Our homebound second stay at the B&B Hotel at Orléans was much smoother our first in that the access code for our room actually worked this time. Not only that but, having connected to B&B’s free Wi-Fi about 18 months…

We were up at the usual 6:15 AM to help Luc and Nadine with the brebis (ewes) and agneaux (lambs) on the early morning shift. Last night, on the just-before-bed patrol, Luc had put a new mother and her twins…

For those who know me well, Friday would have sounded like my idea of Hell. Yes, I love animals (with the one exception of dogs) and we were certainly surrounded by animals: 320 brebis (ewes), 6 belliers (rams) and about…

Luc and Nadine have been waiting all week for us to experience a naissance (a birth). Up to now, apart from a completely manual delivery, all the births have been happening either over night or during the day in our…

‘T was thrashing with rain this morning. There were another few lambs born overnight which we moved into crèches with their mothers. The technique for this is worth a word or two. One grabs the less-than-steady new infant by the…

Before being given free range (in the barn, at least), the lambs go through a couple of procedures that seem more labour intensive than others. This is basically because the same thing has to be done to 300+ lambs. The…

This morning began well enough with the discovery of four new lambs. However, things rapidly descended as we were building a new crèche or two. Luc told us that we would shortly see a “big problem” and sent Carol back…

Each day we have two sessions working with the sheep and lambs. After checking for and dealing with new additions to the flock, the unvarying part of each shift is the feeding. I say unvarying but, just as I thought…

OK, every morning starts at 7:00 AM. Let’s face it, ewes pay no heed to some strange human calendar and don’t stop dropping their youngsters just because it happens to be our weekend. No, they drop them when nature demands…

Our first morning on the farm began à bonne heure (early), 7:00 AM. We were soon dressed in our farming clothes, not knowing whether or not they would be appropriate, and making our way to the barn where the sheep…