Lambs and lectures....

It's not safe to drive on the same road as an Agric. Not with all the distractions in most of the fields during the past few days. With the sun out and conditions the best they've been in what feels like a long time, everyone seems to be starting up the tractors and getting to work.

I was grass rolling on Friday and trying to keep as straight as possible. Try as I might, I still managed to create a curve by the time I'd got half way. I now look at grass rolled or cultivated fields marked out straight as a die, and can't help thinking we're surrounded by artistic genius which we normally take for granted or don't even see.

We've had a busy couple of weeks. There have been assignments to catch up on and a variety of talks on all sorts from beef rationing to precision farming. Mastock have had a farmers' open day and there were some interesting speakers (including someone from Monsanto listing the benefits of GM) and walks around the crop trial plots on site. We're taking a trip down to the Potato Council next Monday to look at potato storage. 

 Socially, there is the St Patricks celebration tomorrow night and people are looking forward to the Spotsmans' award ceremony, dinner and dance which is happening next week.   

Then there's lambing at the college farm, which has been going well with lambs coming thick and fast! I've started doing some evening and early morning shifts.

Yesterday afternoon, I went back to the farm I was working at about a month ago. It was time to drench ewes and lambs and administer Ovivac. There's one lamb's progress in particular I've been following - one named Lucky. A charollais gimmer, she managed to get through a difficult first few hours struggling to breathe and lacking any sucking reflex.

She responded well to being stomach tubed some colostrum, but then (with the typical suicidal tendencies of a lamb) managed to get herself into a water bucket. Rejected by her Mum, she was successfully adopted on to another and is now a stonking great lamb, with lovely potential and lively attitude. I wouldn't have thought it possible when she was born.

So there's hope for her yet. But, as the college farm manager pointed out, "God must have a lovely flock up there - he always chooses the best".