Finally...the last lambs!

They arrived yesterday and are already looking strong and well as you can see from the photograph. A proud mum, but she has kept us waiting!

At the same time as going to check on her, Roly thought it was time to give Molly her first shepherding lesson, you can see her concentrating very hard and taking it all in. It won't be long before she has her own shepherds crook....

We had some very welcome rain at the end of last week, about an inch, just enough to tide us over but we do need more, the cracks in the ground are getting wider. We are just about managing on the grass we have to move the sheep around. We have learnt during this dry spell that the sheep do very well on the grass due to it having higher dry matter content due to the lack of moisture. However, this cannot be sustained as new growth is needed to keep up with the grazing and this can only happen with rainfall!

Our new season lamb is picking up now so please come and visit us at the markets this month and try some for yourself. We are butterflying some legs of lamb now all ready for the barbeques and our delicious burgers are always a favourite.

Despite the lack of rain, the countryside is still alive with colour and the butterflies are loving the nettles and cow parsley. We have seen a lot of orange tip butterflies this year.

Brian our shearer is booked up to come and shear the remainder of the flock in a weeks time - the rams, the ewes which lambed in January and our ewe lambs (replacements).

The lambing sheds have all been cleared and the manure is in a big heap waiting to be spread on the arable fields here at the Earth Trust. Sheds which are so alive with activity for two months now seem so quiet and empty!

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

Happy days!

But with a hint of anxiety as we check the weather forecast and still see no sign of rain! The grass is ok for now but soon it will begin to be a problem if we don't get rain. But its wonderful to be enjoying this amazing sunshine while it lasts and watching the lambs grow. Oxford farmers market on Thursday will be the first market with our new season lamb, so the last of the hogget (last years lamb) has finished and we are starting the cycle once more.

With the warm weather brings the threat of fly strike which I know I have talked about before. We have been through the whole flock now and treated them with a prevention spray which protects them for up to 16 weeks. It is always a relief to get this job done as there is nothing worse for the sheep if they are unlucky to get strike.

Our Easter lamb trade was really strong and we've had lovely feedback from our customers about how delicious the lamb was and it is a great feeling thinking of all the families sitting down for Easter lunch and enjoying our lamb.

Molly is doing really well, and is almost 4 months old now, she smiles and giggles (particularly at Roly as you can see in the photo) and seems very content coming out with us and checking all the sheep. It won't be long until she has her very own shepherds crook! Her big sisters Jessica and Arabelle are coming to see us this weekend, I think they will be amazed by how much Molly and the lambs have grown.

We were tempted to paint the sheep red, blue and white in honour of the happy couple and to prevent any rustling....we were very interested to read another farmer spraying his sheep orange to prevent them being stolen!

More soon, it won't be long until we'll be thinking about haymaking...

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

The last remaining few are crossing their legs!

Walking into the lambing sheds now is so completely different to what it was even a week ago. The majority of the sheep are now outside and with this beautiful weather you can almost see the lambs growing by the day! A true sign that spring has arrived is seeing the ewes happily munching on the new grass and the lambs skipping and running around in their new green space. Those sheep that are left in the shed are those still remaining to lamb (ten as of today) and those who are still not accepting their lambs for one reason or another and our orphans, we have 9 which feels rather a lot to us, I think we were lucky last year.

Whilst the intensity of lambing has eased there is still a lot to do but at a different pace! It is now the routine of going around and checking everyone outside, making sure they are all bonded well and feeding properly off their Mum's. The farmers markets continue of course and we are getting a lot of orders for Easter so we are busy processing those. New season lamb starts soon so we will keep you posted when that will be ready.

We have had some lovely visitors with us being 'shepherds for the day'. Kinnon and Phil came to visit us from Yorkshire and were lucky enough to witness a set of quads being born! Phil recorded this which is amazing and you can see them in the video clip at the top of this entry. Our visitors last weekend were treated to amazing weather, it felt like a July weekend! We moved some sheep very slowly in the heat and did some much needed fencing. Felix one of our 'shepherds' had worked on a cattle station in Australia so knew all about fencing, everyone was a great help!

The warm weather has meant we have had to keep a watchful eye for fly strike. We would have blogged about this last year. In warm weather flies lay their eggs on the sheeps fleeces, particularly where they might be a bit mucky, the eggs hatch and maggots can start eating the sheep, horrible! So we have already protected our ewe lambs who still have their fleeces on and are particularly vulnerable.

As well as our remaining few ewes who are crossing their legs, we have had some unexpected teenage pregnancies, oops! We castrate our male lambs to prevent this from happening and to protect the taste of our meat from the strength of the testosterone hormone. However, as last year was our first time at attempting castration, one or two obviously didn't have the rubber ring put on correctly over their testicles....so we have had some extra lambs as a result. They make very good Mum's and all are doing well which is great.

We have had two wonderful vet students working with us over lambing - Nick and Becca. They have been amazing and worked really hard both day and night in some cases. They have risen admirably to all the challenges which lambing throws at you and we wish them all the best for the rest of their training. We will miss their help and Belle will miss them throwing sticks for her!

A very Happy Easter to everyone.

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

Over half way!

Roly talks about the 'reset' button which is something we are programmed with that automatically switches when you have come through an extraordinary time! I think this happens to women who go through labour and go on to have more children and I think the same happens after lambing! It is an extremely intense time but somehow you ride the wave and come out the other side and move on from the sleepless nights, the ups and the downs and the cycle almost immediately starts again for next year!

