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Farm diary...

Stella the Star

Lambing and calving are coming to an end at Longdon. Elly and Darroch have been working really hard and coping well with only limited help from Stella, Elly`s working collie, who has been a bit poorly and is still not fully fit.

Stella is – as her name suggests – a star, and for her to fall ill just as lambing was about to start was quite a blow. She is rather small for a collie but her speed, intelligence and eagerness to please make her an indispensible part of the team. There is nothing quite like sheep for awkwardness and their propensity for giving up the ghost and keeling over at the slightest opportunity is legendary amongst farmers.

I have been wondering if midwives ever encounter the human equivalent of the newly lambed ewe which takes
one look at what she has produced and runs away as fast as her legs will carry her, crying “Nah! Nah! … You`re jo-o-oking!”?

Or the opposite end of that particular spectrum – the ewe which hasn`t lambed yet but is busily doing her damnedest to adopt everyone else`s lambs.

Imagine the scenes in the local maternity unit….