Hello again everyone. The clocks have just changed and there is definitely spring in the air.
We have just survived one of the most important spells on the farm, lambing. The weather at this time of year can make or break this busy time. With our system, the ewes are taken into a big shed about six weeks before lambing starts. This will give the fields a break and hopefully the grass will start to grow.
The expectant mothers are then provided with good food and a dry bed until the lambs are born. After this the new family then gets an individual pen with their lambs for at least 24 hours. If the mother and her newborn babies pass all relevant checks then they are then taken out, in small batches, to a nice sheltered field.
Problems start if the weather is poor, as young lambs can’t be put out in wet cold weather. The shed space can then become over subscribed very quickly.
This year the weather has been very kind, virtually every lamb has had a great start to life. This has made it much easier to manage than some years. Our lambing percentage this year was a little lower than normal, but I think we still had 12 sets of quads. One of them is in the picture.
We only let a ewe leave the shed with a maximum of two lambs, any extra are hopefully fostered onto ewes that only have one or in some sad cases loose their babies. I was hoping that we wouldn’t have any tame lambs this year but we have still ended up with nearly 40.
Lambing is one of the most family oriented times of year on the farm. As well as Adrian, George and Joe who work hard on the farm, my wife Lynette, my sisters Susie and Rachael and mum and dad are owed thanks for their help. My children have been lending a hand at weekends, there is always a lamb to feed or a water bucket to fill. If you can’t find anything to do you probably haven’t looked hard enough.
There is always a bit of fun to had down the lambing shed. There is usually a tame lamb who is a bit of a character or one of the pregnant ewes gets very friendly and chases you for attention all the time. This year we have had a return of the red hoof gang, Patch, Poppy, Coco, Jenny and Rosie. They were my sister’s tame lambs in 2017 and this year have produced their first offspring, two each no less.
While there is lots of work to do it always seems sad when the lambing shed is nearly empty and all the ewes and lambs are out in the fields. All we have to do then is pack up all the equipment, tidy up, then start the next job.
We were afraid that there would not be enough food in store for the animals over the winter, but is looks as if we will just scrape by, the mild winter and early spring has helped enormously. All we need now is a nice drop of warm spring rain to keep things growing and make sure that we have plenty of food for the animals for next winter.
See you next time . . .
Stuart Luxton