Day 12 - spring lambing 2012

Wow, an amazing day up at the farm. 100's of people turned out today to see our lambs and meet Badger! The weather has been truly glorious, like a summers day, although you know it is still March in the evenings as I'm just back from the sheds and wearing scarf and gloves.

We love sharing our flock with everyone but it is nice having the sheds back to ourselves at the end of the day. The ewes and lambs take it in their stride and seemed to think they deserved some more hay just now, we always give in....

Such a beautiful moon this evening, Roly commented that it looks like a moon from a nursery rhyme and we were waiting to see the cow jump over it! I think lack of sleep is really kicking in...

Thank you to everyone who came to see us this weekend and to all our helpers and to the Earth Trust. Please come along next weekend if you missed out or want to have another cuddle with Badger or another yummy lamb burger!

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Boris and Belle

Day 11 - Spring lambing 2012

Today - 18 lambs born, 250 lamb burgers cooked and 1200 visitors, what a day! But Badger (picture above) loved the attention, sound asleep now - Badger and shepherd!

Day 10 - Spring lambing 2012

Another busy day, with 36 good, strong lambs born. This morning we moved most of the 15 ewes and their twins born yesterday outside, the weather could not have been better for them. Tomorrow we shall be opening the gates to visitors and having an open day, so even earlier start in the morning to get all the feeding and bedding up done, not to mention having a proper sweep up before our guests arrive. By the end of the weekend the barn will be full of lambs as we will not be able to take any out to the fields if we have lots of visitors, so a busy monday. Badger (our black lamb)is looking cuter by the day, and she knows it - no doubt she is going to really work the crowds! Our vet students are doing a fantastic job both with ewes, lambs and also talking to the variuos people that come and visit us. Bed time

Day 9 - spring lambing 2012

It has been the most beautiful day here, and reached 19 degrees this afternoon! It could not be more perfect for turning our lambs outside, you can almost see them visibly grow with the sun on their backs.

It has been a relatively quiet day in the sheds up until about an hour ago and Roly still isn't home now which indicates that the girls have decided to uncross their legs just as we feel like having a break! Badger is doing well and we are keeping her in the sheds for a few days so that our visitors at our lambing weekends this weekend and next can meet her, I think she is going to have a few fans!

With the weather set to stay settled we are expecting a lot of visitors this weekend and we're looking forward to it, there is plenty to see in the lambing sheds as well as lots of other activities happening around the Earth Trust site. We are offering 10% off any lamb ordered over the weekend and will be selling our lamb burgers thanks to the help of our amazing friends and family.

Video today is dropping the ewes and their lambs off into the great outdoors for the first time, enjoy!

Day 8 - spring lambing 2012

For those who are keeping a close eye on Badgers diary, we now have the promised information from Joel who I mentioned yesterday who is a bit of an expert on how we have ended up with such a beautiful little girl! Here is what he has told us - "the lamb inherits two alleles – one from each parent. The alleles that carry the code for deciding the colour of the lamb will each carry the code for a different colour. However, only one colour can be dominant – the other is recessive. We call these the dominant and recessive genes. Some colours, such as black, are carried in the recessive gene, so the lamb will have to inherit two recessive genes to actually be born black, because if another colour is present that is carried in the dominant gene, this will ‘overpower’ the black recessive gene. So, basically, if black runs in the recessive gene, for a lamb to born black it will have to receive recessive black genes from both parents". Thanks Joel!

Another busy day, we had a lovely school visit this morning from Woodcote Primary School, they saw a lamb being born and our little triplets who are doing really well. They also met Badger too who seemed very happy to be stroked. Badger had to undergo her necessary 'tailing' today, which involves putting a rubber ring on her tail so that it falls off. This helps prevent nasty things like 'fly strike', a real problem in the summer months. Flys lay their eggs on the lambs and if they still have their tail they are more at risk. Have a look at the video, poor Badger, but she was soon up on her feet.

The sheds are just a wonderful place to be at the moment with the sun streaming in, long may this weather continue. Our other job today was putting more lambs outside, one of our favourite jobs!

More tomorrow.

Day 7 continued...

Here are Paul and Anita from Staffordshire, who were 'shepherds for the day' today - they just helped this ewe lamb her two beautiful girls! We were also joined by Bobbie Nicholls, one of our regular customers at Abingdon Farmers Market who was keen to see the story behind her favourite lamb!

Day 7 - lambing, spring 2012

We couldn't wait to share with you these two photos of our latest very exciting arrival! She is just the sweetest little lamb and so pretty! Well we think so, and we will be keeping her as her Mum is one of our replacement ewes. When she was born, about 10 o'clock last night, Joel and Cameron were up with us in the lambing sheds, who are two local friends who have been keen to help and be involved. Joel gave us a brilliant biology lesson on recessive genes, I will ask Joel to email how he described it to us as it was great and I'm worried that sleep deprivation will not allow me to recount it properly for everyone. Anyway, what is important is we have ended up with our lovely little girl! We need some help with names please!