A Question Of Balance (From Hereford Times)

A Question Of Balance

10:28pm Monday 2nd March 2009

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When we took on Rock HQ Tracey and I had as a priority an aim to get the work homelife balance in some sort of equitable relationship. To work full time and run a smallholding takes great deal of commitment and a very understanding boss. Luckily for us we have both, stacks of commitment and the partners at Phoenix Fostering are very understanding of our increasingly unique reasons for being late.

Its been a very busy week here and despite suffering a few setbacks this week there have been some very welcome new arrivals in the stables.

The goats after days and nights of promising to deliver finally did and we got back from work to find four little kids skipping round two very smug Mums with a totally bewildered yearling looking on. Seeing these cute little animals was almost enough reward for all the sleepless nights.

We are keeping a close eye on our ewes who are also due to pop. We had a phone call from The Technohermit on Friday morning telling us that one of our ewes was lying down and bleeding. He is proving to be a useful additional pair of eyes on our flock as he lives the other side of the hill to us so if our animals wander round he keeps a watch over them.

It was a good job he thought to contact us because Roxy would have died without our assistance. As it was we had to help her deliver a dead lamb, who by the looks had died inside her a while back. I got to work an hour and a half late and my Boss was as upset about Roxie's loss as I was.

It can be quite disheartening when things like this happen but its one of the risks of farming. Whoever says lambing is straight forward has no real concept of the task. Springtime lambing is a time fraught with difficulties, of immense highs, joyous moments, the miracle of witnessing birth, the fight for life and sometimes, inevitably death.

The commercial farmers reckon on 3 out of hundred ewes causing problems. In our first year at the Rock as lambing time approached with our three Ryeland ewes we felt confident that we shouldn't have too many worries. As it turned out we had those three out of a hundred sheep and ours was an absolute nightmare, a real baptism of fire.

Rita began by presenting a lamb with its head stuck; luckily Tracey and I were brought up watching James Herriot on the BBC so we knew what we had to do. I pushed the head back in and scooped up the two front legs and pulled the lamb out. Rita took the intrusion of my right arm in her insides quite well and soon began mothering the lamb, which we called Shrek. Minutes later Rita keeled over and further exploration with my hand discovered a second lamb, this time a breach birth, much pushing and shoving later we had little April running around the pen. So with our first ewe we had had to deal with the two most difficult birth scenarios at once.

Still, it could only get easier from there, well apparently not.

Roxy gave birth the next day whilst we were at work. Tracey had come home to discover two little lambs in the barn looking very disorientated. Roxy had little idea what to do with them so we had to milk her, feed the lambs and gently encourage her to take over the mother role. Luckily for us and the lambs Ebony and Ivory, Roxy eventually got the hang of it.

Rosie then held out for a whole month before delivering Lucky, again this was not entirely an easy birth. Tracey returned from work again to find a ewe with the head of a lamb stuck fast. I was miles away so Tracey rolled her sleeves up and did a Mrs. Herriot on Rosie and by the time I got home Lucky was doing very well whilst shell shocked Tracey was enjoying cider with Rosie.

This is why we bring our small flock in off the hill, so much can go wrong, even when healthy lambs pop out they can meet death in a variety of ways. Perhaps the saddest is when the birth bag fails to tear away from the face of the newborn. Unable to breathe the lamb dies. By the time the ewe cleans the lamb it’s too late and the shepherd finds a perfect, clean but very dead lamb. No one tells you this aspect of small scale farming, people have strange ideas about lambs, just seeing the cute little things bouncing around in the sunshine they forget the trauma it took to get them there.

So our self enforced sleep deprivation continues until all six of our remaining ewes safely deliver their little wooly jumpers.

Lack of sleep is having its effect though, yesterday we fell asleep early evening and completely missed Sara, a friend banging on the front door. She took a look around Rock HQ and saw all the progress we have made. Its good to have people round who can tell you how different things are since their last visit.

Perhaps the dogs should have taken a leaf out her book in the observation stakes. Sara noticed the new five bar gate I had spent the afternoon hanging. The dogs on the other hand in their exhuberance at being let out of the kennel block and their unabated joy at having Sara to welcome completely missed the fact that it was there. An assortement of dull metalic clangs and canine yelps of indignation confirmed that they had found the gate.

You can read how we are doing and see video clips of the animal mayhem at www.talesfromtherock.com Say hello if you visit!