Lamb

(Note to readership: large pictures of meat follow if this is likely to offend, please click elsewhere.)

Another big week for us. Last week we took our first big babies off to the abattoirs. This week I visited the butcher to ask them to cut up the lambs for me.

The butcher had collected my lambs from the abattoir on our behalf and it was time to make them into the cuts we wanted.

These first two lambs didn't hang for very long -  ideally they would have hung for a few more days but being the week before Christmas the butcher's fridge was stuffed full of hams and turkeys!

It was great to watch the butchers at work and witness their skill with the blade. Thank you Joseph!

I would have taken more photos but I didn't want to disturb them at their work. I was delighted to see that  the cuts I had chosen resulted in very little wastage.

On getting the lambs home I decided to take photos of some of the cuts, dressing them with home-grown garlic and rosemary.

I was really pleased with the cuts and also the colour and quality of the meat. I tried to assess it as if I were at the butchers shop selecting my own meat. "Would I buy this?", the answer was, "yes"!  Especially the shanks - can't wait for shank-worthy cold weather...

We have already started sampling the cuts. I was worried that they may not be very tender given they had
not hung for long, but they were tender. A rack of lamb shared with The Lad was juicy and sweet as racks should be. It was especially delicious seeing the lamb accompanied by roasted roots from the garden (potatoes, French onions and garlic).

We tried the loin chops sprinkled with sumac and eaten with  a watermelon and haloumi salad (my home-made haloumi too). It too was also delicious, sweet and tender. I didn't photograph the meals - my history with meal shots is pretty pathetic.

Lamb gifts have been given to friends for their Christmas cheer and we will be having a lamb-focused meal for our Christmas table. It seems the right fare for the feast.

Now that we have trialled the abattoirs, the butcher and the lamb, we are ready to go. Our next big challenge will be selling our lamb from paddock to plate - direct to lamb lovers in Sydney and Canberra (and points in between).

I wanted this post to document this last part of the journey of my lambs and to demonstrate our excitement at providing for ourselves. This post is not intended as a promotion to my blog readers. (But, if you'd like some lamb delivered to your door, get in touch or visit the farm website: http://www.highfieldfarmwoodland.com/). Take a look at the Produce menu.

Sheep midwifery

Last Friday I did a Sheep Care and Handling course run by the Department of Primary Industries. Today a wet cold and miserable day of drizzly rain, I had to put some of those skills into practise in a life and death situation -  you see today The Lad and I assisted a ewe with a complicated birth.

Normally ewes go off by themselves to lamb, they strain for some time and, if the birth is normal, the little front hooves come out first followed by the head and very soon and often with the helpful wiggling of the lamb, the newborn drops to the ground. Normally the lamb is born with no problems at all.

This morning when we went to check the flock we noticed a ewe up and running with the mob but distressingly with the head of her lamb protruding with no sign of any little hooves. Most crucially, the ewe had given up straining. We assumed the lamb was dead. We knew we had to intervene.

A quick call to the local Vet confirmed our suspicions - that the lamb was not in the correct birthing position, it was possibly dead and if we didn't  manipulate the lamb into the correct position and remove the lamb then the ewe would also die. After some clear instructions from the Vet he reassuringly said, "give it a go first and if you need me I can come out". After supplementing the Vet's instructions with my remembered book knowledge and after summoning up some courage we went into action.

We had a little trouble separating the ewe from the flock and getting her into a corner of the paddock but once we did The Lad very ably caught and held her fast. Secure with The Lad, the ewe was calm and seemed to know we needed to help her.

Thankfully and amazingly the lamb was still alive but in obvious distress. I felt inside the ewe and found one of the lamb's shoulders and then its little leg. It was curled up under the lamb as if it were sitting on the ground. I uncurled it and eased it out of the ewe and then went in search of the other leg. I could not find it at all.

Thankfully the Vet had helpfully mentioned that he had successfully removed lambs with only one leg out and so after a short time I decided not to keep searching and I helped the lamb out pulling it downwards in two firm but gentle movements. Once on the ground, the little lamb struggled to breath. I rubbed its little chest and it spluttered into action. We then introduced the lamb to its mum who nuzzled and licked it and the lamb wiggled.

And then I cried - it was pretty powerful really...

(and then I had a shower - it was also a bit messy!)

Throughout today we have watched the ewe and her little lamb through the binoculars to check on their progress, they are very slowly progressing but they are progressing. It was a difficult birth for them both, it was a big day for us. Let's hope they make it through the night, we will sleep well.

I don't have any pictures of the ewe and lamb in question - we were a little too busy to photograph her and we did not want to disturb her once the lamb was born, so here is another mother and child.

Little lost lambs

Our lovely 38 ewes started lambing on 4th August and so far we have 21 bouncing babes, 8 of them as twins. They are called bouncing babes for a reason -  they do bounce! It is remarkable how fast they take to their feet, how quickly they find their mummies milk and how soon and fast they run.

Frustratingly, each time I video them they do nothing! Then next time I glance out the window, 7 babies have clubbed together and are kicking up their little hooves and dashing en-masse back and forward across the paddock! Fabulous fun, quick where is the camera?

But we have had two little tragedies losing two little lambs, both at birth we think. One baby was a very big lad and his mum obviously had a hard time landing him. I feel a little sad that I didn't know that the ewe in question was having trouble otherwise I would have headed out with my gloves and lubricant, my memorisation of the correct presentation of lambs and what I had to do to assist.

The other loss was a tiny little girl. She was probably a little pre-mature, in any case she was very small.

Poor little babes and poor ewes who bleated for their babies for a long time...

We're poor little lambs who've lost our way,

Baa, Baa, Baa!

We're little black sheep who've gone astray,

Baa, Baa, Baa! 

Both little lambies have been taken into my vegetable patch marked and remembered first with a little sprig of rosemary then later a fruit tree. Thank you lost lambies, we know where you are, you are not lost.

* Neither of the lost lambs was photographed. The lambs and ewes pictured here are all fine and well and bouncing.