No New Lambs
We haven't had any new arrivals but I took some photographs of the three oldest lambs. "Original Mum's" lamb is still very little and stays close to her. She didn't come over when I brought some food for them, whereas the other three mums came over this time (they didn't on the weekend) and the three lambs played while the ewes ate the pellets and chaff I brought. I have named one "Floppy" because one ear is bent and droopy. "Floppy" is "Big Baby's" lamb and she is a girl. "Cross's" lamb is a girl, no name yet. "Original Mum's" lamb is a boy, however he is a full merino, so I might keep him as a wether just for wool. But I don't know whether "Flystrike's" lamb is a boy or girl yet (photo above). All the lambs are lovely.
I have included a photo of the three together to show the difference between the cross breed and the full merinos. "Cross's" lamb is the one on the left with smooth skin and no 'wrinkles'. The other two are merinos. From my understanding the 'wrinkles' increase the surface area so you get more wool. But they also increase the potential for getting flystrike from flies laying their eggs in the moist folds of skin. Now, since mulsing is not allowed any more (not that I would have done that anyway), I will have to find out what the alternatives are for reducing the skin folds and reducing the risk of flystrike. One of our ewes, "Flystrike", got flystruck in the first year we had her. We had another lamb with flystrike last year (or the year before, I can't remember) when we did the crutching, so she had to be fully shorn - we caught it just in time or we would have lost her. It's pretty awful - the fly maggots start eating the sheep's skin. Needless to say, I don't want that happening again.
"Ebony's" pregnant belly didn't seem as big today. Maybe the lamb has moved and is getting ready to be born ... here's hoping.

Miracle Lamb
This morning I saw that one ewe was apart from the rest with a new lamb and went over to say hello, expecting it to be "Spotty Ears". But when I got closer I could see it was a merino, it was "Original Mum". Now, she had a lamb eight days ago, I called it "Sparkle" and it died the next day. Now she was having another lamb ... I have not seen nor heard of that happening before. The lamb seemed to be very weak though (above). Sometimes lambs are jumping around and bleating noisily within a matter of hours.
On Monday "Pinkie" had a very small and weak lamb (below). Of course I was hoping it would be all right but I found it dead the next morning and I wasn't surprised. Steven buried it for me. I know I sound blaze about it now, but I realise that it's survival of the strongest.
More lambs have died this year than in any previous year. We lost two the first year (one through a birthing problem and one after Polo died) but this year we have lost three already and we haven't finished lambing yet. Last year we didn't lose any. It has been pretty cold though and they don't have access to the shed. But even if they have access they don't always go in there for protection. It was bad timing. Next time I will time it so that they are in the paddock next to the shed, hopefully.

Another Lamb Gone

Today when I checked the sheep there were only three lambs. "Big Baby's" second twin was no where to be found. I have no idea what happened to it. I walked up and down the paddock and couldn't even find the poor little thing. We haven't had any new arrivals and have three ewes still to lamb. I have included some photos of the little mothers. One is of "Flystrike" and her lamb, who seems to be having diarrhoea problems. These photos were taken yesterday and today the lamb seemed better. In fact today the three lambs seemed bigger, more steady and faster. I have also included a photo of "Ebony" and her ever increasing stomach. This is her first lamb and so if she hasn't had her lamb or lambs by next weekend I am thinking of calling the vet in to make sure everything is okay.

Gained a Lamb & Lost a Lamb
Yesterday we gained a new lamb and lost a lamb. When I went out in the morning I found "Sparkle" frozen dead. It was a very cold night because that morning we had no water at all because the pipes were frozen. Sparkle's mum (Original Mum) did not keep her warm enough. The other lambs were fine, even the tiny twins. While I was standing with her debating whether to leave the lamb there for a while so that her mum could be with her for a bit longer, Tabby (one of our cats) came too close to investigate and she charged him and head butted him. She was okay with me though. I picked her up and took her out of the paddock and her mum let me do it.
Little Sparkle was beautiful, she was white as white and her fleece, what little there was of it, was glossy ... she would have been beautiful. Because I had to go to work I put her in a feed bag under some corrugated iron to be buried in the afternoon.
While I was at work Steve's girlfriend rang when they got home after school to tell me that another sheep had a lamb (she rang to tell me this to cheer me up). Also, knowing how upset I was, Steven buried Sparkle for me. He is very sweet and understanding sometimes.
When I came home I visited them again and saw that "Flystrike" was the ewe who had lambed that day. All the lambs seem to be getting stronger each day, jumping around after their mothers. The mums are very protective and won't let me too close, although I can get closer than Steve. It panics them when someone else comes into their paddock.
I have included a picture of "Big Baby" and her twins. I haven't taken a photo of "Flystrike" yet, maybe tomorrow. "Ebony" is due any day now ... I thought she would be first. I do hope she doesn't have any problems, she seems very heavy ... maybe twins.

