Farm on the M62: The tup took some time to get going - Jill Thorp

As with anything involving animals, things don’t always go to plan and despite him showing willing, he was a bit steady on the job! It was a slightly frustrating couple of weeks, willing him to get on with it.

Whilst he looked impressive strutting round the shed with his head held aloft, the girls were less than impressed with his lack of action.

Eventually he marked one or two, the ruddle paint on their backsides showing he’d at least showed willing! In a bit of a panic and to cover all bases, I managed to get hold of a replacement tup to ensure we had some lambs, albeit rather late ones.

I wasn’t convinced my first tup had been successful, so he was replaced by a new chap. Scanning of the ewes was later than usual but thankfully not as disastrous as I’d feared; only two of our girls were empty or “geld” as we refer to them and no triplets or quads this time.

Nothing is ever guaranteed and whilst a tup can work without issues one year, the next can be a different story.

On this occasion, however, it appears he did eventually get going, at his own pace as there were only a handful in lamb to the second lad!

Our house has been akin to a plague pit since Christmas with Paul only recently managing to throw off his chest infection. Following a superb winter camp with the Scouts, which the little guy thoroughly enjoyed, he succumbed to the most awful bout of flu, leaving him bed ridden for over a week.

He’s rarely ill, so this came as something as a shock to the poor chap. I can count on one hand the number of days he’s missed school through illness, so a full week at home was a first for us. His appetite vanished almost over night, a sure sign that he was feeling really rough.

He can put away enough food to sink the Titanic, so when he said he couldn’t face eating, I knew it was serious.

For three very long and worrying nights I sat next to his bed as a fever tore through his body leaving him delirious and screaming out. His cheeks burned scarlet yet he shivered head to toe whilst clinging tightly to my hand.

The fever finally broke leaving him with the dreaded earache and chesty cough. My Mum followed suit not long after John-William although thankfully without the fever.

By some miracle I have avoided the lurgy which is astounding considering I’ve been surrounded by it for several weeks.

After a weekend of improvement and increase in appetite the little guy headed somewhat reluctantly back to school.

The smile returned to his face, the fridge was raided and normality resumed.