Blog - News & updates from Salutation Farm

Berry gave birth to her calf this morning. Martyn checked on her at around 8.30am before we set off for a Hampshire Down area meeting in Halifax. He rang to say that the water sack was out and the legs and nose were visible. He went to fill the pickup up with diesel and when he returned she gave birth unaided 10 minutes later.

On our return from Halifax this afternoon we checked on the calf who appeared content. Sadly a text message informed us that a Lleyn ewe had rigged and died. Our happiness turned to sadness as we had to retrieve her and take her to the Hurworth Hunt kennels.

Me and my Mummy

It’s been a busy week with the sheep.

We had our 6 shearlings (4 Hamps and 2 Lleyns) sheared on Tuesday evening after work and they have over wintered well.

Martyn and I took a day off work on Friday as the sheep were blood tested for  Maedi Visna. The vet also put back a prolapse on one of the Lleyns.

We spent Saturday gathering up the lambs and sheep for sale as we expected buyers coming to collect lambs on Sunday morning and another potential buyer viewing stock on Sunday afternoon.

Just as I was settling down to watch Casualty Martyn shouted to say one of the Lleyn shearlings had a wobbly leg.

The Lleyn had jumped out of it’s pen and had broken a back leg. A quick browse through the internet detailed how to pack, splint and bandage  the injury. A visit to the vets today for plaster bandage seems to have stabilised the leg.

Rive Malik arrived early  this morning from Nottinghamshire to collect his 3 ewe lambs. Rive is 15 years old and after sitting his A levels is considering a career in agriculture.

Another young man Joseph Watkinson arrived with his Dad this afternoon and have purchased  6 ewe lambs to start a flock.

We are pleased that these two young people are keen to keep livestock and will offer them as much support as we possibly can.

We have finished lambing and the ewes and lambs are now outside. Martyn was in danger of being knocked off his feet when he was trying to feed the sheep so we have invested in a sheep snacker. After much deliberation we have bought a basic machine that drops feed in piles. It is only the second time we have used it today but the sheep now know the routine.

Only four lleyns to lamb thank goodness.

We started on the 8th March and with any luck should be finished soon. It’s been really cold – even in the barn. We purchased extra heat lamps to give the newborns a chance. They only get about 24 hours worth of heat before they are needed for the next lambs but at least it helps to keep the chill off them.

We are looking for a trained sheepdog to help us with the sheep- as Martyn says”Glynis can’t run as fast these days.”

We are still waiting for 3 Hampshires to lamb. It seems a long time since we lambed most of the ewes in December.

One of the lleyn ewes who is expecting triplets has been coming down when Martyn feeds them but she has not been eating any food. We contacted the vet and gave her a large dose of calcium and a sheep drench to treat ketosis and acetonemia.  Within a few hours she was eating again and is looking much happier. It would have been so easy to have missed this if Martyn hadn’t spent some time observing the sheep.