ONE DAY LIKE THIS (Part 15)
I Believe in Miracles (10 April - 16 April)
Welcome to another week of Sheep | Song | Photograph wherein I get to show off photographs I have made during this week in previous years, introduce you to some great music from one of my favourite singer/songwriters, and tell you about my trials and tribulations as a hill farmer in the North York Moors National Park. A special welcome to my new subscribers, it seems I have passed a small milestone this week, 100 subscribers, a milestone of which I’m ridiculously proud.
As usual, this post is possibly too long for email, so, to see it all, you’ll need to open it in your browser. I should also warn you there is a reasonably graphic description of a difficult lambing coming up. If you don’t want to read it, just fast forward to the first photo and you’ll be past it.
We are now well into our fourth week of lambing, the number of ewes left to pop theirs out is in single digits and tiredness coupled with aching limbs is the new normal. Our weather remains atypical for North Yorkshire at this time of year, i.e. sunny and warm with ewes and lambs alike living their best lives. I cannot even begin to explain the huge difference a run of weather like this makes to our lives but it is massive, truly massive. We always strive to do the best we can for all of our sheep but at this time of year if the weather is against us, compromises are made and jobs that need doing are put back in order to, first and foremost, save lives. So, when the weather is dry, sunny and warm for an extended period, and this current one is unprecedented, it doesn’t mean we are sat with our feet up, sipping pina coladas, it just means that more of the jobs that make our lives and that of our sheep that much better, get done in a timely fashion. We have had fewer sheep in the barn than ever before, not because there haven’t been problems or difficulties but because, once things are sorted, we’ve been able to return the ewes and lambs to the fields straightaway rather than wait for a decent weather day. And finally, ewes and lambs simply have less issues when the sun is shining. Ewes aren’t stressed, lambs don’t wander and nobody goes hungry.
Obviously, all of the above, is the general rule and individual problems will still occur, no matter how good the weather is and how much effort we put into our preparations. Last Saturday evening, we brought a ewe into the barn as she was struggling to give birth to twins. And for the first time in many, many years, my wife, Pip, was beaten. Inside the ewe she could feel two heads and six legs all in a hopeless tangle. Try as she might, she could not achieve the necessary separation to get one lamb or other out. Several hours passed and we eventually concluded that both lambs were dead and we would need veterinary assistance to get them out and save the life of the ewe. The vet arrived at 10:30pm and quickly confirmed our thoughts. She managed to loop a rope over one of the heads (not something you would do with a live lamb) and, between her and me, we managed to pull a lamb out. It took time and it wasn’t easy. The vet cast the lamb aside and then immediately attempted to remove the second one. As she was doing that we all became aware that the first lamb was moving. It was alive! We couldn’t believe it, an absolute miracle. The second one soon followed although that one sadly didn’t make it. The ewe was given the live lamb and, despite hours of being pushed and pulled about in some considerable pain, took to mothering it instantly. Despite the fact we had been working since 6am (as had the vet) we were all elated, to get even a partially successful lambing out of that situation felt amazing. Of course, we were absolute zombies the following day having had very little sleep, but it is those moments that you remember and that make this such a satisfying job to do.
The easy bit is almost over. An old farmer said to me when we first started keeping sheep, that lambing is the easy bit, it’s keeping the buggers alive through the summer that’s hard. On with this week’s photographs.
10 April 2014
I’m going to start with daffodils this week. For anybody who hasn’t seen my previous posts, the valley where I live, Farndale, is, during the Spring, home to perhaps the most wonderful display of wild daffodils (narcissus pseudo narcissus) anywhere in the UK. They line the banks of the River Dove as it winds its way through the valley, bringing thousands of people to this otherwise quiet part of Yorkshire. We are very proud to be custodians of a small section of river and are thrilled by the increase in daffodil numbers we have achieved through sympathetic farming practices and stock control. However, our neighbour has an even better display than we do and this picture was made on his land during a brief visit with my proper camera in what must have been a lull in lambing.
