A traditional Kiwi meal and my first midwife experience...

Yesterday was cold and full of drizzle. In the morning we went to feed out the cattle and check for new calves. In the early afternoon we mustered some of the sheep for tailing, vaccination and drenching. Tailing is for the lambs…they are placed in a harness and their tails are cut off using a special tool that cauterizes the skin so they don’t bleed as much. It sounds awful and from what I’ve heard, it’s not a fun job, but it’s important for their health because it keeps their rear ends clean and helps to prevent flystrike. It started to rain a little and the day seemed to get away from us so we decided to wait for another day. Adi and I drove Adrian up one of the valleys so he could pick up the digger and drive it home. We stopped at two different river crossings on the way back. The rivers here are beautiful with big boulders and little waterfalls with palm, manuka and gum trees all around them.

We stopped by one of the yards to check on a ewe that began lambing while we were mustering. She is actually a hogget. A hogget is a year old sheep, and they usually run into trouble when lambing, so Adrian had placed her in a separate pen so we could keep an eye on her. So when Adi and I approached her, we noticed that she had started to give birth, but the head was coming out first and appeared to be stuck. This was potentially serious because both the ewe and the lamb could die. With lambs, you want to see the two front feet coming out first. So we needed to help her. We went back to the house for supplies: a bucket with disinfectant, towel, and elbow length plastic gloves. Once we caught her, I held her still while Adi went to work, pushing the lamb back in so she could grab the legs and pull them forward. It’s not as easy as it sounds. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for the ewe as you can imagine. Adi had to fish around for the legs, going under a shoulder bone. Every time she made a little progress the ewe had another contraction and we would have to wait. Finally she found both legs and pulled them forward, getting the lamb in the correct position. We then left her alone to give birth. The less you interfere, the better chance the lamb and ewe will bond. Both are doing fine now. :)

I wanted to take a picture of the scarf I’m knitting but the battery on my camera has run out and I don’t have an electric converter for my charger out here! I’ll have to wait until the next time I’m in town. I call it my swiss cheese scarf because I’ve somehow managed to create a pattern with little holes. I’m using pretty red wool that Adi gave me.

Tonight Adrian brought me outside to show me a possum up in a tree. Then I watched him pluck the fur after he had shot it (I didn’t want to watch the actual shooting). Possum fur is expensive here and you can get good money for it. There’s been lots of hunting going on here. One of Adrian’s sons came to the farm this weekend to do some wild pig and deer hunting. They got two pigs and a deer. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before but Adrian has 4 sons. Keelan (10 and lives here at the farm), Fraser (18 or 19?), Hayden (21?) and Garreth (24). Adi has one son, Daniel, and he is 15 or 16 I think. Other than Keelan, the boys live in other areas.

Tonight we had flounder for dinner and it was fantastic…and I mean a whole fish, not the filleted stuff you see in the frozen section of stores. Adi, Adrian and the boys fish for flounder with spears here in the sounds. They had to show me how to eat it properly because there are lots of little bones. We had pavlova for dessert, which Adi and I made this morning, topped with whipped cream, pineapple and kiwi fruit. We decided to make it because the chooks have been laying eggs like crazy and we need to use them up! The recipe calls for 5 eggs.

Tomorrow there is a walking group coming and we are going to walk one of the tracks that I haven’t seen yet. I’m excited to see a new area of the property….if only my camera worked!!!