Four New Lambs!
This morning while feeding the chickens I noted three sheep apart from the rest and sure enough all three of them had lambs. When I got there they looked like they had only just been born. The rest of the sheep and Bobbie didn't even know they'd been born. "Original Mum", a merino, had a beautiful white lamb whose fleece shone in the morning sun, so I will call her/him "Sparkle" or "Sparkie" if it is a boy, and it will be kept either way for its fleece. None of the mums would let me get close enough to see whether they were boys or girls. Maybe I'll have a better look over the next few days. "Cross", a cross breed as the name suggests, had one lamb too, although I thought she may have twins like last time. Her lamb was a dirty colour, but that was probably more from dirt that the colour of the fleece. "Big Baby", another merino, had twins like last time, although one seems a bit weak. I haven't included a photo of her twins, as in the photo I took in the morning one lamb appeared to be dead, which I took sort of as a record. But as I got closer I could see it was still breathing and it actually raised its head and bleated. In the afternoon just before sunset both twins were sitting together and seemed quite perky. I saw one feed but not the other, so I have my fingers crossed that the weaker one survives. Another ewe, "Ebony", my black sheep, is about to have her lamb/s any day. I thought she would have hers first but obviously not. Only 7 of my 10 ewes are pregnant (I think) but "Ebony" is the only imminent birth, as the others aren't any where near as big, so the lambing will probably be a drawn out process.

Visiting Playmates
Yesterday morning the cows were at the top of the hill in the morning and I started to count them as I usually do and there were two more. My fence mending skills are obviously not good enough, as the two little steers from next door have decided to come through to visit Harry at his place. I don't mind them being there but we will have 'fun' separating them when the time comes.

New Vegie Tank

Last Friday I had a new tank installed in the vegie garden. Instead of getting a stand made, the guy at the tank shop suggested I put the tank on an earth ring. Which is like a two foot slice of a corrugated iron tank filled with crushed 'blue metal' or road base. Because there isn't enough water in the shed cement tank at the moment, I connected hoses and poly pipe and filled one rung from the tap being fed from the tank at the top of the hill, just so the tank didn't blow away. The guys who installed the tank said it wouldn't blow away but I just had to be sure.

Then on Saturday I started weeding my vegie garden. It is going to take me a lot of weekends to get the garden free of weeds and ready to put on the wooden sides that Dad helped me buy. But with the temperatures we are having at the moment, it is a long time until Spring. I am a bit worried about whether my hands are up to the job, though. I take medication to mask the pain of my arthritis but my hands don't seem to have the strength I thought they used to have. I guess I will need to build that strength back again. This is a before photograph of my garden, so that later I can see how much work I have actually done.

I have another little story from the weekend. On Friday morning I walked down the back to visit my cows. Since I don't have time to visit them in the morning and it is dark by the time I get home, I don't see the cows until Friday and the weekend. When I got down the back I could only see five of them, but I could hear Harry mooing off in the distance ... the neighbour's paddock! I knew the tank guys were arriving mid morning so I thought I'd have an attempt at getting him back but if it didn't work I would try on Saturday. In the neighbour's paddock Harry was hanging out with two young steers about his age. They seemed to be in this paddock by themselves - there were no other cows but there was a mob of sheep over the other side. I think Harry had been having a fine old time with his new found friends. I found a low bit of fence that he could have jumped over but as hard as I tried I could not get him to try jumping back over again. I gave up and came back on Saturday. This time I walked further down to see if there was another low spot in the fence, and found a gaping hole in the fence across the gully. I had checked this not long ago and thought it was sound, but obviously not. I pushed back any sharp ends and climbed through myself. Harry and his new friends saw me coming up the hill towards them and they got to their feet. I told Harry to say goodbye to his friends because he was coming home. I had a little bit of running around to separate them and then got Harry heading down the hill towards the gully. But that's all it took, as soon as he saw the gully he went straight down and through the hole in the fence and ran off mooing looking for the others. I had a bit of bale twine with me and pulled the mesh wire down and patched the hole by tying a bit of wood to the bottom. It took practically no effort at all getting him down to the hole and through. It was as if he knew that the game was up and he had to go home. My eldest son says that animals are stupid and that they don't think like humans, but I sometimes think that they know what I'm saying and they know what I want them to do. Maybe they don't but sometimes I wonder.

Garden Plans
Mum & Dad have just gone home after visiting for a week. They wouldn't normally visit in July as it is too cold for them, but I went down to Sydney for four days including driving to attend a 40-Year Rotaract Reunion and asked them to be here for Steven. Then of course Dad proceeded to do the multitude of little fix-it jobs that needed to be done while Mum generally pampered me by cooking and washing up. I also took the week off work (mostly) and helped Dad, and also slept in when I could.
Earlier in the week I also sold our old 1991 Toyota Cressida for parts, which was disappointing but I am glad it is not my problem now and has gone to a good home. On Thursday Dad helped me select and measure some seconds wood from the Recycled Yard for the borders of my vegie garden. The photograph shows the wood propped up in the trailer ready for me to put them to use when I start weeding the old vegie garden next weekend.
Today I cleared a six foot diameter patch in the vegie garden area for a tank that will be delivered on Friday morning. The plan is to pump the water from the cement shed tank when it rains and store it in the new tank, before it has a chance to leak away. I will access this water via a tap and water the garden with either drip irrigation or the good old fashioned watering can (which I prefer as it is all part of slowing down). I have also included a photograph of the area that I cleared. I hope it is sufficiently cleared for installing the tank, which is going to stand on an earth ring instead of a stand. I will include a photograph when it is all finished next week.
Today we also moved the chicken coop to a new grassy area, and believe me the chickens appreciated the new area, running around pecking at the grass. I also have plans for a new chicken enclosure, but one thing at a time, I'll have to save up again following the tank and wood purchase, not to mention the fencing. By the way, the fencing hasn't started yet but will start next week, hopefully.