Lambing started early. A black first timer had triplets in the field and lost one. Then an old ewe lost one of her twins. I brought in another ewe that seemed to be ready. Her water bag came, but only one leg presented itself, and I had a huge struggle to push the lamb back in and turn it. At my second attempt I managed it, and a lovely black ewe lamb was born. However later that evening she had a second, and I was just too tired to get to it in time; another dead lamb. Worse was to come. In the morning I found one of our best ewes, hugely pregnant, lying dead in the field. Another ewe had lambed, but only one had survived. Later that day we brought a first-timer in, as she was clearly near lambing; somehow I managed not to be in the right place at the right time, and she lost both lambs. The carnage of this dreadful, heartbreaking start to lambing is as good a reason to give up sheep as I can imagine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lambing started early. A black first timer had triplets in the field and lost one. Then an old ewe lost one of her twins. I brought in another ewe that seemed to be ready. Her water bag came, but only one leg presented itself, and I had a huge struggle to push the lamb back … <\/p>\n