It's lambing time...

Well, we've started lambing a whole day earlier than scheduled. I still can't believe how accurate the scanner must be to be able to predict it that close - the man is incredible!
I arrived at the sheep fields this morning around 10am and no sign of anything happening lamb wise, I really thought that not much more would happen today and went to do a few chores. I arrived back at the fields around 2pm to find twin lambs up and about with their mum, and what an incredible sight that was. They were feeding away, up on their feet and looking healthy. The rest of the flock were really curious about these new arrivals and when one of the younger ewes got a bit to close the mum intervened and sent the curious onlooker on her way. Watching the natural protective and caring "mum" instinct is a wonderful thing.
I decided to stay at the fields the rest of the day just in case anything else happened and when I returned from having a cup of coffee with a neighbour I found another ewe just in the early stages of labour - at least I didn't miss the birth this time and felt really privileged to be able to watch the whole process. The ewe mothered the new born lamb and then after around 20 minutes the next water bag appeared indicating the arrival of the twin. Unfortunately after about 45 minutes the only progress visible was the unborn lambs two legs sticking out. I called a friend and he confirmed my gut feeling which was that the ewe would probably need some help delivering the twin lamb. Very nervously I pulled on an arm length glove and managed to catch the ewe with my spare hand. On closer inspection I could see that it was in fact the hind legs sticking out which meant that the lamb was backwards. I slowly pulled the two legs making sure not to squeeze too hard and suddenly there was a newborn lamb at my feet. I gave it a quick wipe down and cleared its nostrils and then returned it to its eagerly awaiting mum, she gladly took over from there cleaning the lamb up and gave it its first drink of milk. Nerves, excitement, fear and elation are just a few of the emotions I went through.

So there you have it, the first day of lambing - eventful,scary and oh so very humbling. Fingers crossed for the next few weeks now as the rest of the lambs arrive...

Tiny Farmer...Big Tractor!

As if there's not enough going on with lambing just around the corner, we have the impending arrival of our calves within the next 2 weeks. With the last few days being dry it was window of opportunity to cut the long overgrown grass in the new fields and prepare them for the cattle.
I discussed the options with a friend and we decided that the small tractor I normally use was going to take far too long. "No problem" he said, "You can make use of the big tractor and you'll have it all done in a day". What he omitted to tell me was that this would include having to drive said big tractor through the Newmarket traffic in rush hour - and I can report that from up there in the cockpit of the tractor it's a terrifying experience!



So after getting the tractor through the traffic and to the fields I then discovered that the flail mower was 10ft wide and the gate was exactly 10 ft wide as well - problem, I thought.



I called my friend who was luckily close by and by some craftsmanship he managed to manoeuvre the tractor and flail mower in backwards.
The rest of the day was thoroughly enjoyable and the fields were cut in no time at all.



It was then off to change the flail mower for the 18ft wide harrowing chains.



All done by 5pm - result!



Another day of learning so much...

THIS LITTLE PIGGIE…

Meet our British Lop – it’s one of five little piglets in our pigsharing scheme.

Here they all are:



There is the British Lop (with the big ears), a Tamworth (the reddish one), a British white and a Gloucester Old Spot cross.
They are happily living in an orchard just a few hundred yards from the sheep field. They are being fed on a rotation scheme by the members of the pig share and at the end of 4 months the pork will be divided up between us.

There was a bit of manual labour involved on Saturday – here’s the Tiny Farmer helping to move the pig ark.



And the children came up for a good look at the new arrivals.



They really are very entertaining to watch. They run around and play together and also enjoy playing football! They’re very inquisitive – after only a few minutes they were coming very close to us and giving us a good sniff. They are already digging up the ground beautifully too. It is incredible how efficiently they turn over the soil. No need to rotovate with a pig in the garden.

