Well... worryingly we have had another maiden ewe miscarry. Emmaline lost a little ram lamb.

I had to help her, as he was coming "top of the head" first. It took me a while to figure out what part I was seeing, as I've never heard of that before. Once we got the legs lined up he slipped right out, and it became obvious he'd passed away some days ago. The smell was really bad...

So she's got antibiotic shots once a day for five days, which neither she or we are loving, but she seems to be ok physically. I left the lamb with her for a while so she would figure out he wasn't going to get up, but she's spending her time camped as close as she can get to the lambing site, guess she's still grieving.

Jack, the lowline steer, freaked right out and hid in the bush all day. I had to go and find him and bring him in that night. He doesn't handle the smell of blood or death at all well. I wonder sometimes what happened to him before he came to us, as the other cattle couldn't care less. He spent the next 24 hours watching for lions and jumping at any noise.

We still have three ewes left to lamb, it's now looking like Min is well and truly in the family way. Min and Medea are experienced mothers, so I'm not too worried there. Cleo is the last of the maidens left and I will be watching her like a hawk.

Sometimes it's hard not to take the losses personally. "These things happen" just doesn't cut it when three out of five maiden ewes have lost their lambs this year. I would dearly love to know why.