Taking Stock on Midsummer's Day

Thursday 21st June 2018
Midsummer

It's midsummer. Most of the sowing is done. Most of the baby animals and birds are born. A few crops are starting to yield, but by and large this is a period of growing and rearing in readiness for harvest.

The Year's Weather So Far
Winter bites late then hangs around like a bad smell
The weather has been testing this year. Winter was not too bad until it turned round and bit us with The Beast From The East which was followed by a good few weeks of winter stubbornly putting its foot in the door and barring any entrance by Spring.
The cold snap was really challenging, especially for the pregnant ewes. We almost lost one, but in the end three ewes gave birth to seven lambs. We lost one and two ended up being bottle fed.
The runt third triplet, who we named Flash, continues to be very runtish. In contrast the other bottle fed lamb, Rambutan, is huge. All six lambs have just moved down into the further paddocks where the grass is now taller than they are.
The ewes are recovering well now too. We may give one or two of them a break from breeding next year.

The fruit and vegetables were left floundering too, maybe as much as a month behind usual. This was reflected in nature, with many migrant birds, including our swallows, arriving back very late. In fact many don't seem to have bothered at all.

A Warm and Wet Spring Finally Arrives
When Spring did arrive, it was pretty warm but came with plenty of rain. The water table sat just below the surface of the land so every time it rained we had puddles. The muddy conditions didn't last too long though and we have had much stickier in the past.

Early Summer And The Rain Dries Up
And so on into May and early summer. It has actually been very warm allowing many of the crops to catch up to close to where they should be by now. But it has been dry. Ridiculously dry. The water butts are all empty and I have had to water very selectively. We have only had five minutes of rain in the past month and the ground has gone from waterlogged to gaping cracks opening up. There is still water enough under the surface for most of the outdoor crops, but the carrots have completely failed. This happened two years ago too when we had similar conditions - a cold damp early start to the season followed by dry conditions and a hard crust on the soil.
At least I can still get a good crop in the polytunnel where they are more easily nurtured.
I am not sure how much the early potatoes will swell up. They should just about be ready for harvest soon, so I gave them a good drink last night. This should help them along.

And I am a little worried about the sheep paddocks. At the moment they are still ok, but if we don't get rain soon there will not be enough lush grass to fatten our lambs well.
People have already cut their hay and are baling it at the moment. I like to collect it straight off the field, but my first line of supply was short this year as the grass yield is down. Hopefully the second will come good.

On the positive side though, the sweetcorn, pumpkins and tomatoes are loving the Mediterranean climate.
It seems to be a good year for most of the fruit too. Apples and pears look like they will give us our first really decent harvest now that the orchard is maturing nicely. The blackthorns are absolutely smothered in sloes.

The strawberries are doing very well, free of strawberry seed beetle which devastated the crop last year, though a little rain might help them to swell up a bit more. The sunshine is making them taste like little buttons of sweet deliciousness.
The raspberries are just beginning to ripen and should produce bucket loads and the gooseberries are almost ready. Last year was disappointing for these but this year looks like a good crop of large berries.
The currants are not faring so well this year. It may be time to replace some of the bushes. They seem to prefer cooler, wetter years.
Finally, the cherries are ripening so hopefully we can get at least some of them before the birds do.

Poultry
The turkeys have enjoyed the dry weather too. In fact it was the day the poults hatched that it stopped raining. The nine poults we have kept for fattening up are doing extremely well, so well indeed that the two hens have left them and are both now sitting on new clutches of eggs.

If these hatch it will be a big bonus for us as the sale of the young turkeys will more than pay for the food to rise them and to support the adult birds through the year.

The meat chickens which we purchased as day old chicks about ten weeks ago have put on a sudden spurt of growth, so much so that they are pretty much ready to go in the freezer. It is a short life for them but they have had it infinitely better than any commercially produced birds, even the so-called free-range ones. I wasn't expecting them to make weight quite so soon, so need a couple of weeks to change their diet to finish them properly. But their early departure will free up accommodation and give the chance to rest the ground a bit.
It is actually quite good to be able to buy in, raise and dispatch in a relatively short period. Having lots of birds in different pens with different feed requirements can be quite demanding and quite a tie.

We decided not to breed any geese this year, but to sell the eggs instead. But one of the geese had different ideas as we found her sat on five eggs in a tyre outside. Sadly, the day after we found her the next was abandoned and the eggs gone. At least the goose was still alive.

And lastly, the Muscovy ducklings are growing well. They are still living in with the three silkie hens but will move out when they are old enough for they need  lot of space.



