Rough with the Smooth

[Hen-Gen]

Lambing huh! Last year I got twelve lambs from four ewes. One died soon after being born but the other eleven all thrived.
Two weeks ago one ewe aborted its lambs. Today the first one to lamb correctly gave birth to one lamb. I then noticed a pair of hind feet protruding from her so wrestled her to the ground and eased out another lamb. Fortunately it was alive and strong. However she did not seem to settle as ewes usually do so grabbed her again this afternoon and felt around and was able to extract a third lamb but this time dead. I’m angry with myself for not checking earlier. She’s now up on her feet and the other ewes are checking out their new flock mates. Hopefully all will be well from now on.

 

[Marigold]

Oh dear, how distressing. How many ewes have you got, HenGen?

 

[bigyetiman]

It happens Hen-Gen, our neighbour's ewe had a lamb and didn't settle, then she wandered about seemingly ok. Then next time we checked she had a lamb stuck which died shortly after birth. Luckily all was well after that and that was the only fatality amongst the flock of 60 ewes.
But you do kick yourself

 

[Hen-Gen]

Oh dear, how distressing. How many ewes have you got, HenGen?

I have five sheep Marigold. That’s enough to give me all the castrated male lamb I can eat plus a bit for some landless neighbours.
And then some ewe lambs to give to a crofting neighbour to see how they cope under commercial conditions. I did once sell an entire male lamb to a crofter up the hill. I notice that he still has him four years on and also that according to market reports he has got the highest lamb prices he has ever had at Lerwick Marts. Of course he would never tell me that himself because compliments aren’t part of Shetland culture though just once up the bar when he was drunk I overheard him say to an off- islander that ‘despite being English he breeds a good ram.’
But the real reason I keep these five sheep is a blend of stocking my freezer, keeping pets and exploring some aspects of sheep genetics.
I mentioned before that I have booked a Whitefaced Woodland ram for this backend which a neighbour is picking up for me on his ram buying foray down south. He will be coming from Edale which is a village about 3 miles from where I lived (Castleton) before moving here. I’d never met the breeder nor did I know of a famous flock of these so near to me. I take it as a good omen.