Wednesday 26 January 2011

198%!






















What a couple of weeks - wow! As I write our beautiful daughter is fast asleep so I am grabbing this opportunity to capture what has been going on at the farm these last couple of weeks.

We did miscalculate our lambing dates...so the day I went into labour the 30 ewes all started producing as well. We have had some wonderful lambs but some sadness too with losing a ewe who produced a wonderful set of quadruplets but had suffered a prolapse so we were unable to save her. Our vet Adelle was wonderful and after safely delivering her lambs helped put her to sleep. We managed to adopt one of them onto another ewe and we are bottle feeding the other three. We have put a lot of them outside already, we have been lucky with the weather that it has been a bit milder and not wet. They are doing really well and we are giving the ewes sheep nuts and some hay to supplement what grass there is at this time of year.

The main flock of 253 are all inside now as of 2 days ago and we have had them scanned and our percentage is up on last year! We are at 198% which we are really pleased with. So the grand total is - 5 empty, 36 singles, 171 twins and 41 triplets! I think that is going to keep us busy! We have two veterinary students Nick and Rebecca coming to help us as well as the wonderful Melanie who has already been helping us with this batch of lambs and in fact is coming this afternoon to help us sort the ewes into the relevant pens according to how many lambs they are having so we can feed them accordingly.

We have been busy with our bookings for our 'shepherd for the day' experience and had Pauline and Matt (pictured above bottle feeding 2 of the quads) joined us a couple of weeks ago. We really enjoyed having them and we are looking forward to welcoming our other visitors in a few weeks time when the main flock start lambing. The lambing weekends are fast approaching too which we are hosting jointly with our landlords the Northmoor Trust, so we look forward to seeing many of you then. The dates are the 26th/27th March and the 2nd/3rd April.

The snowdrops and aconites are just making an appearance and it is now light still at 5 o'clock which is great and helps us look forward to spring even more.

I think I can hear someone stirring...more soon and thank you to all of you for your messages and support.

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Molly Elizabeth Sarah Puzey - 7lb and 5oz

Our beautiful baby was born on Monday 10th January 2011, at 4.25pm at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

. . . meanwhile, back in the lambing sheds the small group of sheep that were NOT due to start lambing for another few days decided to produce 1 single, 4 sets of twins, 1 set of triplets and one set of quadruplets! Unfortunately, the ewe that had the quads suffered from a very bad prolapse and Adelle our vet, had to put her to sleep. Thank you so much to Melanie Farmer, John Sargent, Chris Parker, Ian Jones, Pippa Lamb and Hilary Warburton for watching the fort whilst Camilla and I were in hospital.

More to follow soon

Roly, Camilla, Molly, Boris and Belle

Friday 7 January 2011

New arrival....but not quite what we were expecting!





So we have had a new arrival...but with four legs and not two! With only one week to go until the ewes start lambing we need to be on the alert for any early appearances...and we had one yesterday. Very sweet indeed but sadly we lost her brother or sister who was very small indeed. When lambs are born this early they are very premature and their chances of survival are very slim. However, 'Titch' is doing really well and is happily feeding off her Mum who thinks Titch is wonderful! We discovered last night that Titch's Mum has got mastitis, which is an infection ewes can get in their udders. The udder is very hard and hot and very painful for the ewe. So we have given her some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory treatment and hope that will do the trick. We spoke to Adelle our vet who advised on some further treatment which Roly is picking up from the vets this morning. We will keep you posted on her progress.

In the meantime, no other baby news yet!
Camilla, Roly, Boris, Belle...and...Bump!

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Happy New Year!




A very Happy New Year. 2011 is going to be an exciting year! As I write we are still waiting for the new addition to our family, a few days overdue now so taking each day as it comes....thank you to everyone who has been in touch to find out how we are, we will keep you posted!

We have increased the nutrition for our 30 ewes who are now due to lamb in just under 2 weeks, they are catching me up! Some of them look enormous, particularly those who are having triplets. I am only having one so am starting to feel sorry for them and how huge they are looking!

The snow has finally disappeared, it is always rather special when it first arrives and it looks so beautiful and untouched. By the time it has been around for over a week that initial excitement has completely worn off! The sheep rounds take a lot longer as feeding is built into the routine which doubles the time. The ewes would hear us coming and meet us at the gate. I would drive the truck slowly while Roly would be in the trailer in the back throwing out the hay onto the ground, we have put some photos up here to show you. Now the snow has gone there is still some grass for them to eat to tide them over until we bring them indoors in the run up to lambing at the end of March. The sheds are almost ready for them and we can't wait to have them all inside, it is a really special time.

We are looking forward to welcoming our visitors to be 'shepherds for the day' in a couple of weeks to coincide with lambing. There will be plenty to do! We will see if they might be happy to share some of their experiences on the blog so other people will be interested to come along and treat a family member or friend to an alternative present!

Do let us know if you would like to stock up your freezer post Christmas with some delicious local Oxfordshire lamb or mutton and a new year treat of a sheepskin rug....our friend Charlie has a gorgeous deep pink rug which she loves, take a look!

More news soon and thank you for reading....

Camilla, Roly, Belle and Boris...and..Bump!