Tucked up warm (sort of!)

I brought the first group of sheep in today, as with snow forecast for tonight I thought those having triplets would appreciate a bit of comfort and shelter. They were all wormed and stood in the footbath for a good 5 minutes each and then put in the big shed. It was so cold today that the little drip from the pipe supplying their water had formed an icicle on the ground even inside the shed! A fair few of the twin-carrying ewes will come in too this week, although they have been enjoying the dry weather and the little bits of sunshine each day, if its going to be wet and miserable they will be happier inside.

Maternity wards nearly ready!

I've been busy this week pressure washing the big lambing shed and today I sprayed all the walls and floor with disinfectant. Once its dry, I can get some straw in and then the first batch of ewes can come in, although they will stay out until next weekend unless the weather turns nasty.
We've had lime spread on some of the fields this week to bring up the pH as the soil analysis done last spring showed a lot of fields were too acid for the fertiliser to work really well. Now we need some sunshine to warm things up and get a little bit of grass to grow.

The horses are getting quite fit now after a month of walking and trotting. They have both had a full clip (except for Fizz's head as he wont let us touch that) and are working for up to an hour a day. Fizz had not been out since late November due to an injury and being on box rest until that healed. We find it difficult to know what to do for the best with him as he behaves terribly in the field and this is usually where he injures himself, but after 3 months, he needed to go out as he was becoming too excitable and a bit scary to ride. He was quite stupid and galloped round like a nutcase for about 10 minutes, at times the speed was hair-raising, and yes, he tweaked something as he came in slightly lame. However, on Sunday morning he was not noticeably lame, so he will continue with a couple more weeks walking to let it settle down, and Sonny will go to the Pony Club rally this week.

Sonny will be for sale this summer as he has the potential to go further than I have the time and money to take him. This will be sad, if he goes, but if he has the ability to succeed at higher levels, now is the right time to give him that chance.

Rachel is returning to university in September to do her PGCE as she wants to teach primary school, so time will be at a premium as she will not be around to help me much over the winter.

We have been introducing Buster to riding (see pic) and this will need to be carried on through the winter, and in the spring when he is four years old, he will be able to do his first ridden classes. Rachel has said that I can ride Fizz next year if Sonny has been sold -thanks Rachel!

How many lambs?

All the groups of sheep have now been scanned and I am pleased with the results especially considering what they all went through in November. We have 14 sets of triplets due - rather too many for my liking as if all is going well we often leave them all on if the ewe looks like she is coping, and with this many sets it will be harder to keep a check. Several of this group have had triplets before - Gizmo, Toffee, Steffi, Joey, Jill (pictured right) and Blanche, and also Sacha who was Percy's mum so as she rejected him last year she will need to be watched carefully.
Also in with this group at the moment is Betty, one of the few ewes we have with horns. They are only small scur-type horns, and unfortunately she must have banged one quite badly at the trough as she stopped going for food and on examination it is quite sore. She has had antibiotic and lots of blue spray and this will hopefully keep her okay until she lambs mid-March. Then, it will be re-assessed and the vet may have to remove it. She currently eats her ration out of one of my little blue buckets while I stand guard to stop any of the others trying to steal it!
Most of the young sheep are having singles which is good as they cope better with one first time round.