FOUR SHIRES v COUNTRYFILE
THERE’S A DARK CLOUD COMING IN...
George Fenemore begs the question: “Have the lambs been Schmallenberged”?
COUNTRYMAN A
As I sit at the keyboard the farm is covered with the first snow fall of the winter. So it seems that the old saying from my almanac of weather lore may have some credence after all. “If Candlemas day (2nd February) be fair and bright, winter will have another flight”.
It could be Murphy’s Law however, for, just as it started snowing, the Cotswold Lions decided to drop their lambs. In these days of modern agricultural technology this will not cause too much of a problem. They are all tucked up in the lambing shed, enjoying the twice daily “meals on wheels service”. The main flock are now also under cover, but they are not due until the beginning of the month. The Mule ewe lambs that came down from the north of England in the autumn are as yet still out in the grass paddocks, but will come in any day now, as the last of last year’s lamb crop have gone off to market. This makes room for them, but they will not lamb until April. So the wheel has turned full circle and the time honoured rights of spring are with us once again.
Although the ewes are in good form there is a dark cloud on the horizon. It seems that a hitherto unknown illegal immigrant has arrived on these shores from the near continent. The Schmallenberg virus, named after the town where it was first found, has been confirmed in eleven early lambing flocks along the south and east coast. Like the Bluetongue virus that arrived here a few years ago it is spread by midges, but unlike Bluetongue there is, as yet, no treatment or vaccine available to tackle it.
52 FOUR SHIRES v MARCH 2012
The virus affects cattle, sheep and goats but in sheep dead and deformed lambs are being born. Belgium flockmasters are reporting nightmare situations with 30% lamb losses.
Although the ewes will have been infected during last autumn’s midge ‘season’ the extent of the infection will only show up during the next month or two as the lambing season progresses. I have been involved with sheep and the lambing season for as long as I can remember, and always looked forward to the spring and a new crop of lambs.
There is a lot of truth in the old Shepherd’s saying ‘start off bad and end up good’ but if we have been “Schmallenberged” it could be a case of starting off bad and getting worse!
The question is: “How did it get here? Did it arrive with infected midges that made it across the north sea, or did it arrive here in infected animals that had been imported from the continent?” Ho hum, whatever the route, it’s here and we shall just have to cope with it.
It’s not only the sheep that have had their living quarters revamped. The wood working shop has been a hive of activity over the last few weeks. To date I have made 30 new beehives which will give the bees 50% more brood area. When the weather warms up a bit the bees will be shaken off the old frames into a new hive, complete with new frames and fresh undrawn wax. Each hive will be given two gallons of sugar syrup and left to build a new brood chamber. The old frames will be burnt to get rid of any traces of the dreaded Varoa mite.
In last months Four Shires John Rowing wonders why the Otter is not in the ‘Wind in the Willows’?
Maybe this had something to do with the fact that at the time Kenneth Graham penned his book the otter was regarded as a pest species and a quarry for the chase. The Otter is a member of the Mustelidae family along with the badger, the pine marten, the stoat, weasel, polecat and mink. It went into steep decline in the 60s and 70s and was not seen in the River Thames for many years. I for one am very pleased to see that it has returned to the River Cherwell.
John’s article also mentioned the North American Crayfish, this is another very unwelcome illegal immigrant, which may have been deliberately seeded into the river. Sadly, the end result of this entrepreneurial enterprise has resulted in considerable damage to river banks and destroyed the recreational fishing quality of many sections of the river.
It seems that the return of ‘Tarka’ to the Four Shires has not met with universal approval however, as he has developed a taste for the contents of the ornamental garden pond!
Being a member of the ‘Fitch’ family his diet is not restricted to the river and pond. He has a liking for red and white meat and is just as likely to visit the rabbit hutch and hen coop as well - so perhaps he is not quite the bundle of fluffy joy as portrayed by Henry Williamson and Gavin Maxwell after all!
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