So that's it for the year so far.
Where it goes from here very much depends on the weather. If we return to normal levels of rain as we head into the second part of the year then it could turn out to be a very good year. If not... well.

Everything A Little Lamb Could Want For... Except A Mum... And Milk

26th May 2018
Bleating Hell
Last year we let the lambs wean naturally, which means just leaving them with their mums until they decide that grass is enough for them or until the ewe decides that enough is enough.
But with the lambing problems this year, far from unique to us, I decided to be on the safe side and take the lambs off the ewes on the early side rather than late so the ewe could build up their strength again.
Shetland lambs start nibbling at everything in sight within a day of being born, mimicking their mums. The four lambs who have been in with the sheep flock are already getting a large part of their nutrition from grass.

It is a different story for Flash and Rambutan though. Rambutan especially has never really enjoyed the taste of grass and has been very reliant on the bottle. Flash, though younger, has a more rounded diet.
But I am pretty sure that neither of them realised when they were fed this morning that it would be their last ever feed. From now on the lambs must be self-sufficient.

All penned up ready for worming and separation

While we were moving everything, we took the opportunity to worm all the sheep and to check them over. Then we carried the lambs up to the paddock by the farmhouse where they met Flash and Rambutan, who they have not seen in a long while.
We then moved the ten adult sheep (Rambo, four ewes and last years lambs) as far up the land as possible. The lambs can still hear the ewes calling and the ewes can still hear the lambs bleating, but the greater the distance apart the better.
Besides I don't like putting young lambs in the furthest paddock for this is where the sheep have previously been chased by dogs.

At the moment it seems that all is working out well. Flash and Rambutan are already eating creep feed and grazing, learning from their new friends. And the fact that these two are more settled down this end and not calling to their mums is helping the other four to settle in.

Settling in well and looking good

Cuddles still required for Flash and Rambutan

Flash tucking into his creep feed

edit This post got stuck in the unpublished pile for a while, so here's an update:
The lambs stopped bleating after a couple of days. Before that there was a constant bleating from the nearest paddock and a deep baaing from the sheep field. Even next door's sheep joined in.
Rambutan quickly learned to eat grass when he saw the others and realised that milk would no longer be on offer. All the lambs took to the creep feed too, a specially formulated pellet to help them make the transition from milk to grass.
The ewes' udders swelled to gargantuan and uncomfortable proportions - I was glad I changed my mind about moving them onto the lushest pasture. This is when mastitis can set in, but they have now subsided again so hopefully all is ok.

Flash and Rambutan have not been without their mishaps though. Little Flash picked up a nasty limp in his back leg. I was away for six days and when I left we were just hoping it would sort itself out - lameness usually does with sheep. And indeed upon my return Flash was walking about right as rain. But Rambutan had been in the wars.
He had got his horn caught up and then managed to rip it off. I wasn't there, but Sue said there was blood everywhere. Anyway, by the time I came back from my little trip everything had healed up nicely.

Shear delight

Monday 14th May 2018
Shearing Day
Next to pantomime, sheep shearing is just about as seasonal a job as you could get.
You don't want it done too early or the sheep will feel the cold. But too far into early summer and they get too hot. More importantly fly strike becomes a real problem.
Luckily we realised early enough that our usual shearer had become unavailable. He got himself a job in Australia so, quite unreasonably I thought, would not be able to shear my sheep this year.
Fortunately we were in time to piggy back on someone else's arrangements.

Last year the sheep were not shorn until the second week of June. They were hot and were in various states of self-shearing. There were clumps of wool all over the paddocks.
So this year we managed to get the job done a few weeks earlier. The lambs came down with the adults, but they don't get sheared. Two weeks later and we might have kept them up this end to wean them.

Shetlands are small, so shearing is quick, but they can be a little feisty at times. One of the ewes gave the shearer's arm a good kick! I was very happy with the shearer we used. He was quick and efficient, but just as importantly his communication was good. It is always a worry that your shearer won't turn up after you have taken time off work and gone to the effort of penning the sheep. It's not easy to book a replacement in a hurry.

All penned up ready for shearing.
I put them in a large pen until the shearer arrives, then narrow it down.

That's Rambo on the floor getting a hair cut. He was calmer this year than usual.

All done and heading back down to the sheep field.

