Good morning all from MILD (???) and damp Wiltshire!! So very happy to see the back of the cold snap, along with all the frozen pipes and troughs that came with it! The last week has been dominated by getting water to all the animals, hence my photo of Comet the cow enjoying the water being piped to their trough from a bowser!
The ewes are in disgrace......! On Saturday, we had the first ewe this year with a vaginal prolapse the size of a melon. To make matters worse, a rook had pecked at it ( hate rooks?) we managed to get the prolapse back in place and trussed her up like a chicken with a large dose of antibiotic and painkiller and when I checked her last thing on Saturday night, everything was still as it should be. I went to check her early hours of Sunday and she’d pushed the whole lot out again. Had to have the vet out to her to give her an epidural and stitch and it’s now wait and see time. And then yesterday afternoon, another ewe decided to join her in the sick bay with another prolapse although this one has gone back in with just a harness to hold it in place. Shepherds call the final run up to lambing ‘suicide fortnight’ as this is the time when things tend to go wrong. It is nerve racking but as soon as the lambs start arriving life seems a bit jollier.
The test results on the 2 new cows, Blue and Roo came back negative yesterday, so they can come out of isolation and join the summer herd. The lambing shed is now set up with all the pens so, other than a few more bits, that’s all good to go. My main task of the day is to enjoy not being so cold ...... I might even put one or two less layers of clothing on today - woohoo!
Wishing you all a safe and happy day, especially those with health worries and post-vaccine aches and pains