Just for a change..............here's the cattle in the snow. They're beef boys, not dairy girls. Did I mention I'm a vegetarian?

Results

Hmmm Not the best news. 17 singletons, 11 not showing (could be late lambs), 36 triplets of which 4 are QUADS! Chances of all 4 lambs surviving is pretty slim but there's also a danger to the ewe and she's worth good money. It's a financial equation. All the rest are twins, which is what you want. Anyway, I'll be 'mekkin ready' to spring into action with the triplets/quads if the mother can't feed them.

This is last year. If I look competent it's because it's the end of the feeding season. When I started 2 years ago there was more milk on me than in the lambs.

Did you know that pregnant sheep get scanned? I didn't either. Well today's the day. The scanning man arrives at the farm with his box of tricks, the ladies are lined up and, just like with human Mums, he runs the scanner over their tummies. The difference is that they then get a mark on their bum: red for singles, blue for triplets, no mark for twins. It's twins you want: sheep aren't designed to have 3 babies and one is likely to be weak or left out at feeding time. (That's where I come in, but more anon). Singletons aren't making good use of the ewe, economically speaking. So twins, please. Will let you know what we've got later.

Hungry mums-to-be

If I'd thought about it, I'd have realised that when there's snow on the ground there's no grass to eat. That means getting hay to the girls. So here we are a coupla days before Christmas with a take away for them.

Head 'em up, move 'em out.

Today we moved 150 pregnant ewes across a dual carriageway. Now this is not a normal day's work. The farm, which has been farmed by JT's family for over 100 years (he's the 4th generation), was split in two by this major road in the 1960s. An access bridge was provided but a month ago somebody ran into it. Not an easy feat. And now we can't use it until they take it down and provide a new one. So here we are, Bank Holiday Monday, all the family: Number 1 Son, Number 1 Daughter, Daughter-in-law on camera duty and Grandson PeeWee on observation detail. How things have changed............