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.
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.
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.
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.
