Last night we were in two minds about whether it was definitely time to bring our three early lambing ewes in. We don't always bring ewes in to lamb, but we've got these three in lamb early, because originally we had thought we might do some showing this year. That's another story, but because it's so early and the year so far has been so wet, they do need to come into our small, precious, under cover space to lamb.
I won the toss and we did bring them in yesterday. This morning, when Neil went down to do the jobs before church, he was met with the first lamb!
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| a lovely, leggy, little ewe lamb |
So that was a good call! She was a first time mother and had just got on and sorted everything out herself. Oxfords really are very unfussy sheep and grand mothers.
Unfortunately, as he set off up the field, he found another extra sheep! This time a little Welsh Mountain ram lamb, not ours at all!
Local investigations led us to discover that the 'tack sheep' (a large group of sheep from higher or wilder areas, wintering down in the lowlands and tended by a local contract shepherd) had become infected with a virus which blinds them! And this little fella had lost his friends, panicked, and happened upon our little flock.
From a biosecurity point of view, it's less than ideal, but we understand the virus was environmental, and shouldn't affect ours. He didn't come into contact with them, anyway.
Unbelievably we did manage to get to church, and are now trying to have a bit of a restful day, though of course, night checks are now go!
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