It's nice to see some decent sunshine at last! I really quite like the winter but I do get fed up with constant rain. John will be happy now because the grass will grow better although he started shearing yesterday and last night he was complaining about muscles that he forgot he had. He sheared 100 sheep, quite a lot really for the first day of the season. I'll have to get used to seeing black bruises on his legs and his jeans being covered in lanolin, the greasy substance that keeps fleece waterproof. It's a nightmare to keep him in clean clothes cos all his jeans have to be boiled and he wears holes in them really quickly!

It seems that good shearers are getting harder to find. I guess it's just another one of those skilled jobs that are affected by the lack of young people entering into farming. John does well cos he's tall and very strong but his back does suffer when he has to bend down to shear my southdowns.

One of my southdowns had a ram lamb this morning - with a little assistance. She has a tendancy to prolapse and John had already fitted a spoon - a plastic device that gets inserted into the vagina to hold everything in place if the ewe strains too hard. John had tied the spoon to her wool but last night, we had to fit a harness as she was managing to push the spoon out again. This is a worrying time because if the ewe starts to lamb, the lamb can't get past the spoon. All's well that ends well though because when I went to look at her early this morning she had started to lamb and John lambed her without too much difficulty. I normally do difficult lambings with the southdowns cos they're a bit small for Johns hands but she was an old ewe with plenty of room and I don't have Johns experience with ewes that are prone to prolapse.

At least we don't have to worry about our last few lambs being exposed now what with this lovely weather and it looks set to last into next week! Our early lambs are now looking like little monsters; it's hard to imagine that they can grow so fast. John still isn't sure whether some of our young heifers might have been caught by a young bull so they are going to become the centre of our attention next! Still, with the shearing season started, it'll be a while yet before the smell of sheep leaves the house!