Lamb
August 23, 2009
His Lordship beckoned me to follow him into the paddock yesterday. We trotted down and there was our first born lamb being lovingly cleaned by his very grumpy looking mum, stamping her foot at us in a determined manner. The wee lamb was only just standing on his wobbly legs and looking terrifyingly fragile. But all looked fine until mum turned around and we saw a second lamb hanging out of her. It looked dead.
His Lordship dashed up to the house and quickly read the lambing chapter in John Seymour’s self sufficiency bible, rang his mum for moral support then dashed back. We waited awhile but there was no sign the lamb was going to come out so we got her into the barn and I held her on her side and His Lordship delivered the lamb. He cleared the airways and amazingly the little thing was alive.
We also had a alpaca born on the farm this winter. We weren’t home for the birth but a little black boy was happily sitting with his mum when we turned up. The main concern when the alpaca was born was the cold temperatures. We had coats ready for him and kept him and his doting mum out of the rain for the first few weeks. He’s doing very well and growing like a weed.
Winter also saw the arrival of a donkey. She was delivered via float. She’s 10 and she’s beautiful. I would have done anything for a donkey when I was a little girl. How wonderful it would be to go back in time and tell that little 5 year old that all will be OK because one day you’ll have a donkey. A spotted her eating a thistle the other day so she’s now indispensable.
