Yummy 2012 Lamb!

Wow, its been so long since we wrote on this blog and such much has happened!

We had a lovely (but often wet) summer looking after the lambs as they grew and gradually over he autumn it was time for them to make the one way journey so that we could enjoy the fruits of our labour.

We used both local abattoirs but have found the one at Laverstoke Park Farm to be the best. It just seems nicer and they handle the animals better.

Below are some pictures of the fantastic meals we had.....

Snakes Alive!

A few weeks ago, Damian went down to the field and saw a 3ft grass snake! It seems they don't harm lambs so no worries there. Hopefully they can exist together with no problems!!



It Has Been a While...!

I have been really slack updating this blog and need to do it more regularly!

Anyway after Cheeky passed away, we lost two more lambs within a couple of days which was quite sad - Limpy and Bambi who to be honest had probably been the two weakest lambs since they arrived.The vet diagnosed Coccidia and we have treated our remaining 17 sheep with Vecoxan. Rosie and another small lamb that for some reason I have taken to calling Matilda (even though it is a boy) continued to scour for a while and needed regular re hydration mixes. All does seem well now although they continue to be the smallest of the lambs.

The whole flock are now out in the big field. Often it is hard to find them in the long grass (see below pic) until we start shaking the creep bucket!

On the subject of creep feed, they love their daily ration and anybody with the bucket is mobbed and pushed and pulled until they get it, below is a video of Jess being chased around the field!

RIP Cheeky

This morning, when I went to the field early to check up on things, Cheeky, our little black lamb had passed away. He was a real character when we first got him, always pushing and shoving the others to get to milk and food. He has been poorly on and off for a few weeks and it is really sad to loose him in this way.....

Cheeky the Lamb

Mixed Fortunes...

It has been a month since my last post and quite a bit has happened since then!

During several weeks of non stop rain, our field turned into a swamp and it was impossible to get much work done on fencing. We kept having to extend both paddocks in various directions to ensure the lambs had enough grass (the babies being weaned now). A couple more went down with mild bloat but seemed to recover. Our limper continued to limp but did not seem to bothered about it.

A Very Wet Weekend

A week since the last post and quite a lot has happened.

We had a bit of a scare at the beginning of the week when our black lamb who to date had been the most boisterous and greedy went off his food and cowered at the back of the shelter. Some research pointed to bloat, a condition often fatal to young lambs. The most common remedy seemed to be 40ml of cooking oil which surprisingly he seemed to enjoy and also seemed to fix him!

The rain continued through the week and the field became extremely muddy resulting in the car getting stuck on Friday (thank you to the RAC for towing out) and a lake forming outside the field.

Saturday saw more wind and rain but a few things needed attending to despite the weather. We moved the bigger lambs shelter and trough out into the main field and closed off their smaller paddock to let it recover ready for the little ones moving in.

Lamb Cam....

Not really a lamb cam, but a link to my You Tube playlist of all the lamb videos.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7850323B74DCEAE6