Patch is a little Soay cross sheep. She has the horns and looks of a Jacob sheep but the small petite size and wild spirit of her Soay dad. Like our other Soay crosses Patch is quite friendly when she wants to be and enjoys a chin scratch. And just like her Soay half-siblings, she is difficult to approach and catch in the field and can be quite scatty at times. Patch had a lovely lamb called Alfie when she was young. He went to live with 2 other lambs as part of a fiber flock. Patch accidentally fell pregnant again when ram Sven escaped and had twin lambs in 2019. Sadly I missed the birth by minutes and her second twin was born breach. Patch hadn’t stood up after she gave birth and sadly the cord on her second lamb had broken whilst his head was still within the birth canal and he had passed away. Had he been in the correct position he would have been fine and had I been present and checked on Patch 15 minutes sooner I should have been able to save him. I really regret not being there to help. Its something that’s hard to forget or forgive yourself for. But sadly things like this do happen. The story doesn’t end there though as the following evening I noticed Patch’s surviving firstborn twin did not seem happy. He was straining to go to the toilet and his belly looked swollen and distended. My neighbor had been telling me a few days earlier that they had a lamb born without an anus. I remembered the birth sac on Patch’s first lamb was very clean with no yellow colour or meconium at all. Then I checked Patch’s lamb and to my disbelief, he didn’t have a hole in him bum. By now it was 10pm on a Sunday evening. I ran our vet who agreed to meet us at the surgery. My own son Oliver was only a few months old and I couldn’t leave him at home so my husband took Patch’s baby lamb to the vets. The vet attempted surgery but very sadly it was clear very quickly that things were not all present inside the lamb. There was nothing that could be done for him and he was put to sleep. This was such a tragic end for Patch to lose both her lambs in such unlucky circumstances and very upsetting for us all. Patch recovered well after this but I will be making very certain she doesn’t have lambs again in the future just in case. Patch will stay here and help to support the flock with a lovely little fleece each year. Patch’s fleece has been sold to handcrafters and I have used it myself in peg loom weaving and needle felting. She has a lovely soft fleece that spins and felts nicely.