With the shearing done, fly strike is much less of a worry. The shearer offered to apply a spray-on fly strike preventative too, which works out much cheaper and easier than if we did it ourselves. This chemical can be used at shearing, unlike some of the others. The chemical is pretty strong stuff and means the sheep are not organic, but if you have seen fly strike in action you wouldn't want to be pussy footing around with garlic and essential oils! We asked the shearer to check their feet too and trim where necessary. Again, better to do it all at once.
One reason I like having the shearer round is that it gives a good chance for someone who knows what they are doing to give the flock a quick look over. I do check on the health of the Shetlands every day and spend quite a bit of time with the in the field, but apart from Rambo and the lambs I rarely get very close to the others to inspect them closely.

Shearing made it obvious that last year's efforts at castration were only partly successful. Two of the ram lambs will need to be kept away from the females later in the year - it is a good job they will be going off to the butcher before then.
One which for some reason I had fixed in my head as a young ewe is actually a male!! I had begun to have my suspicions. This is quite useful, since a wether (castrated male) is good company for the ram when he needs to be separated from the ewes. Come August they will be coming into season but we don't want Rambo to service the ewes until early November so that we can aim for lambing to be during school Easter holidays. This year we will also have to separate the one female lamb. She can go with the wether while Rambo is in with the older ewes.

It was good to ascertain the condition of the ewes too, especially Ewe 00004 who nearly died earlier in the year. She is still skinny but not disastrously so. Hopefully she will begin to put weight on again quite soon.

Happily settled back in to a new strip of pasture.

There was one other surprise while the sheep were being sheared. The ewe which did not give birth this year looks as though her udders may be swelling up. If so, we will have a very late lamb.We'll see what happens.

If Only All Rainy Days Were Like this

Tuesday 1st May
The Worst Weather Forecast Ever
I was super surprised to be able to mow the lawns yesterday. For the forecast was for heavy rain and strong winds all day. We must have been right on the edge of it, for we had a dry day with not a spot of rain. There was a gusty breeze in the morning, but even that had calmed to a steady blow by early afternoon.
Having missed out on the opportunity during the recent warm weather, I grabbed the chance to start up the lawn mower for the year.

I went over the lawns again today, collecting the clippings and using them to mulch the blackcurrant bushes and raspberries. Then my attention shifted to the other lawnmowers, the sheep.

The three rams needed to move back up into the main sheep paddocks and I hoped they would settle in quickly without hassling the ewes or their lambs too much.

As it was, the operation went very smoothly and the flock is reunited successfully.

Flash and Rambutan go it alone

Sunday 15th April 2018
A big day for the sheep
Mums and lambs were moved back outside. They are much happier in the fresh air under the open skies. They only come in for their own protection.

Flash was kept back and put out on the lawn with Rambutan. The size difference is impressive. Rambutan has grown particularly quickly and Flash is a tiny lamb.

The others settled quickly into the field with the rest of the ewes. Mums didn't really seem to notice that two of their lambs were missing. The bond is significantly less strong if the lamb is not feeding directly from mum.
In fact the lambs bleat more when I leave them than when they were separated from their mothers.

Typically there was an absolute downpour in the evening. We moved Rambutan and Flash back into the stable for safe keeping and the ewe mothers protected their lambs down in the sheep field.

Flash News

Tuesday 10th April 2018
Most of today was spent on and off tending to Flash the ram lamb. He has been weak and has not been seen to feed from mum, even though both the other lambs are now suckling well.
He is resistant to bottle feeding too and we have had to keep him going with Lamb Boost, an energy liquid.

Flash is the little one lying by mum's tail

Ewe 0009 and her lambs seem really healthy.
She is tucking into her oats and hay.

Early evening his mouth was no longer warm inside, a sure sign that hyperthermia was setting in. This is the main cause of death in a lambs first days, though I think it is more a symptom than a cause.

Sue brought him into the house and nestled him in a blanket with a hot water bottle. I down-played his chances of survival. But by late evening we were able to put him back with his mum and brothers. If he survives, I would be surprised if we don't end up bottle feeding him.
At the moment, Flash's future hangs in the balance. We are trying to get him to feed every couple of hours and topping up with Lamb Boost. The longer we can keep him alive, the better his chances of getting through.

On a different note, the Muscovies are thoroughly enjoying the fact that the giant puddle has topped itself up again.

Lamb Triplets and Twins Arrive

Monday 9th April
You Might Want to Come Down to the Sheep Field
Main job for the day was to finish constructing the pond which I began digging out yesterday evening. This pond is purely for the ducks, who will soon be moving into the veg plot.
The weather was dull and drizzly, but I decided to ignore getting wet and carry on till I was finished.

Pond dug, liner ready

Lined with old carpet underlay.
Just a precaution as stones are rare in our soil.

In goes the water, straight from the water butt

Filling up nicely

So by midday the pond was well on its way to being finished. I had only been working on it for about six hours. It should be completed before dark... or so I thought.

