Farewell to Bede

 

 

 

( with apologies to Max )

Orkney Boreray  is expanding . 

And some sheep are going to Hoy and some to Stronsay, as well as the flock that is on Shapinsay

 And Bede , one  of the oldest rams  is leading the way to Stronsay . On this trip accompanied by  wether and  lambs

Bede's last meal ( here)

 

So Bede, and a few more , were encouraged into the trailer.  And we went and joined the queue for the ferry to Stronsay 

And 90 minutes on the ferry, Stronsay came into view 

And then sheep taken to their new homes . 

 

And lambs in their new home

And Bede exploring his new home 

And its started

On scans and dates , due from the 4th May, but this morning one of the first-time ewes separated herself from the rest and restlessly looked for somewhere to lie down.
We had been warned from neighbours that sheep seem to be lambing earlier that expected dates this year -probably something to do with the  mild spring and there being ample grass , leading to large lambs. And large lambs  can precipitate things as they can  come to term .

 Between seeing the restlesness and 90 minutes later,  events had progressed

And a few hours later the  lamb ( male, we think) has started to venture out and explore.

Edward and Ellie

so we now have 2 cade (orphan)  lambs . So at least they can keep each other company.

They should be starting to graze and eat soem grass. So hopefully a  few more weeks of bottle feeding and they shoudl be out with the others.

Another cade lamb

So at about 2110 , one of the remaining 2 ewes went in to labour. Watching at a distance it all went well , albeit slowly with the second stage about 40 minutes ( usually 10 minutes or so ) .

An attentive mother did what she should and licked the lamb, which tried to stand

 but the lamb would get head-butted away.

So the next step was to corral the  mother and lamb, latch the lamb on ,so it could suck and feed and see of that changed things . So some successful latching and feeding

but given a chance the lamb was butted away.  Sometimes the mother doesnt take to the lamb. This looks like on of those occasions.
So we have our second Caddie, on 4 hourly feeds at the moment. A bit loud and insistent , this one .

Edward no mates

Our caddie lamb (Edward) needs some company. We cant really put  him in a field within earshot of his mother - they are bothe likely to get distressed on hearing each other. So we thought wed try him with the new twins - they  are in an enclosed space and all the lambs might get on

 the lambs got on fine , but the mother didn't like him going near her, and her lambs, being just over 24 hours old, don't venture far.  So he has been returned to his enclosure and we will try again in a few days

allowed out

So after a night in the shed , twin 2 looked a lot brighter and more active so we gave them a bit more space to go exploring  to see how she actually was getting on .

It looks like there isn't a problem any more  

 So probably back into the field with the others tomorrow.

Some TLC

At 0310 this morning, the other Texel ewe delivered.  Sunrise today is 0427. the sun is just  starting to come up( but it wasn't as  clear as this - the photo has been 'photoshopped' (well, gimped) .

 The second lamb delivered about 20 minutes later.

And initially both lambs were feeding and active

 But as the day went on the second twin wasn't as active as we would expect. So some TLC is called for.

We brought the mother and both lambs inside, so Junior no2  stays closer to her mother and it will hopefully be easier for her to feed.

And it has worked so far .  Shes not a alert as the first twin ,but getting up a stretching is a good sign