Spot was in labour all day but she couldn’t give birth. During the afternoon we called the vet and one of the really kind and caring vets (they are attached to Cambridge University and teach 60 students per year) raced out and was here within half an hour.

He prepped himself and gelled his hands and arms and had to pull out two dead lambs from poor Spot. The lambs showed all the deformities associated with the Schmallenberg virus which is a disease passed by midge bites to cattle and sheep. You can Google this or look at my explanation on TikTok (see Gillyofthegables)

Last year we had 22 live lambs born here but this year only 12 with 6 born dead. The vet told us that the small flock they keep at the vet school have had similar problems. Tragic. Two more sheep are still to lamb so we are holding our breath. Poor old Spot.