It was 12:30 when I heard the sound of bleating from the sheep field. I went to investigate and here's what I found.

I phoned Sue, advising her that she might like to come down to the sheep field. While I was away, the geese decided to test the new pond. It seemed to meet with their approval.

We moved Ewe 00010 up to the stables as there was heavy rain forecast overnight. I had already set up a pen in readiness for this moment. When we got there, she promptly gave birth to lamb number three! This is unusual for Shetland sheep. 

The only other time one of our ewes gave birth to triplets we tried to adopt one onto another ewe. It didn't work out and we ended up bottle-feeding. At the time we decided that should the occasion arise again we would supplement feed. This means leaving the three lambs with the ewe, but bottle feeding all three as a top-up. Without this, mum's resources would be overstretched, especially as the lambs grow, and all four would be at risk.

But the ewes are not in tip-top condition this year. It has been a difficult year for lambing for everybody.

By the time everything had settled down it was nudging toward 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I returned to the pond, still determined to push on and try to get it finished.  I just needed to edge it with decking.

But it wasn't long before I was interrupted again. More bleating!

I phoned Sue again. "You might want to come down to the sheep field!"

For there was Ewe 0009, one of our badger-faced Shetlands, tending to a newborn pair of twin lambs. This was the first time that either of the badger-faced ewes had given birth to more than a single lamb. Both looked good and healthy. The badger-faced ewes give absolutely no hints that they are about to give birth. The lambs just appear! I am not complaining.

So five lambs in two and a half hours. 

Sue leads the ewe up to the stables using the lamb as the lure.

I was carrying the other lamb.

Each new birth was accompanied by bleating and baaing all round.

Even the rams were taking a keen interest.

By now the rain had really set in and I was glad to have got both mums and all the lambs safely into the stables. I mixed up some oats for the mums and set up a couple of hay racks. They would be hungry now.

The triplets were struggling to get milk and Sue could not get milk out of one teat. It is essential that the lambs drink in their first few hours, since the first milk contains colostrum from the ewe which transfers all her antibodies to the lambs.
The lambs were small and mum was looking a lot, lot skinnier than she was this morning.
We called a friend more experienced in teat management than us. She could come over and help but I would have to babysit her two grandchildren. Joy!

I survived an hour with a three and a five year old. I had never quite clicked what a poor message Cinderella gives girls about their aspirations in life.

The ewe's teats had cleared though one of the lambs was looking quite weak. Having said that, at any one moment any of the lambs was looking weak.
It was going to be a long night.

For the rest of the evening I busied myself in the kitchen making Chicken Tom Yam soup. One breast from the monster chickens went a long way and I have to say it tasted very nice. I cooked to the background music of a live band, for Sue had brought the Sugarbeats, the Smallholder Club's very own music group, over to the house for their practice.

Regular visits were made to check on the lambs. By now it was apparent that the weakest lamb was the last born of the triplets, one I had already named Flash due to the white streak across the top of his head. Oh, I forgot to say, we had to wait till the last lamb to get a female. All the rest are young rams, which is not the best news. Boys are always more troublesome.

Compared to the newborn lambs, Rambutan at two weeks old is looking like a giant! He had his final feed of the day at midnight. I fed some artificial colostrum to two of the triplets too, just to make sure they got enough of this vital ingredient and to keep them going through the night.
I set the alarm for 4.30am.

That was quite some day.

Rumours of a resurrection would seem to be true

So here's a quick update on the sheep situation. After a poor prognosis from the vet, Ewe 0004 picked herself back up enough to deliver two live lambs, but the effort of the labour took it out of her.
Saturday 24th March 2018
After last night's surprise twins, Mum and both lambs were doing ok.

We were confident enough of their health to go out for the evening to the first meeting of the Fenland Smallholders Club Winemaking group.



We had a lovely evening, but a horrible shock was waiting for us when we got home. For one of the lambs was breathing its last few breaths. Despite our best efforts there was nothing to do to save it. It had seemed the strongest of the two.
Here is the last picture we have from its sadly short life.

Sunday 25th March 2018
We kept mum and the remaining lamb in the stables today, but mum is hardly eating and we have started to bottle feed the lamb.

Monday 26th March 2018

With mum still not eating I decided to move her and the lamb onto the back lawn. The lamb followed me out of the stable and into its new enclosure and mum followed the lamb. Straight away she started munching away at the grass and she even had a nibble on a mangel wurzel. The lamb is still being bottle fed.

Rain was forecast overnight so I put mum and lamb back in the stables overnight.

