I am bushed so this may be a short one.
Spent the day looking around Auckland Zoo with Linda, Matthew & William whilst Bill did l/t.
We saw lions, tigers, notters (hurrah) giraffe, hippo, rhino & loads more.
It is a lovely zoo & the enclosures are at least attempting to replicate the conditions the animals would live in their natural habitat.
Then back here for dinner, kids bath-time & bed.
Bath-time was very funny. Bill's youngest William is a 'mini-me' of Bill.
Identical, right down to the facial expressions. I remarked to Linda that I felt a bit odd watching a mini-Bill in the bath.
I desperately wanted a lie-in this morning but the 1st text awoke me at 0519 (no names, no pack drill) after that I dozed until 0730 when the traffic noise commenced.
It's a noise I haven't heard in 3 months & I would be happy never to hear it again.
I wanted to tell you about my last day at Marfell Downs whilst it's fresh in my memory as it was a corker.
After saying goodbye to everyone I carried on with my packing.
I wanted to try & be clean & tidy for getting on the ferry so had decided that I would leave the lambing run to Mike & just have a farewell bike ride with Don & Chum before leaving.
Mike had other ideas.
At 0930 he came & found me & said 'This is it ... an up to the elbows job ... if you want it?'
He had promised me before I left that he would find me a tricky lambing. One where I would have to go 'up to the elbows'
The lamb was presented feet-first & the ewe had no chance of lambing alone.
She was in the windiest, coldest paddock on the farm.
Before we left the kitchen, Mike told me to find vegetable oil as a lubricant.
All I could find was extra-virgin, 1st pressed olive oil, nothing but the best for Mike's lambs.
As I was lubing my arm I said it was the 1st lamb to be marinaded whilst still in the womb.
The 1st part of the lamb trying to make an entrance was it's hocks.
It was such a big lamb that there was no way the ewe could pass it.
Mike told me to put my hand inside, push the lamb back through the cervix & then, grasping hold of one back foot at a time, pull the feet around so that the feet were exiting 1st. On top of the physical strength needed to do this in such a tight space he said 'Don't forget to try & cover the feet with the palm of your hand, otherwise the feet can tear the uterus' Mmm, not much to ask then.
He also stressed the need to work quickly as the insides of the ewe can be so tight that they cut off the blood circulation to the arm meaning you lose feeling in your fingers.
I have to say I was quite nervous about this lambing as I didn't want to tear the ewe's uterus. Apart from the fact that it's a live animal, each ewe is part of Mike's livelihood & too valuable to damage.
After a couple of minutes I managed to push the lamb back in but couldn't get sufficient leverage on the lamb to turn it's legs the right way around.
At this point he took over & only when the legs were pointing the right way did I resume trying to pull the lamb out.
It was a huuuge lamb as you will see by the photo, at least half the length of the ewe & I had to actually step on the ewe to get sufficient leverage to pull him out.
Unfortunately, he was stillborn.
Mike said what had probably happened was that the ewe had been incorrectly scanned as a twin when in fact she was expecting a single. She had been fed enough for 2 lambs which had made the one she did have too large to come out easily.
It was disappointing that the lamb was dead but worse still that the smell did not leave my hands for at least 48 hours, despite numerous hand-washings & I knew I was headed for the North & civilisation.
My other first last week was skinning a lamb on Friday.
When a ewe loses a lamb, if there is another lamb available, you skin the dead one & drape it's skin over the live one so as not to waste the ewe's milk.
I had told Mike that I would skin the next dead lamb.
I don't think he really believed me, but I had watched him do a couple & thought I could make a decent job of it.
I know it sounds distasteful & I apologise if any of you are eating but my rationale for doing it was that farming is made up of good bits & bad bits. If I am to seriously think I can make it as a farmer then I need to know as much as possible.
On Friday my opportunity came when a ewe had a still-born lamb & I was looking after 3 orphans. We took one of the orphans & I placed the skin I had taken & put it over the orphan. I will spare you the details of how exactly I did it as I know some of you are soft townies. Suffice to say I was given a 9 out of 10 for style & a 2 out of 10 for the time it took.
The fleece was intact & I was impressed with myself anyway.
The good news was that the ewe which had the still-born lamb accepted the impostor, so the skinning was worthwhile.
I had a phone-call from Mike yesterday whilst driving to Auckland. I had asked him, upon leaving, to look after Don for me. I felt guilty because, having established a routine for Don where he was off his chain every afternoon for a couple of hours & accompanying me, he was going to be chained again all day. The sad thing is, Chris said he was useless & I thought that if I were on a chain for 23 hours & 30 mins of each day then I would do my own thing when I was finally let off too.
Anyway, I'm ranting.
The point being that I had asked Mike to let him off for me.
The highlight of my day was that he told me, not only had he taken him out & worked him but he was contemplating buying him from Chris as he needs a nice quiet eye dog.
Anyway, I have spent the last 30 mins chatting with Q & am bushed so will call it a night.
Take care you lot,
Nite-nite,
Cx
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