So, where were we  (apologies for the cliff-hanger)?

Ah, yes.  So Lambie and Bert were best friends and along came ‘Ster and war broke out resulting in Bert leaving to go and live in the hill for nearly a year.

And the thing is, living in the middle of the hill as we do, I would often see Bert go past.  I even went over to the hill sheep’s shearing pen (crö or cru) in September to ask Bert if he wanted to come home but he just said no thank you, he had his own friends (the hill sheep) now.  So I had to leave him there and it broke my heart.

While Lambie and Ster were very happy growing up together, it didn’t seem right that Bert was not here.

I would be lying if I said either Ster or Lambie missed Bert.  They didn’t but I did.

And then, one day in October 2016, I said to Ster “I really miss Bert” and, with that, Ster left – it is pretty easy to escape from here if you want to.  Lambie, of course, was thrilled because his dream of being an only sheep (child) was finally coming true but I would leave the small gate open into the hill just in case Ster wanted to come home again. Two days later Ster came home accompanied by a very thin moorit (brown) sheep.   I could hardly believe my eyes.

This sheep was emaciated and I didn’t honestly know if it was Bert or not.  He was distrustful and wouldn’t come near me but I sort of knew that it must be Bert.  I spent the day digging up his old lamb photos and looking at this emaciated sheep and wondering.  Could it possibly be?

That day was very strange – magical, so special and Bert was finally home.

So, where did we get to?  Oh, yes…. Lambert had just arrived and was now Lambie’s bestie.  One little happy family.

And then Lambster arrived in November.  He was not in a good way and he needed us so I asked his owner and was promptly given him.

Lambster had a few health issues but  introductions were made and he got along fine with Lambie, who was now happy to have anyone as his friend.  He realised that sheep were a great invention!

But ‘Bert was a different matter. On sight he loathed ‘Ster and decided that there was no way he could like this new little chap who would obviously usurp his role of Lambie’s BFF.  He must’ve known that Lambie was fickle with his affections, as I have found out since.

There was definitely a bad vibe going on.  ‘Bert was unforgiving.  There were battles.

And ‘Ster was über cute.

I mean how could ‘Bert not love that little “badger” face?  We all did.

But apparently ‘Bert could not love ‘Ster one little bit. He thought he was an odious suck-up and so, after a number of big fights, ‘Bert left.  He packed up his little spotty hanky, tied it onto a stick and the minute the gate was open, he went off into the hill to seek his fortune.

I was devastated.

What had I done?

This is a bit of a throw-back Saturday continuing the story of how I found my sheep, or more accurately, how they found me.

So far we have Lambie who arrived, refused to eat, tried to die on numerous occasions and lived in our house under the stairs as part of the family.

As Lambie grew slightly bigger and increasingly annoying (he would stand behind the fire trying to burn himself to death, or chew on computer electric cables), it became very obvious that he needed to a) leave the house and b) have a little friend to keep him company outside and hopefully teach him the ways of sheep.

So I put out a message on Facebook and received many replies, tried and rejected one applicant due to far too much baa’ing and wee’ing (remember, Lambie is house-trained), and finally decided on a little moorit (dark brown) boy lamb who, like Lambie, was an orphan.

This little chap, who we named Lambert, was perfect.  He had lived with other sheep, rather than in a central heated house with dogs and so knew what it was to be a sheep.  He also liked his bottle and was very greedy.  Watching ‘Bert taught Lambie how to drink his bottle quickly rather than dither about in his usual disinterested fashion.

‘Bert was very good for Lambie. They instantly liked each other, which was perfect.  Problem solved, I thought.

(I must admit that I love looking back at these photos).

I remember this afternoon so well – Daisy carrying Lambie over the burn because he couldn’t walk through it like everyone else.  This was all part of Lambie’s physio routine for his crippling joint-ill recovery.

They were just so cute.

In my waking moments last night, I tried to work out how I was going to manage to feed the five horses/ponies in their “new” field.  This was a new scenario for all of us.

So this morning I clambered elegantly over the fence with my four buckets and met Vitamin cantering up the steep hill towards me, teeth gnashing.  I quickly gave her the very large half of the “Shetland pony” bucket and then met Fivla huffing and puffing her way up too.  She got the other smaller half in the resident field bucket.

The three Icelandic horses were snoozing on the other side of the burn (stream) which bought me some time.

Kolka was next up and didn’t make it very far up the hill, so I dropped off her bucket and continued walking downwards to Haakon and Iacs who were just slowly crossing the burn

I offer the full waitress service here.

Kolka quickly finished her bucket but couldn’t be arsed to continue up the hill to hassle Fivla and Vitamin, which was kind of her.  She contented herself with talking to Albie.  She likes the Shetland ponies very much and if things were different, they could all share one field.  Sadly, this is probably the nearest they will get.

So, I was pleased with the way breakfast turned out today.  Of course, it could still be a good fight as they wise up to this routine and look for tiny cracks in my plan.  I am used to that scenario and will resort to wielding my feed scoop in a threatening way to get the good manners I would like!

And Gussie is looking very handsome these days.  My little lamb – all growed up and sporting a typical teenage floppy hair (wool)-do!

No one has been weighed for 6 weeks or so and I needed to know if my regimens are working.

Monika from Sandness Equine Services duly came round with her horse scales and swiftly weighed everyone.

The undeniable results were in…..

And here are last time’s weights.

So, by my calculations, (and I am happy to be proved wrong as maths is not my strong point)…..

Albie – 10kg (-)
Newt – 6kg (-)
Tiddles – 8kg (-)
Waffle – 9kg (-)
Silver – 15kg (-)

Vitamin – 3kg (+)
Fivla – 2kg (-)

Iacs – 9kg (-)
Haakon – 11kg (-)
Kolka – 2kg (-)

Based on these new weights, I moved everyone, except the Minions, to a better field.  One with more spring grass.  I don’t like the old horses losing weight.

They also got the wall of primroses.

I am slightly worried about Iacs.  Losing 9kg, despite my best efforts of trying to get the weight on, is not ideal. It is beginning to show.

And I was surprised about Haakon too and he has lost even more weight but looks just the same as ever. I had no idea.

But I am thrilled with the little boys.  Now, they are definitely going in the right direction, though I don’t want Tiddles to lose much more weight so it might be a bit of a juggling act these next few months.

But hopefully the new field with more spring grass will do the trick and those that need it, will benefit from it.

(I am not worried about Kolka one bit – she is just the same as ever.)

But, if the grass is too much for Fivla and Vitamin, then I can always move them back to their old field which will be sad because I think the extra company is good for them.

It is good to know the actual numbers and my thanks, as ever, to Monika who provides an invaluable service.  Science based evidence is always the way forward.