This is us…

I think it all started with Scout, my loyal collie, in 2015. I'd just moved back home from nearly 20 years working in London and landed myself my dream job. Not even a year in, I heard a conversation in the office about some collie pups up for grabs.Without thinking (this is my super power!) I went to see them, spotted one with a wall eye and snapped her up for a quarter of the price of a pair of Jimmy Choo's! She has been my favourite thing ever since. She thinks the sheep are her family and spends most of her time either on the sofa or on my bed. I wouldn't be without her.

Scout & Me

Then in 2018 I took a call at the office, from a local shepherd and cattle farmer who was looking for some land to rent for hay. He mentioned his families flock of Shetland sheep and my ears pricked up. Off I went and without thinking (you see the pattern!) I bought 6 ewe lambs! Thankfully there was an old paddock opposite where I lived which suited them just fine.

Shetland ewes

There they grew (barely, Shetlands aren't very big!) and over the next year things were pretty uneventful.

17 orphans lambs came to join the gang which I loved. In amongst them were two texel cross ewe lambs which I still have. I named them Marylin and Tiny.

Marilyn

Later that year, I needed a tup so along came Chocolat. Scenes from the film Chocolat were filmed on the lake where I work. He got busy with the girls and then the wait began.

147-ish days later lambing began. Oh my days! What an amazing time this was! Triplets arrived first which was incredible. I couldn't quite believe it and then the lambs just kept on coming. Miriam only had one teat working and I made the stupid mistake of keeping the triplets with her even though I was advised not to. She contracted mastitis and now she can't get in lamb this year. Lesson no.1 learned. Jeez, so many lessons!

Going in to lock-down was actually a godsend. I'm lucky enough to live 5 minutes from their field so whilst still working from home I could keep an eye on everyone throughout lambing.

14 lambs were born from the 8 ewes. I filled my iphone with endless videos of the lambs larking about, sending streams of footage to friends and family, cheering up their lock-down misery! The weather was incredible and things were looking 'Rosie'!

And then the shit hit the fan! The only ram lamb I kept intact died in the summer. The triplets looked like they had a skin infection (they didn't!) and Marylin then got terrible fly strike and I kept thinking 'what the hell am I doing?'.

Thankfully I have some very patient and helpful friends. They are a million times more knowledgeable than me and always on hand with help and advice. This year was tough in a number of ways but there were so many things I learned. I hope I now have more of a grip on everything! I couldn't have done any of it without my laid back shepherd friend Keith. Without him on speed dial I'd be screwed!

Like everybody else, the rest of the summer has been a blur. Consisting mainly of hand gel and mask wearing. Covid took over everything. Thankfully work hasn't stopped. And in the blistering heat I taught myself how to make felted fleece rugs.

Then Ted arrived!

I keep saying to myself 'you can not let him end up as free spirited as Scout!'

As I type, he is not in a kennel in the garden as he should be but curled up at my feet on the sofa! So today in the driving wind and rain, I hot-footed it to Dads farm. I borrowed 10 hurdles in order to set up a pen. I'll stick the ewe lambs in and begin another 'if you don't try you'll never know' exercise and start training him to be an incredibly useful collie!

Watch this space...