Devonshire April & May 16

quiet weekend retreat during
March. Edward was busy
in the kitchen preparing a
wonderful casserole for dinner,
the log fire was lit and the
red wine warming. Suddenly
Catherine, the mum, appeared
at the kitchen door and asked
me if there would be a spare
place for dinner as her medical
friend, who practises near
Taunton, would love to pop over
to see lambing first hand. My
mind was working overtime
and I thought, two doctors,
should know what they’re
talking about, maybe I could
have a quiet evening without
having to pull those blinking
sweaty rubber trousers and
boots on and off all evening to
check the yard. I very quickly
said... “Of course, she is very
welcome.”
12 of us were sat around our
lovely large oak table, the
laughter was amazing, the
chat, the friendship and the
food wasn’t bad either. Just
before supper, a ewe was
showing the first signs of
lambing, star gazing, looking
towards her rear end thinking
what the devil is going on and
of course a bit of bed making
as she pawed the ground. I
excused myself from the table
just to check progress and on
returning was bombarded with
offers to check next time so
that I could enjoy my supper.
Feeling happy that nothing
was untoward, I settled down
to apple crumble and custard,
just delicious. My two resident
Doctors raised themselves from
their comfy chairs, donned
their operating clothes (same
as me, rubber trousers and
wellies!) and they disappeared
into the night air to do their
duty and monitor my dear ewe.
Lambing aparatus!
The 'Burco' is for boiling water.
The kids were in hot pursuit
as well and soon ran back
in and told me that all
was well and a foot was in
evidence. Not disturbed, I was
enjoying a quiet evening and
an uninterrupted supper. I
started to feel slightly uneasy
as a half an hour passed and
no positive report from the
medical team. Instinct told
me to get up and wake up - the
dream of another glass of wine
disappeared. I walked down
to the lambing yard which was
lit, but a bit dimpsey as the
strip lights weren’t the best
in the world and 2 weren’t
working (that was fixed early
the next morning – after a quiet
word to the boys, quiet being
the operative word, action
immediate!).
I approached the medical team
quietly as quiet is the name of
the game in my yard. There
were smiles all round as I asked
them what was occurring.
“No problems Janet, a foot
showing”
I looked at the ewe and to be
fair, the light was not brilliant,
but I recognised immediately
that my trusty medical team
had mistaken a foot for a
tail. As quick as lightening, I
issued instructions, one to hold
the ewe, which I had already
calmly caught and got into the
corner of the pen, one to fetch
the antiseptic lube (lovely blue
Janet East is the proprietor
at Yellingham Farm, also
running a Farmhouse B&B
establishment
www.yellinghamfarm.co.uk
01404 850272
jelly stuff) and the rest to just
watch. The lamb was coming
backwards. To deliver a breech
lamb, the first thing I had to
do was to bring the rear legs
forward. Once the rear legs
were forward, time was against
me as I had to deliver the
lamb quickly because once the
umbilical cord breaks, the lamb
will begin breathing and could
risk drowning in its own fluids.
Every one was quiet as I did
my best to deliver a live lamb.
In no time at time we were all
smiling as a wonderful strong
Jacob ram lamb came into the
world. No problems at all. At
the time, faces were quite
serious, but once back in the
comfort of the lounge, finishing
FARM CALENDAR
APRIL
• Build large pens in the field for catching up ewes
and lambs.
• Continue to take out ewes and lambs to the field.
• Turn out the Bullocks – tails in the air and off
they go.
• Decide which fields to let up for hay.
• Clean out lambing sheds and disinfect when
lambing finishes.
• Start, yet again, mending fences as lambs find
holes that didn’t exist.
MAY
• Chain harrow fields which are dry enough.
• Roll fields.
• Worm lambs.
• Vaccinate lambs – 2 injections 2 to 4 weeks apart.
• Trim ewes feet after housing.
• Book a back massage following above task!
Janet feeding lambs. Triplets are a problem as sheep only cater for 2 lambs at a time (having only 2 teats!)
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