Badger Face drops a surprise lamb

The two Shetland ewes with the badger-face looks are not the most prolific of ewes. Between them they produce an average of one lamb a year! But for the moment they can stay.

This year is running true to form with one very fat and the other clearly not pregnant. We have never seen either of these ewes give birth, They show no signs of early labour whatsoever and yesterday was no exception. No nesting behaviour. No lip curling. No sky gazing. Nothing.

I was at home all day and was checking regularly on the sheep as the fawn girl has been looking likely to go into labour for the last week or so. As an aside, every time we bring her into the stables she settles down and nothing happens. Maybe we are just being anxious 'grandparents'.
So at 11 in the morning all sheep were fine and dandy. Nothing to report. I came in and worked on Monday's blog post for a while, uploading photos from the phone which takes forever, and when I went outside there, in the paddock, was a newborn lamb, already pretty much cleaned and suckling well. It must have just dropped out!

My first sight of our newest lamb. She is a beauty.

With rain in the forecast and several cold nights ahead (the chickens have been doing a great job of undoing my potato earthing up) I decided to bring mum and daughter into the stable. Fawn ewe has come in too for some adult company. Besides, I am sure her labour is imminent now.

Bemused by the behaviour of the other lambs