Musings of a shepherd.

Meet Norah Batty.

I think as I have introduced Number one I had better also intoduce Norah Batty.She was born in the middle of the night of the 2nd April 1995.At this time we were lambing outside,the ewes were in a small paddock close to the house and we were checking them every few hours during the day and also at about 3am.On this night one of the ewes had started and we were keeping an eye on her but despite the lamb being in the normal position not much progress was being made.We decided that we would have to help the lamb out.Picture the scene:it's the middle of the night and the only light we have is a torch,we also have our trusty book which we have consulted nany times over the years for advice on difficult lambings.I have checked the position of the lamb which is normal so according to the book all we have to do is gently draw the lamb out,pulling evenly on the front legs and easing the head out,then getting the shoulders through the neck of the womb.We got the head and legs so far and then the lamb was stuck we seemed to be pulling with all our might but to no avail.It's quite frightening to be responsible for the life or death of a living being with no possibility of getting help in the middle of the night.It seemed to take forever and we were convinced that we would damage the lamb with the amount of force we were using but eventually the lamb came out with a sound like a large cork being released from a bottle.We were delighted and perhaps a bit amazed that the lamb showed no ill effects from its traumatic entrance into the world.This was a large lamb with the sort of wrinkly skin you normally see on a Sharpei puppy or Norah Batty's wrinkly stockings,hence her name and her mother became Mrs Batty.For those of you who have never heard of Norah Batty she was a character in the Television series "Last of the Summer Wine" set in a Yorkshire town in England and her thick stockings were always in thick wrinkles round her ankles.Norah Batty is another one of our retirees although unfortunately her mother had been damaged internally by the difficult birth and eventually went for reform two years later in 1997.Since we started lambing in 1995 it has always been me who does the actual deliveries, my husband restrains the ewes and where necessary upends them to make manipulations easier for me and the ewe.We are a partnership.