Day 5 - spring lambing 2012

Last night was quiet, only two sets of twins so this morning we were able to get all the routine jobs done like giving the ewes fresh straw bedding in good time with no distractions. After a slow start this morning we then had an another couple of sets of twins born within 5 minutes. All doing well. Later this afternoon we had a set of twins where one is really small...it is amazing how suddenly all your time can be spent shepherding just one tiny lamb. It is a balance between allowing the bond to form between the ewe and her lamb but also making sure that the lamb has had that vital first taste of colostrum. When a lamb is that small it can struggle to even latch onto the teat, so we have had to give it a lot of time and help.

We were joined this afternoon by some friends, Liam who helped us at Abingdon farmers market on Friday, he has 4 ewes of his own to lamb and helped us this afternoon and lambed his first sheep. He had a big smile on his face, as did his two boys Caleb and Lochie who were looking on fascinated by what their Dad was up to.

Molly has had great fun in the sheds too today as you can see from one of these photos. Mel is doing the night checks for us tonight, amazing, so we are turning in.....

Day 4 - Spring Lambing 2012

Clean floors, freshly strawed yards, buckets scrubbed - yes our vet students from the Royal Vetinary College have started and we are being well and truly sorted out! We have had some very strong and determined lambs born today, lots of triplets, twins and a few singles. The new large penthouse pens we have installed are proving very popular with the triplets, however as more ewes lamb over the next few days, the lambing barn will be heaving and lambs will be put into the closest pen available! We would like to turn some lambs outside for the first time tomorrow - one of our favourite jobs, but it might have to wait until Monday when the sun is forecast to come out again. Looking forward to another day . . . after some sleep!

Day 3 - Spring lambing 2012

It's been a long but good day. Nine ewes have lambed today, we have had a couple of disappointing losses, but we have also had some cracking lambs born. Tomorrow we will start to move some of the stronger lambs to a nursery yard, before being turned outside for the first time. Thankfully the grass is just starting to grow, which will be helped by a very light dressing of fertiliser kindly applied by our neigbouring arable farmer. Our tractor still has man flu, so struggling on without that, but the Earth Trust are generously hiring us theirs. In between all of this we've also had a Farmers Market in Abingdon today - thank you to Liam for coming to the rescue and manning the stall. Our vet students, Mel and Akash start tomorrow, can't wait. Early start tomorrow, good night!

Day 2 - spring lambing 2012

It has been a tough day. With still 4 days until the flock should officially start lambing (their due date), any lambs born this early can be small and weak, and that is just what we have experienced today, sadly losing a couple of lambs, we do not have too much to show for all our efforts. Thrown into the mix was attending the Oxford Farmers Market! So a busy day. However, we have ended on a high note, a good strong pair of twins were born at 9pm and up on their feet straight away. What an emotional rollercoster. More tomorrow.

Day 2 - spring lambing 2012

This morning we had a little surprise, well two surprises! 5 days early we had our first set of twins for the spring. More news tomorrow.

The media and first signs of spring!

Schmallenberg virus has hit the headlines this week. Yesterday our phones were constantly ringing from local press wanting our thoughts on how we are coping and preparing for our 250 ewes who are due to lamb in 3 weeks time. Roly spoke on the Jeremy Vine show yesterday and we had BBC Oxford television out on the farm this morning which you can see from the photos.

The virus was first detected in a village called Schmallenberg in Germany last year. The virus is transmitted by midges which were possibly blown across the channel at the end of last summer, hence most of the cases have so far been on the east coast. As the UK lambing season progresses more cases are emerging, as yet none in Oxfordshire. We thought we might have got away with it as our January lambing went well but our vet Adelle advised us this morning that the ewes are vulnerable during the first months of their pregnancy so there is a chance the March flock could have been exposed to the midges later in the year.

It seems very ironic as the ewes all look really well and are tucking in to all their yummy food and are totally oblivious to our fussings over them.

The good news is that there is no risk to human health from the virus. Adelle explained this is due to the particular type of gene sequence which the virus carries does not affect humans. So all our bookings to be shepherds for the day with us and our lambing weekends are all safe to go ahead as planned and we're looking forward to seeing everyone.

All the January lambs are having their first taste of the outdoors today! Spring is in the air! It was also their first taste of being moved as a group which is often chaos as the lambs don't know what to do or to make of Belle. This will make more room in the sheds for the March flock and ensure they all have plenty of trough space to feed their growing lambs.

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

Keeping warm...

I took this photo this morning in the lambing sheds of some of our January lambs looking pretty cosy. There were a few rays of sunshine streaming in and they were positioned right in one of them! They are all growing really well and being very cheeky escaping from their pens and charging around the lambing sheds. Its so funny, as they know they're being naughty, they jump straight back into their pens with their Mum's when we come in.

The March flock were all shorn over a week ago now, we did feel a bit mean! It was literally just as the weather changed but they are absolutely fine as they are indoors and on cosy beds of straw. Brian, our shearer, uses special winter shears which don't shear as close to the skin as the summer ones, so they do have a fine layer of wool. We shear them now so that all the energy they gain from eating the special nuts and hay goes into their growing lambs, rather than being wasted through panting trying to keep cool with their thick winter fleeces on.

We're really pleased to be supplying two new pubs within the last two months - the Seven Stars at Marsh Baldon www.sevenstarsonthegreen.co.uk and the Three Horseshoes at Benson www.thethreehorseshoesbenson.co.uk we hope all their customers will enjoy eating delicious local lamb.

We've got lots of bookings to be shepherds for the day and we're starting to take bookings for companies who are going to spend the day with us as a day for their staff to all get together and work through some tasks, we'll keep you posted, but do get in touch if you are interested.

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle