Everybody was kung-fu fighting …
(52 headbutting 937)
(Chubby kicking Pecky)
And Champion squaring up to head butt 937. She was really bugging him! Every time he tried to walk away from her, she followed him. And then he would get mad and turn round and run at her. They have all been a bit feisty this month so it must be the time of year.
And finally, the sun has come out. The sheep were getting very miserable in the mud and water-logged field.
In fact, they had even resorted to eating the guinea fowl’s corn. The grass just didn’t seem to be growing. In fairness, they could stand to lose a couple of pounds.
This trailer in the field is proving to be a perfect scratching post. Pictured here, Tim’s-Sheep having a back scratch.
And now, news from the barn … lambing proper has started.
The new Mums are penned in with their newborns for a day or so whilst everyone recovers. Once they are a day old they are tagged. Then usually on day 3, they move into a slightly larger pen with a few of the other ewes and lambs … a nursery. This gives them a chance to acclimatise to being with other sheep and lambs before they go out into the field.
The lambs are given the same number as the ewe so the farm can easily match lamb to ewe. #6 means ‘Spot’ was the 6th ewe to lamb this year.
And finally the farm are celebrating twin calves. It’s rare, about 0.5% chance. And the condition causes infertility in the female calves born twin to a male. Thankfully these were both females.
There are a lot of triplets and quadruplets expected this year with the sheep so it’s likely there will need to be an orphanage and bottle feeding. The ewes tend not to do so well with more than 2 lambs.
The farm have a lambing day Saturday 28 April so if you’re local, please do come and visit!
