Day 8 - spring lambing 2012

For those who are keeping a close eye on Badgers diary, we now have the promised information from Joel who I mentioned yesterday who is a bit of an expert on how we have ended up with such a beautiful little girl! Here is what he has told us - "the lamb inherits two alleles – one from each parent. The alleles that carry the code for deciding the colour of the lamb will each carry the code for a different colour. However, only one colour can be dominant – the other is recessive. We call these the dominant and recessive genes. Some colours, such as black, are carried in the recessive gene, so the lamb will have to inherit two recessive genes to actually be born black, because if another colour is present that is carried in the dominant gene, this will ‘overpower’ the black recessive gene. So, basically, if black runs in the recessive gene, for a lamb to born black it will have to receive recessive black genes from both parents". Thanks Joel!

Another busy day, we had a lovely school visit this morning from Woodcote Primary School, they saw a lamb being born and our little triplets who are doing really well. They also met Badger too who seemed very happy to be stroked. Badger had to undergo her necessary 'tailing' today, which involves putting a rubber ring on her tail so that it falls off. This helps prevent nasty things like 'fly strike', a real problem in the summer months. Flys lay their eggs on the lambs and if they still have their tail they are more at risk. Have a look at the video, poor Badger, but she was soon up on her feet.

The sheds are just a wonderful place to be at the moment with the sun streaming in, long may this weather continue. Our other job today was putting more lambs outside, one of our favourite jobs!

More tomorrow.