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It has been all change on the lambing front this year, with a new general-purpose shed completed just in time for the annual battle to keep as many newborns alive as possible.
As usual, my wife Susan took a couple of weeks off work, and past the halfway point, it has been a largely successful exercise.
Apart from all the usual ups and downs associated with sheep, there have been several interesting asides that have occurred directly as a result of having this updated lambing facility.
The biggest single event has been ewe mortality (or lack of it), which is probably attributable to the more intensive management associated with all the expectant mothers being under one roof.
In my 40 years of lambing sheep, I have never been able to say that I had 160 ewes lambed without any dead mothers. I’ve had plenty of bother, and the usual number of dead lambs, but not one bereavement on the maternal front.
I accept that it may have more to do with good luck than anything else, but I have more than a sneaking suspicion that the disjointed nature of the previous system must have led to more casualties.
I also realise the importance of getting in quickly with such a self-congratulatory statement, since uttering those words could be the trigger for a string of deaths.
Tiredness
The irony of having the new shed is the possibility that I am just as tired as ever, if not more so.
Most people who knew I was building told me that I wouldn’t know myself, now that I didn’t have to run round half the country after birthing sheep. I tended to agree with them. However, everything happening under one roof has not translated into a reduced workload. I’m not sure why.
Perhaps it is the increased likelihood of mis-mothering, which has meant a 3am trip to the lambing shed each night. These nocturnal journeys go hand in hand with detailed management of individual sheep, but the cumulative build-up in sleep deprivation has resulted in a constant craving for a “wee lie down”, especially around mid-afternoon.
Visitors
Another big difference has been the steady flow of visitors to see the lambs, and undoubtedly the user-friendly nature of everything happening under one roof means we are open at all hours.
If it’s a wet and windy day, the doors are closed, and the sightseers can browse the lambing pens at their leisure. That has led to another quandary for “Derek the kindly shepherd”. Some of these guests have been friends of friends, and they bring their toddlers to waddle contentedly among the young lambs, especially the pets.
However, since many of them are of an urban disposition (townies), I am never quite sure how to present my farming operation.
Do you hide the fertiliser bag of dead lambs from their delicate eyes? Or do you leave just one dead lamb on display, and feign mild grief at the passing of this little cuddlesome bundle? Or do you tell it as it is, and leave a pile of afterbirth and death in one corner?
And when the inevitable question comes – “Uncle Derek, what happens to the lambs when they get big?” – how do you respond? I am always tempted to say that the lambs are just as nice when they get bigger, especially if slow roasted with garlic and rosemary.
Outbreak
Yet another feature of the new building has been less than welcome, and it is an outbreak of e-coli.
This is despite Susan’s rigorous attention to detail by constantly cleaning out and disinfecting lambing pens. I wonder if the old system, where lambing was split between several yards, sheds and fields may have inadvertedly lowered the pressure from these destructive bacteria?
At this point in time, I have been forced to abandon all pretence at moving away from routine antibiotic usage, and every freshly-born lamb receives an oral antibiotic, as well as 0.5ml of long-acting amoxycillin.
As lambing slows down, so will disease pressure, and antibiotic usage will be reduced and hopefully phased out completely.
So, just because I have a brand new, purpose-built facility with all requirements close to hand, the old enemy that is e-coli can still manage to trump everything else.
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