Saturday 26 May 2012

New arrivals and a sick animal.


Last night the sheep came for the summer. Twenty sheep and thirty nine lambs - Swaledale pedigrees - tumbled out of the back of a trailer, all mixed up. For a few minutes there were calls of "Mum, where are you?" before finally it all got sorted out. Then it was immediately down to the serious business of eating the fresh grass. I love when the lambs come - it is the nearest we ever get to having a lambing time of our own. (and the farmer assures me that my romantic view of that is vastly exaggerated!).

We have a sick bullock. He belongs to our neighbour who bought a few bullocks to eat the grass off on his meadow. This one has viral pneumonia and needed to be inside for the vet to see it, so the farmer offered one of our barns. There he lies on clean straw with plenty of water to drink and hay to eat. The vet has given him four massive injections and I must say that by yesterday evening he was looking a lot better. We could no long hear his chest rattling when we stood outside the barn. Now he must stay there until he is completely better as viral pneumonia is catching and we don't want any of the other animals to go down with it. I don't suppose the hot weather helps.

Parsnip asks me to post a photograph of our vegetable garden and later today (when I have had my shower and got dressed!) I will walk down and take one before the weeds begin to show. I must say that the farmer keeps the veggie garden in very good condition and it is a credit to him.

The weather is set for a fine weekend here in the UK - so everyone here enjoy it while it lasts. Let's all hope it lasts over next weekend, so that everything is right for the Jubilee celebrations.

9 comments:

Dave King said...

What a delightful photograph! Reminds me of an occasion when we took our children to a farm to see the lambs. They took a new delivery while we were there. Your "mum, where are you?" conjures up the image perfectly.

Joanne Noragon said...

Bucolic and lovely. We visited a friend on her farm where my teen aged daughter picked up an orphan lamb who was happy with any mum. Carried it about for the entire visit.

Heather said...

So glad the bullock seems to be recovering. Lovely to see the sheep and lambs enjoying the fresh juicy grass.
It would be awful if the weather deteriorated by the time of the Jubilee celebrations, although a slight drop in the temperature might be a good thing for those taking an active part.

rkbsnana said...

Jubilee celebration. I'm going to have to read up on that. I've been hearing it but really don't know what it is. Enjoy.

ArcticFox said...

having had man-flu - which is probably something very similar to viral pneumonia but much worse.... not that we men like to complain about it.... I can sympathise with the bullock!

angryparsnip said...

Wow, your fields greened up so nicely the sheep and lambs look so perfect on them. Tourist perfect !

I hope I am not so pushy but I so enjoy being able to see your farm, so completely different from where I live. Plus love the chickens !

cheers, parsnip

mumasu said...

I think lambs, oh how lovely, but probably like any baby, not great having to be up on cold night/early mornings helping the ewes give birth then do the rest of the day's work on the farm. It all looks so pastoral and just "quintessential", its got to be bloody hard work.

H said...

I've been spotting loads of lambs on our journeys around crags. I do love to see them wandering around with their mothers or bouncing around with their peers. That four footed 'harrier jump jet' leap makes me laugh every time!

Pneumonia is nasty, so I am glad to hear that your bullock guest is not as rattly as he was. I hope he makes a swift recovery.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you for visiting.