The farm through the seasons – April

Well, April is flying by in a flash here at the farm - despite the very late nights blurring into very early mornings for the tired farm team. Still, it’s quite a magical time here on the farm, with the relative quietness of the lambing sheds whilst waiting for the lambs to arrive. There’s always such a sense of relief when the mother successfully births and fully bonds with her offspring, licking them dry, and then watching the lambs unsteadily get to their feet.

It’s been particularly busy for our shepherd, Rob, who has been on duty checking our outdoor ewes who are lambing in fields, with some located quite a distance away from the farm. The rest of the farm team have based themselves in the lambing sheds, and split their time into covering the early or late shifts. It’s always a 24-hour job keeping an eye on the ewes and their newly born lambs. This year we had a returning vet student come join us for a week of lambing, and her help has been invaluable in those safe arrivals.

For the team on indoors duty there’s quite the list of jobs to tend to with feeding, watering and bedding to be kept on top of, checking of the ewes who are showing signs of their lambs being on their way, and keeping an eye on the ewes who have just given birth and their lambs. For the pet lambs who need that extra care, bottle feeding needs to be undertaken a good few times a day, and there’s always willing hands to give a hand with this job! It’s only a matter of days before most of those lambs will be out grazing in the fields, and we always hope for good weather during lambing season.

On the rest of the farm we got around to the drilling of the Spring Barley, and we have also keeping our eyes on the growth in the fields of pasture grasses for the sheep to be turned out to. The rapeseed is nearly in full flower and it’s quite a sight to see. There will be a good few months until this is harvested so let’s plan, as we always do, for good weather to get us through. Let the bank holidays shine for May!