Tuesday 27th March 2018

A cold, soggy day. I constructed a shelter for the lamb to keep out of the wind and rain. Mum has taken another turn for the worse today. Things are not looking good for her and she looks like she has given up. I have come up with an exit plan for her should I think that she is suffering too much.
Meanwhile the lamb has been enthusiastically chasing a chicken around the pen all day!

Wednesday 28th March 2018
Ewe 0004 has not been seen to eat or drink for two whole days now. She occasionally gets up and wanders around her pen sniffing at the various food offerings but not being in the least bit tempted.
I think it is only having her lamb with her which is keeping her going.
At the lamb's midnight feed there was a heavy frost. Of course the sheep are adapted to deal with this, but I am not sure how a very sickly ewe is going to cope.

Thursday 29th March 2018
Seemingly oblivious to the heavy overnight frost, Rambutan the lamb was bouncing around his pen early morning.
Mum was licking the water from the hurdles - the first time I have seen her even drink since Monday.
I threw in a couple of mangel wurzel tops before I left for work and she actually had a very light nibble on the leaves.
Things remained the same when I returned for the lunchtime bottle feed, with Ewe 0004 still nibbling very lightly at the mangels and a little bit of straw - sometimes just a little bit of something really plain can be what we need to start a recovery, but I don't want to build up any hopes. Ewe 0004 has been up and down for too long now and every glimmer of hope seems to be quickly snuffed out by a downturn.
When I returned from work late afternoon, mum was walking around the pen much more and showing none of the adverse symptoms of recent days. She is obviously still weak and has lost a lot of weight and we are most definitely not out of the woods. But I am not giving up and it seems neither is she.
Friday 30th March 2018
Mum has been nibbling at various offerings today. A bit of mangel wurzel, a bit of cabbage, a bit of dried up old leaf, a bit of willow bark. She is clearly still not back to normal, but this is another slight improvement. She seems more assured on her legs and generally more alert. I don't want to get my hopes up, but things could be worse.
Saturday 31st March 2018
Ewe 0004 was eating grass for the first time today. Not a lot, but it was great to see her grazing again. She tried some of the soaked sugar beet pulp too.
Sunday 1st April 2018
Well, if you'd told me on Wednesday that Ewe 0004 would still be alive today, I would have taken it for some kind of sick April Fool's joke.
But she is. She has cabbage, willow, mangel wurzel, hay, grass, oats, sugar beet and carrots to choose from! She isn't exactly eating a lot but nibbles at bits and pieces.

I think she'll have company soon, hopefully not another sick ewe but the other fawn ewe is looking very, very pregnant indeed.

Monday 2nd April 2018
More improvements today. Rambutan goes from strength to strength. He runs over to me for milk four times a day, though he usually wants it about an hour before it is due.
Ewe 004 seems much stronger. She is confident on her feet and stamps the ground when the dogs appear to look at the lamb. She is eating various bits and pieces, from willow bark to banana skins to brassica leaves.
Tuesday 3rd April
If it weren't for Rambutan, I would try moving Ewe 0004 down to the paddocks with the rest of the ewes. But there is always a bit of head butting as they settle back in and this can be a worrying time for the lambs. Besides, with bottle feeding it makes sense to keep the pair close to the house. With all this recent rain, they may be the only way I can get the lawn mown for quite some time.

So that's it. I don't want to declare the problem over yet, but the future is looking a  lot brighter than a week ago.
Where we go from here with the sheep I do not know. If we carry on breeding then it is unlikely Ewe 0004 will stay with us. But that is a big IF.
We just feel that we are in beyond our depth. Even though Shetland sheep pretty much do it by themselves,there have still been significant worries every year. This is mainly down to our lack of experience, but that experience often comes through some very worrying times.
It is lovely having lambs each year and an economical way of getting sheep for meat, but at the same time we have to maintain our breeding flock which often involves having to keep males and females separate. This has implications for our land use, plus keeping horned rams means that we cannot afford the sheep with any sort of decent shelter, for it just gets destroyed.

So what if we don't continue to breed? Well, Rambo would have to go, which I would find hard. The older ewes would probably go too, maybe over a couple of years as that is a lot of mutton! We used to just get orphan lambs in each year to rear up. This worked well in terms of resting the land over winter but we often couldn't get them before the grass was knee high and going to seed. This was the main reason we decided to get our own flock.

But there is a third way. We could keep a non breeding stock of Shetlands, mainly for grass cutting and for wool. Then we could just bring in what we need for meat each year.

We have a few months to decide, so no knee-jerk reactions.