Pregnancy scanning again

Blimey! The seasons don't half come around at a gallop these days. Are the winter months getting shorter? y'know, those days when we get an opportunity to recharge the batteries and come out the other end fit and raring to go - them days! I'm sure there's less of them, this past winter seems to have flown by, here we are in mid February, the nights are fairly cutting out, almost light until 6pm now and we're well through the scanning season, another fortnight and it will be all over for the farms Shep works upon, everyone will know what lambs their ewes will be carrying in preparation for the forthcoming lambing season.

Once again sheep are finding themselves heading into the scanning crates all over the countryside. Three different scanning men come to the farms Shep helps out at so the crack can vary from each visit as they all come from different areas of the countryside.

The guys all have similar gear, all are extremely proficient at their job and fly through the sheep at a rate of knots. Could that be a lamb showing on the screen? That is what they are looking for after all.

Sheep do like to follow one another but there are the odd ones which put up a fight and cause agro on the day, the men doing the scanning are generally patient as they are aware that those of us behind the scenes are doing our best to keep everything running smoothly.

Scanning has been fairly well documented on this blog in the past, the following links will take you back in time http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2010/02/pregnancy-scanning-of-sheep.html or there is last years posting http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2011/03/pregnancy-scanning-how-did-it-go.html This year to date all has gone well, no reason what so ever why it ought not to continue along the same vein for the remaining farms which are to be scanned. There are 5 more farms for Shep to assist at in the next fortnight, a rough total of about 5,000 sheep between them and a fair bit of gathering for the dogs to get all the sheep cornered and ready for the scanning day.

The scan men are reporting that ewes are heavier, not heavier in lamb (although some are) but body weight, that is quite apparent when working with the beasts, they have come through the winter very well, the mild grassy start to winter saw them well covered and not much has interfered with their welfare since. It is good to see flocks heading towards lambing time in good physical fettle, much can happen between then and now, not least the fact lambs will begin to drain their mothers bodies as they grow inside their tummies. Let's hope all goes well in the next month or two.