James, my brother, discovered one new lamb this morning – all was fine.

Aila, Dad and I went round later in the morning but we forgot our lambing bag with all the tools required for marking so it was really just a check.

We did a very rough count of the ewes with no lambs, roughly we have about 30 left to lamb.

Running

Dad and I went out in the afternoon. We marked nine lambs, some pretty quick ones. I ran round the field a few times to catch one of the lambs, I brushed the lamb with my sticks a number of times – you can imagine how frustrating that is when you are so close to catching it but you just miss it and it takes off! I  landed flat out on the grass in the process and the lamb still ran off!

We took in a ewe and lamb from the hill a couple of days ago, I had hoped Dad would leave the lamb to mark when we take all the lambs in as it is a strong and super fast lamb. Dad had other ideas so I was sent running round the field again.

We saw a couple of ewes near to lambing but not far enough on to assist. It can be really obvious picking out a ewe lambing – on her side and pushing. Other times it can be a bit more tricky and its watching their behaviour. Some ewes go off and find a quiet corner others are in the middle of the flock. They tend to be fairly restless or unsettled. Sniffing the ground and always returning to the same spot. They can be smelling other lambs too. There are three ewes I reckon in the field that will lamb in next 24 hours – let’s see if I am right!

Daisy

Daisy’s new Mum is not so keen on Daisy yet. It’s not uncommon for ewes not to accept the fostered lamb. Daisy is an older and bigger lamb so the ‘jacket’ form the dead lamb didn’t cover Daisy completely which may have a part in why she isn’t been accepted. She may yet accept her though. When we left, Daisy seemed to be nibbling on the ewe’s ears and the ewe wasn’t butting her – a good sign! Watch this space!