10 April 2019
This is the same ewe, still with all her triplets, who featured on 1 April, having just given birth. She has been moved to a field with plenty of lush grass where we could provide her with plenty of supplementary feed and she went on to raise all three lambs by herself.
10 April 2021
Yet another frosty dawn from 2021. On these mornings, you hope that there aren’t any problems that require the ATV and trailer. Driving across frosted grass leaves burn marks that are there for months.
10 April 2024
Last year’s wet and mild conditions meant that the blossom was well ahead of where it usually is. Even though we’ve had fantastic lambing weather this year, it’s chilly first thing and very dry so I think we still have a few more days to go until the hedges, bushes and trees burst into life.
11 April 2017
Our house and yard in the days when we would turn a ewe and her lambs into there from the barn if we wanted to keep a close eye on them before they returned to the field. These days, Pip’s ponies have the run of the yard and it rarely has that much grass in it.
11 April 2020
We always keep one field free from Autumn until the beginning of lambing season that we then put the ewes and new born lambs in to give them the best start possible. This is a ewe’s eye view as the ATV and trailer arrives at their destination.
11 April 2021
A couple of pictures from one of the craziest lambing days we’ve ever had. We awoke to a decent covering of snow. And not the wet, slushy sort we would normally expect at this time of year but instead, powder snow that you’d be happy to ski on. Then the sun came out and, being April, soon melted all that, but showers of rain, hail and snow continued to pile in off of the North Sea and we experienced all four seasons in about half an hour. The second image demonstrates this with the incongruity of Spring flowers and Winter snow along with blue skies and sunshine.
11 April 2024
This is Primrose, one of last year’s pet lambs. You will be hearing more about her and her friends soon.
12 April 2017
There are many things in this image that bring a bittersweet smile to my lips. The shepherds crook, that can just be seen hooked over the trailer, I made that on a stick making course many years ago and it had been used to catch many a sheep over the years. It was, sadly, stolen during a sheep sale a couple of years ago. The ATV itself, a limited edition Yamaha Grizzly with a custom paint job. It had to be sold as it had started to play up in cold weather, just when we needed it. Fortunately, we sold it to a friend of Pip’s whose husband is a lot more mechanically minded than me. We replaced it with an American made Polaris that I’m nowhere near as keen on. Our wonderful old sheepdog, Belle and her best friend, the feral cat, Tabitha, both of whom are no longer with us but whose spirits still roam the fields of our farm. Tabitha would often ’help’ at lambing time and nearly always joined us for a walk down to the river where she would stay in a hollow tree overnight and we would gather her up the next day when she would continue the walk as if nothing had happened.
12 April 2022
The same ATV and trailer 5 years on, and a difficult lambing on a cold, wet morning. I remember catching the ewe, who had given birth to one lamb but was unable to have the second. I can’t recall exactly what the issue was but we soon had it sorted and were giving her a few minutes to bond with her lambs before loading them and her into the trailer for a ride to the relative warmth of the barn.
13 April 2021
I’ve always liked this picture because it puts me in mind of a young, indie rock band posing for an album cover photo. Plenty of attitude, feigned disinterest and some of the band not looking at the camera. Obviously, the band is The Ferals and the album is called What You Looking At?
14 April 2015
As we start to get towards the end of the lambing season, I have, in most years, picked a quiet evening when the light is soft and taken my camera and long lens into the field to make some cute lamb pictures. There will be a few of these over the next couple of weeks.
14 April 2019
A spectacular early morning featuring the same ewe with triplets from the earlier picture. I remember trying to attract her attention so she would be looking towards the camera but she had gone all publicity shy. Sometimes the difference between a good photo and a great one is which way a sheep is facing.
14 April 2024
By this time last year, we only had one ewe left to lamb and she was in the barn to ensure we could keep a close eye on her. Our neighbour, Chris, has a flock of moorland sheep that make use of an ancient right of farmers in this valley to be able to graze their sheep on the moor. This is known as the Moor Stray. When we purchased our farm the Moor Stray that went with it had already been sold separately and, at that time, fewer and fewer farmers were exercising their right in any case. I will write more about this in the future. Anyway, the moor flock have their lambs in enclosed fields close to their home and Chris needed to make sure they were secure as, like us, he was using different, less wet and muddy fields in view of the continuing rainy weather. We offered to give him a hand and whilst we were on his land with a magnificent view of Farndale, the heavens opened, reminding us why we were up there.
