Acute Mastitis

It's been a lovely day but there's a feel of impending autumn with the first leaves starting to fall and the trees heavy with apples and nuts. Some scything in the morning and then clearing out Larcher's barn where I'll probably put the sheep for some of the winter. La Panchard's cows have finally arrived and are in the woods for the time being.

In the early afternoon Alain and Guillaume drove by (this weekend is the start of the hunting season). I joined them below Pinsou at the Pouts Redoun but we saw nothing. On the way back Patrick, Michelle and Susan invited me for coffee and we spent the rest of the evening chatting.

Leia (the ewe who had the abscess on her mammary gland) now has further ones forming - she's almost certainly got acute mastitis. The outlook isn't good and she needs to be culled, but so too does Jean-Jeanie (who had such terrible trouble with trying to lamb) and at least one of the castrated male lambs (Luke or Damien). Seems I'll have less sheep but more hay and meat than I expected this winter. Leia was a good mother, it's such a shame she has developed complications.