A view of Ash Hill Farm

The lambing this year was a fairly average affair with its moments of joy and sadness. I ended with 85 lambs - an average of one and a half per ewe. Some of the new members of the flock were only lambs from the previous year and couldn't be expected to be very productive.

Two months prior to lambing the ewes were given a copper injection to prevent a condition called swayback in the newborn lamb. This is caused by a lack of available copper in the diet of the pregnant ewe which leads to a degeneration of certain parts of the brain in the developing lamb. The lambs from these ewes are unable to stand when born and have to be held up to suckle. This is a very difficult task as the mother will never stay still. When the affected lambs are older and able to stand their hind quarters sway around and they fall to one side.

Ewe and lambs

Luckily I didn't have to have the vet out to any of the lambings although I nearly did for one. This particular ewe had been straining to lamb for some time, so I decided to investigate. The lamb's front legs were back and they needed to be pulled forward before it could be born. The lamb was large and the ewe hadn't got much room. I tried desperately to perform the task but with no success. I knew that if she didn't produce the lamb soon it would be born dead.

To save time I decided to phone for the vet. The operator said the vet would contact me before he started out. I waited and waited but no phone call came, so I contacted the operator again and was told that the message had been sent through and the vet was probably on another case. There was no more time to lose. I pulled myself together and made another attempt. This time I was successful and delivered a strong lively lamb, although it was very yellow due to the stress. I felt very chuffed with myself.

Big Daddy

The spring was very late this year which resulted in the cattle having to be hand fed for most of April which severely depleted the hay stocks.

Ploughing

Spring ploughing was started in late April. This was later than I would have liked but I was behind with all of the farm work because of a knee injury sustained while dancing.

A straight furrow

The job went well as the sun shone most of the time and it was a real pleasure to do. Spring barley was eventually planted. The variety was Tipple which is a malting variety, but it is doubtful if it will make the grade.

Swath turner

The summer has been the worst on record and haymaking has been the same. The first field was made in good condition but thereafter everything went rapidly downhill. The next piece took me five weeks to get it made, baled and into the barn. It was very black and was baled before it was completely fit due to the gloomy weather forecast, consequently it got warm and sweated. One local farmer asked me if I was going to enter it into the shitty hay competition!

The uncut hay had by this time been pushed tight onto the ground by the rain and it was difficult to distinguish between the areas that had been cut and those that had not. Anyway, I kept plodding away at the depressing task and eventually finished haymaking on the 3rd of October.
Email: mc-swerford@hotmail.co.uk