Lambs & Pigs

Sadly we lost another lamb, the black ewe that we have been struggling with. One minute she was fine and the next dead! We were going to stick with the two and then we got another phone call asking if we wanted a 3 week old Ram who's mother had died the night before.

So just as I thought I was finished with bottle feeding, it was time to dig the stuff out again. This poor little boy was a little shell shocked, he was missing his mum and was not use to humans at all. It was going to be a struggle to bottle feed him. He is a big lamb for 3 weeks, big legs and small body, so he was named Shanks.
Initially we kept him in the Turkey house on his own until he got a bit more use to us. Bottle feeding was a fight every time, but we managed to get some milk into him.

After a couple of days we decided to let him run with the other two, hoping that he would get more comfortable around us when he could see the other two being handled by us. It has worked to a degree, but I still have to catch him and fight with the bottle. He is copying the others and eating grass and leaves, so I'm not too worried, he will just be a lot slower growing. The other two are as fat as anything and come running as soon as they hear my voice or a tub of nuts rattling. Chops will definitely make it to the freezer before the others as he is very large.

Finally Pigs! They are on the way. We popped down to choose our two from the litter and will be picking them up in just over a week.
The mother is a Duroc cross and the father is a Gloucester Old Spot cross Duroc cross Tamworth. The mother is very big, but so gentle and therefore the piglets have her temperament. With getting them so late it means we could be struggling with the weather later in the year when we are finishing them off. On a plus it will be cooler when we butcher them and they will get more goodies from the poly tunnel.

We haven't decided on any names yet. Any suggestion? Does my little naming guru have any thoughts? They are both boys (I think).
Looking forward to their arrival. Our little smallholding will then be complete for this year.

Cheers
Stella xx