A retired County Durham farmer has delivered her first lamb in six years after coming to the aid of a sheep in distress at the side of a road.
Janet Matthews, 73, was driving from Castleside to Edmundbyers when she spotted the stricken sheep lying on its back and kicking its legs in the air. Initially, she had intended to turn the sheep over and get back on her way, but as she got closer, she realised that the ewe was about to give birth.
To further complicate matters, the lamb was in malpresentation – with just one of its legs showing alongside the head, meaning that the ewe would have needed assistance to give birth even if it hadn’t been on its back. Janet said that “instinct kicked in”, and within seconds she had reached inside the sheep to pull the lamb’s other leg into the correct position, as the complication risked both their lives.
Janet told ChronicleLive: “If she’d have been standing up there’s no way I would have got to her, she would have just run off. But because she was down I was able to assist.”
Once the ewe was able to push, the lamb was born within minutes. Janet left the scene knowing there was “nothing else she could do,” and later heard from the sheep’s owner and farmer, Brian Anderson, that both ewe and lamb were doing well.
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
She finished: “I just did it and didn’t think anything of it because I can do it. It’s just something that you would do.
“I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t know how to do it though, because you’d have a nasty accident if you just tried to pull the lamb’s head out. Instinct took over as soon as I saw the lamb so I didn’t even think about it, but I did get fairly messy.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/former-county-durham-farmer-saves-29057439