15 April 2015
Another couple of cute lamb photos, made using a 400mm lens.
15 April 2021
As with last week, I don’t think Pip will be too pleased with this picture but it’s a great reminder to me that throughout her treatment for breast cancer in 2020 and 2021, her ponies helped to keep her strong.
15 April 2024
I’ve gone all abstract with this one but I like it as it shows how amazing nature can be. Pip’s ponies are Dales, bred over hundreds of years to live and thrive in these hills. Where it rains. A lot. This is a close up of an area of Spartan’s flank, just in front of his hind leg, that acts like a down pipe as rain that has fallen on his back is channelled towards it by the way his hair is laid. At this point, it runs off him, keeping his legs and belly dry. It is only in heavy rain that you actually see what an efficient method of shedding water it is.
16 April 2018
As I mentioned last week, Herdwick sheep are an independent and secretive breed, preferring to lamb unaided and, if possible, without anybody knowing about it. This particular lady, however, was having some bother, so we caught her and Pip managed to extract her lamb. At first she refused to acknowledge the lamb so Pip stepped back, at which point the ewe decided she wanted out of there. Quick as a flash Pip grabbed her and lay over her until such time as she had calmed down and began to lick the lamb. Once this has happened, an almost unbreakable bond is formed between ewe and lamb and Pip could move away knowing that she would stay and take care of her baby. Me, I just took the photos!
16 April 2024
This week’s final picture shows four of last year’s pet lambs at the newly installed semi-automatic milk delivery station. Although it was relatively mild, it didn’t seem that way if you weren’t full of your mother’s warm milk and snuggled up alongside her. Amazingly, there are a group of people who knit jumpers for orphan lambs and, on request, they will send them to farmers for free! They won’t even accept money for postage. I’m pretty sure these people are actual angels. Left to right we have Primrose, Gerald, Edgar and Blossom.
Musical Interlude
While I was trawling through Mick Flannery videos for last week’s musical interlude, I was reminded that he co-wrote a song about ‘The Troubles’ with Northern Irish singer/songwriter Matt McGinn. For those outside the UK, ‘The Troubles’ refers to the Northern Ireland Conflict that lasted for 30 years or so until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. For those growing up anywhere in the UK in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 90’s it was a daily part of life but even more so for those children and teenagers living in the province. One such was Bronagh McAtasney who kept a diary where entries about members of the IRA getting shot by the British Army run alongside references to pop groups and the fashions of the day. As an adult, she went on to share her 1981 diary on social media providing a fascinating snapshot of how ‘normal’ the violence and turmoil was for young people growing up in Northern Ireland. McGinn and Flannery then used this as the basis for their song, ‘Bubblegum’ sung by Ciara O’Neill. It’s from an album called ‘Lessons of War’ by Matt McGinn, that is consistently excellent and well worth seeking out. It’s weird to think that most people under the age of 30 will have only a vague understanding if any at all of the violence on our doorstep that dominated our newspapers and TV news every single day for so long. I certainly find it hard to forget. On 28 February 1992, I arrived at London Bridge Station on my way to work. As I made my way down the platform a bomb went off in a toilet block a few platforms along. I wasn’t hurt, although many were, but it changed the way I viewed the conflict and perhaps, wars in general.
Another week comes to an end, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and weren’t upset by the words. Rest assured that we fight like hell to save every life we can, but we cannot save them all. We have to rationalise it like that because the alternative is to sink into a deep black hole of despair. I cannot imagine what it is like to do what we do but with human babies, those nurses and doctors have my utmost respect and admiration. I’m sure they must tell themselves the same as we do, that you can’t save every one but you give it your best shot every time. So give your loved ones a big hug, after all, every birth is a miracle really.
Until next week,
Much love,
Dave
This week is just cuteness overload 😍
Indeed it was a miracle. And may the Troubles never return