The lambing sheds are alive with all the situations which occur during lambing time - an unexpected set of quads (amazing size, doing well), triplets, twins and singles who are at various stages of us trying to adopt a second lamb onto them so the triplet Mums aren't under such strain. Some orphan lambs who are being bottle fed, some weaker lambs who are still with their Mums but just need that bit of extra milk to keep them strong. The overriding atmosphere is still so special that so much new life is being born into the world and it is up to us that they get the opportunity of the best start possible.

We had the first of our open weekends last weekend and welcomed over 3000 visitors! Thank you to everyone who came along and to our friends and family who helped out. We were blessed with the weather and sorry to those who were queuing for a yummy lamb burger as we sold out! Please come back this weekend to have one!

We have also had some wonderful 'shepherds for the day' who have all experienced a typical day with us in the lambing sheds and helped deliver some wonderful lambs. Ben has tweeted about his experience! www.twitter.com/benshephard

Don't forget to let us know if you would like to order some lamb for Easter, we are taking lots of orders already so please let us know asap.

Molly is growing so fast and enjoying her time in the sheds already. Feeding time and all the ewes making a racket sends her off to sleep!

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

In the thick of it!

Roly has just returned from one of the many trips to and from the lambing sheds and reported that we have had some 'cracking' lambs today, they are arriving thick and fast and it feels good after a slightly rocky start...

Two weeks ago we had about ten ewes with a condition called 'pregnancy toxaemia' or 'twin lamb disease'. During the last 8 weeks of pregnancy, the lambs grow at a terrific rate inside the ewe and puts a huge demand on her. If the ewe is not getting sufficient food her energy levels can drop dramatically and their rate of recovery is low. It is a very distressing condition and we think we had some cases due to 'trough bullying' where the stronger bullish ewes gobble all the food and do not leave enough for those lower down the pecking order....however, all of that is past us now and we are enjoying the fact that lambing is in full swing and that spring feels like it has finally arrived! The daffodils are out and we are already putting lambs out with their Mum's to grass which feels really good.

Other news from last week is that I had an unexpected trip back into hospital with appendicitis. Any one who has had this will sympathise I'm sure, very painful and it was hard with little Molly. She was fine though and got lots of attention from all the nurses and spent her nights back here in her cosy cot with her Daddy looking after her. Annoyingly she slept much better under Roly's supervision! Having said that she is beginning to sleep longer and our nights were beginning to stretch out before lots of woolly babies started arriving!

We are in full flow getting ready for the next two weekends. The Earth Trust are busy promoting the weekends and the weather looks good for this weekend at least, so we are looking forward to seeing everyone.

We have our 'shepherds for the day' starting with an old university friend of mine on Thursday who is coming with his two little boys Sam and Jack. He is looking forward to fingers crossed, having the opportunity of lambing his first ewe and experiencing that amazing feeling of bringing new life into the world.

More soon and we look forward to seeing many of you over the next two weekends to come and see the lambs.

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

The calm before the storm....

With little under 3 weeks until our main flock start to lamb we are busy getting all our lambing supplies ready and in place. The ewes all look well and we are busy feeding them up to maintain their condition and give their lambs all the nutrients they need to grow inside them.

Our lambing weekends which we are holding jointly with the Northmoor Trust (soon to be the Earth Trust) are fast approaching too and we are looking forward to welcoming lots of visitors to the farm to see this years offspring! For those interested in picking up some lamb on the day or a sheepskin rug we are asking people to preorder with us first so we can have everything ready for collection, so do call us on 07776 393072.

We have a very exciting new customer in London, Corrigans in Mayfair www.corrigansmayfair.com who have had 2 half lambs and some racks for a VIP dinner they are holding this evening! So we are really pleased that news of our delicious Oxfordshire lamb is spreading to top chefs in London.

Despite the cold weather still the grass is beginning to green up and soon the fields will be filling up with newborn lambs and we will be able to hear them calling for their Mums when we are walking in the village. A true sign of spring.

We have lots of people joining us to be shepherds for the day and we are looking forward to having them with us and getting them involved with all the jobs which make up our busy days whilst we are lambing.

Molly is busy growing too! She will be 2 months old on Monday...she will be making an appearance at the lambing weekends and we hope will be on her best behaviour...

More soon, probably with news of the first arrivals up in the lambing sheds!

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

248 hair cuts = a long day!

This time last week we had just got home having helped Brian (in the video clip) shear 248 of our sheep, it was a long day! We started at 7am and finished by 9pm. On the whole, the ewes seem to rather enjoy it, and look like putty in Brian's professional hands. It is so relaxing to watch. I took Molly up to the sheds and she snoozed along to the sound of the shearing machine!

People often ask us why we shear our flock in the winter - well, one of the main reasons is that they are only 6 weeks from lambing, which is when 70% of their unborn lambs growth takes place, and also the main development of the their mammary glands (the udder) to produce that vital food source milk for their lambs takes place during this time. A sheep that has been shawn will eat more hay and therefore be getting more nutrients during the key final few weeks of pregnancy.

But there are other advantages to shearing our sheep prior to lambing. Shawn sheep take up less room in the barn and around feeders, therefore reducing the risk of trough bullying or trough rage! It is also easier for lambs to feed from shawn ewes.

Also, sheep are very good at keeping warm - their wool insulates them, holding in body heat. Pregnant sheep, in which growth of the lamb results in heat production, stay even warmer as their pregnancy progresses. In fact, sheep carrying multiple lambs have to increase their respiratory rate just to get rid of body heat.

Anyway, we have a big week ahead of us with three farmers markets, two trips to the butchers, one trip to the abbatoir, a training course for using our faecal egg counter (a brilliant way for us to decide whether we need to use a wormer or not). . . not to mention feeding lots of hungry sheep twice a day!

More soon

Roly, Camilla, Molly, Boris and Belle