Sunburst gets National sucess

Lambing and kidding is almost over for another year, but is still underway so we have been unable to attend the National Show in person, we have however entered Sunburst's fleece into the fleece show.

Sunburst had a fantastic result, not only did he win the adult grey class he also won the adult champion (with eighty odd points)!!!!  Yes a grey won the adult champion, anyone who knows anything about shows knows that in the main age championships are won by the whites or light fawns so for a grey to win is fabulous, and for it to be our grey you can imagine how proud we are.

To celebrate his success we decided to offer him his first lady!  The lucky lady was Carol, a head strong fawn girl, who soon succumbed to his good looks and manly charm.

Sunburst is unbeaten in the show ring, both halter and fleece. He was champion grey at the Westmorland Halter Show, Champion Grey at the Futurity and now Adult Champion at the National.  He already has a number of lucky ladies for whom is acquaintance is booked  For further details of Sunburst and his stats check out his stud page.

On the goat front I'm pleased to report that Nutmeg is proving to be a fantastic mum and is looking after all three of her kids.  Wall flower is the only one left to go.

The last of the Shetlands birthed yesterday, she has had a tiny, and I mean tiny little lamb.  I've named her pip squeak, who is currently living in front of the Aga.  just to give you some idea of her size I've put the egg timer next to her for comparison

Traumatic birth for Nutmeg

At last Nutmeg has produced!!!

 

I actually had the vet out to her last Thursday as I was worried, she's been so big for so long and has had a bag full of milk for weeks.  Compared to the others she just wasn't the same, I was also worried I'd not seen much if any movement the day before.

 

It turns out that she had a double hernia, one on each side, these ruptures were what were making her look do big, it also turned out that she had the beginnings of mastitis too.  The vet concluded that she wasn't quite ready, but advised me that when she was it was very unlikely that she would be able to deliver the kids without assistance.

 

We were at Wallington Hall on Sunday and Monday with the alpacas, but as I didn't want to leave Nutmeg Carol and Dave had thankfully agreed to help out.

 

On Monday morning I thought that she was thinking about going into labour so I was keeping a very close eye on things.

 

Eventually at tea time she went into labour.  As Sam, the vet had predicted poor Nutmeg couldn't deliver the kids, she couldn't even present me with a nose or toes, so it was down to me.

 

On first inspection it was evident that the first kid had it's head tucked down and there were no legs.  After a bit of rummaging I managed to get the first kid delivered, there wasn't much room so it was hard work.

 

Then for number two, another wrong presentation, this time upside down and breech!  I really struggled with this one and came very close to calling the vet out.  Poor Nutmeg was a star, despite be being almost up to my elbows at one point.

 

Off I went to wash my hands and leave her to a bit of bonding with her sons, but when I returned it was evident that there was more.  A third kid, and a third mis presented kid, breech again, but with the other two out of the way there was more room to get this one sorted.

Aren't they sweet!

 

And here's the proud daddy, Galileo.

Thankfully I managed to sort out Nutmegs mastitis so she is looking after all three kids on her own - phew!

 

This birth has to go down as the most difficult I have ever had to deal with, but I'm pleased with the outcome.  Nutmeg won't be bred again so I'm glad to say that the third kid was a girl!

Spot the difference?!

Lots of cuteness!!

I had all the intension of blogging last night with lots of baby photo's as I'd managed to get some nice sunny shots in between lambing duties.

However the day turned out to be one of assisted birth after assisted birth, all of which were single tup lambs incidentally.  There were a couple of well and truly stuck ones including one of the little Shetland girls who had a lovely brown tup lamb stuck which was sadly dead, despite me giving it the kiss of life (not a pleasant taste but worth a try)! 

One of the blackie lambs I ended up lambing with a leg back because I just couldn't move it, but both mum and lamb were none the worse for their ordeal.  The others including Ruby's (pet Texel sheep) lamb which looks about a month old already are doing well.

The twin goat kids have gone from strength to strength and have been out in the sunshine.

Ardent

 April

 



Angel

Last night they were joined by another set of twins, this time billys.  It was all a bit traumatic again, I nipped out just after 10 to make sure all was well in the shed and I found goatie Willow pushing so I ran back inside for my hat and coat as it was freezing.

To cut a very long, cold and tiring story short, just like the last set of twins they were very weak and slow but I finally managed to get to bed just after two for a hour before I was back up to check on them and put them on mum.

Finally this evening the second boy managed to get the hang on what to do and is now feeding from mum without any interference from me.  Aren't they all sweet!

Back on the subject of alpacas, the new girls are settling in well, Elysian was quite vocal initially but she has settled down now which is good and they are certainly enjoying the view.

