until one morning he decided to stand up for himself and feed from his mum.......
I went to check the barn as usual first thing in the morning then progressed round to feed Dudley and his harem on the Aysgarth road.... but where was Tuesday?
I fed them and then went to the top of the rise to see where she was....... nothing there...... then through the gate to the next part of the field which runs parallel to the road..... Oh no... not yet...
Tuesday was laying under the lea of the wall with a tiny new lamb under her chin. It clean but damp with rain and was curled up in a ball with its head drooped to one side and was shivering furiously. Not far away, still and cold, with a small hole in its birth membrane where its poor motionless little mouth had been cleaned, was a perfect lifeless 2nd lamb.
I ran back to the pickup, bombed home, made up a bottle of colostrum, hitched up the trailer and drove back as quickly as I could....... I picked up Tuesday's live lamb and all 3 of us walked briskly back to the open trailer....... Tuesday knew exactly what I was doing and followed without question... the trust we have built with her is worth all the time we have invested. I put the dead lamb in a sack.
We had a clean dry pen already prepared with straw, and after taking a good amount of warm colostrum they settled down......... but there was a problem, he was too early, too big for his skin and his long rabbit like legs weren't working properly, but Tuesday loved him.
I went back an hour later, picked "Oscar" up, balanced him with my forearm under his body and between each pair of legs and offered him Tuesday's teat.... bingo... he's a good sucker....... that's half the battle!
Each day I massaged his joints and tried to make him take his own weight. I fed him at every visit until one morning he decided to stand up for himself and feed from his mum.......
.............. And the day he skipped round the pen, we knew we were there!
This is Oscar this morning....
He is one of the biggest lambs we have as Tuesday is a brilliant mum......in fact he runs rings round her... he is always missing and can be found in a nice snug sheltered place, you just have to search round...
The day we put him out in the field we found him sunning himself under the wall. where it jinks round the corner... Dudley has strong genes!
This is Oscar this morning....
He is one of the biggest lambs we have as Tuesday is a brilliant mum......in fact he runs rings round her... he is always missing and can be found in a nice snug sheltered place, you just have to search round...
The day we put him out in the field we found him sunning himself under the wall. where it jinks round the corner... Dudley has strong genes!
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