Lesson in vaccinating the sheep

Hooray - the flock is now vaccinated for another year against some nasties like clostridial diseases and pasturella (thanks to Heptavac) and bluetongue (thanks to BTV8). The bluetongue vaccine is more about overall flock management as bluetongue is spread by midges going from animal to animal. There is actually a big drive on in the UK to become bluetongue free this year and let's hope that becomes a reality. The Heptavac vaccine is more about protecting each sheep individually from clostridial diseases and pasturella and very importantly passing on some of that protection to the new born lambs who will only need a booster vaccine after the first month or so.
The vet came to give us a hand and show us how to administer the vaccine. We got to vaccinate quite a lot of the sheep ourselves under her watchful eye and going forward we will now be able to administer the vaccine ourselves without vet assistance.



We have also sent away a faeces sample of the sheep off for analysis so that we can see if it is necessary to give the sheep any worming treatment before lambing. We certainly wouldn't want to give any unnecessary treatment, not only is it extra handling of the sheep at a fragile time with lambing around the corner but it also builds up resistance to the worming treatment in the long run which leaves you high and dry if there is a worm problem later on.
It's all about little steps and each day learning a bit more I guess.
So now we are almost ready for lambing - only 3 weeks to go and I'm sure they will fly by.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG...WELL ALMOST...

It seems like the weather gods have answered our prayers...sunshine and blue skies at last!
It has been such a bitter winter that the this little preview of spring feels absolutely fantastic. Amazing how a ray of sunshine can lift the spirits.
Out in the garden the early bulbs are putting on a brave show.





Spring growth…so can’t be too long till we get started on the allotment again. Probably about time to start checking the seed supplies and dust off the propagator. I feel a list coming on…

MUD, MUD....

This is our sheep field at the moment:

As you can see it is pretty muddy. We have had a very harsh winter and the result of the continual round of snow, thaw, frost, thaw etc is that the ground is really saturated and there is barely any grass in sight. We are looking out hopefully for signs of spring and some new growth, but not much prospect of that just yet.

Fortunately the sheep don't seem to be unduly concerned by the state of the ground. The vet was in this week for their annual health check and they were seen to be in fine form. Having said that, we do have to be very careful about their diet. As they are pregnant, their nutrition is a priority and we are giving them extra rations of hay and concentrates. There would certainly not be enough grass in this mirey field to nourish a flock of pregnant ewes. We now have huge stockpiles of sheep feed and what can't be stored elsewhere has ended up in our kitchen!



The vet will be back next week to show us how to give the sheep their yearly vaccinations so that we'll be able to do them ourselves next time.

Bring on that sunshine...

LAMBING NOVICES

We are novices at lambing. Black Welsh Mountain sheep are a hardy breed and one of the reasons we decided on them is that they are said to require very little help at lambing. We have been advised that they are pretty independent when it comes to giving birth.
Having said that, we have never been through lambing before and are only too aware of our lack of experience. So we thought it might be a good idea to go along to a lambing course which was run by our local country veterinary practice. It was held at a farm in the Cambridgeshire Fens and we were delighted to be able to pick the brains of John Maxwell – who has been farming for decades and has been though pretty much everything when it comes to sheep. There were a lot of small holders, a show breeder and even some total newbies like ourselves. Everyone was keen to learn – and to learn from each other.
Mr Maxwell brought us round his farm where he is at the end of lambing with his Charollais ewes. They are a large breed and looked enormous compared to our little Welshies. We got the lowdown on all the care required and interventions that may be needed as well as the tagging procedures and drugs that should be on standby in emergencies. We were also encouraged to get some hands on experience and were pleased to get the chance to do our first bit of tagging and tail docking. We went through how to deal with prolapses, various birthing problems, how to feed lambs colostrum and castration. Our vet also told us to be on the alert for all sorts of illnesses that can be a cause for concern at this time (watery mouth disease, navel ill etc).
We came away from the day feeling much more knowledgeable (if a little nervous...okay then...very nervous!).
Many thanks to the Maxwells for letting us all descend on their farm at such a busy time of year. It was bitterly cold – but our feet thawed out very well in the farm kitchen, helped by some delicious piping hot homemade soup!

Tiny Farmer out

ps. We have only just discovered the comments tag on the blog. To everyone who has posted comments so far, thank you and apologies for not replying to them sooner. Now that we're aware of it we'll respond.