 

As is Sunburst!  He will have a date with both girls in due course; patience is a virtue Mr!

 

By the way Barbara it was Appletrees who bought the girls up and they were good, lovely couple and the girls got star treatment!

Exciting arrivals

Today has been a great day for special arrivals, this morning, shortly before 5am my first Shetland gave birth to a lovely pair of dark brown twin girls, they are the cuties things ever.  Sadly one of them didn't make it but the other is a lovely healthy little girl with a huge pair of lungs.

Then this afternoon we had another very special delivery, which came in the biggest waggon ever to make it up our little track! 



 When I saw the size of it I did phone down to say there was nowhere to turn round and there were a couple of sharp bends, but Bruce was confident he could make it safely, and so he did!

Inside were our two grey girls that we bought whilst at the Futurity, Elysian and Strawberry Hill.  They are fab and soon settled in to watching the numerous chickens who came to introduce themselves.

 

Both girls are from Nyetimber, who I see did very well at the Heart of England last weekend.  We are very excited about them and what they will produce for us, and I'm sure our Champion Grey Sunburst will be equally as excited when he casts his eyes on them!

 

Oh and I nearly forgot, happy birthday Paul!

 

 



Like buses & meet Jedward

I really really wanted to blog last night but it was one of those days, which turned into one of those evenings.

Mid morning when mum and I popped in for a cup of tea, having checked the goats on the way in, mum went out to tea dad I'd made him a coffee then came banging and shouting at the window 'she's had twins'! 

I went flying out the house, bare foot and ran across the yard.  In all the excitement it took me a couple of minutes to realise it wasn't actually Nutmeg it was Wren (who was about a third the size of Nutmeg) that has actually given birth.

Meet Wren, April (left) and Angel (right).

These girls are showing all the signs of prematurity and to be honest I was very worried about them, but after a phone call to the vets and lots of advice for fellow goatie people on Twitter the girls are getting stronger.

 

Angel who resembled splat the cat sprawled out is getting stronger and can get about a bit, she now only has one very weak leg so I'm hopeful we'll get there with her.

 

I soon realised that Whisper was also showing signs of labour and mid afternoon after a lot of noise out popped a billy kid.  He is much stronger and bigger than the girls and I've named him Ardent.

Then on my last sheep round before picking Paul up from the airport there was a ewe out in the field lambing with a very stuck lamb.  After trying to catch her single handed I called mum for back up; safely caught and lamb delivered she was back to the shed for the night to make sure she bonded with her huge tup lamb.  Only to find Mia, my pet sheep had escaped and was helping herself to the haylage!

 

Eventually I got away (rather late) to pick Paul up and left my poor mum with a rather long job list which she was still working her way through on our return.

 

Today was another big day, we were delivering Seymour, Leonidas and Olly-Impic to their new home with Pat & Eric, who were obviously very excited.

 

After a bit of gentle persuasion the boys were soon off exploring.

And came across Jedward!!!

I did manage to say bye, and didn't let anyone see the tear (I said bye to them alone yesterday), but they'll be back for shearing next month and they aren't far away so I'll be visiting; visitation rights are a must!

One out, all out

No I'm not talking goats, there is no change in that department.  At this rate Nutmegs milk will have gone off by the time she births!

With the temperatures warming and the grass starting to turn green if nothing else, I've finally decided that the girls should stay out over night.  I've been a real softie with them and kept putting it off and letting them come into the barn at night as they've been queuing up at the gate.

Last night they weren't so bothered so I thought unless it was raining tonight they would stay out, so they've all stayed out and seemed fine when I went out to check them with my torch!!



I thought after yesterdays shot from the sheep field you might like to get some idea of scale of the place, this photo was taken at the weekend from the Elsdon hill.

 The alpacas have one half of the bottom 100 acres and the sheep the other and the sheep get the top too.  If you click it should enlarge!  Here's a close up of the alpaca section.

Firstly a goat update - nothing!!  Absolutely nothing from Nutmeg yet, I've decided goats are as bad as alpacas for keeping their legs crossed.  How on earth Nutmeg is keeping things in is beyond me, things are so loose at the back end and her teats are so full of milk you'd think things would be falling out from both places!

Lambing is continuing to be slow, this morning we had a pair of tup lambs born, thankfully I was on hand to see as the second lamb was breach.  Had I not have been there I very much doubt he would have made it.

As it is both boys are up and about and exploring with mum, this ewe likes her food so the boys had to run to keep up at tea time.

The ewe lamb born on Friday is growing well, she's enjoying having a run and jump now and seems pleased to have a few playmates.

 

Whilst I was watching the twins being born earlier I took a long range shot of the weanlings field, I wonder if any of the new owners can spot their boys or girls?!