Lambing 2017
It's March 2017. I've been waiting for this, for what feels like a million years. I've arranged 6 weeks off work. My flight's sorted, my bags are packed and I'm ready for Scotland. This time I've signed up for a lambing season, which is roughly four weeks. The two weeks following, consist of a bit of travelling and another week on the Isle of Eigg to learn more about the art of permaculture.
The trip is smooth, the view from the plane is gorgeous and I'm very excited.
After reporting the loss of my pants and other essential items I hop into a cab and then a train fairly confidenty, I've done this route before. Claire picks me up from the station and on the way, fills me in on her current WWOOFers. One good, one not-so good. I try to control the sense of panic in the pit of stomach, I'm quite nervous about this placement. I know it's going to be hard from what I've read and watched on TV. Am I up to the task? I hope I don't let myself down.
The day starts bright and early. We've been told,in no uncertain terms, to be in the yard for 7am not 7:05pm and definitely not 7:10am.
Feeding first. The ewes are split into two groups, one in the larger shed and lean-to. The other in the steading.
I don't know if you've ever encountered a hungry sheep before? Man, they are aggressive! Play it badly and you can end up completely surrounded, crushed, and if really unlucky, flat on your arse.
Thankfully Lily, my roommate, knows the routine. Herd and lock the sheep in the lean-to while you lay out the troughs and fill them up. Then unlock the gate and "Hey Presto!" While they're wrestling on that side, do the same in the lean-to. Lock the gate and leave them to they're own devices. Next up, feed the ewes in the steading, using the same technique.
Lily goes off to feed Oscar, the Ex racehorse. While I respond to the call of "Breakfast" from across the yard. Breakfast consists of everyone sorting themselves out. The table is always laid out the night before by Diana, Claire's 89 year old mother who she shares the croft with, a lovely thing which gives the place a lovely sense of nostalgia.
Stories are told, experiences are shared until about 10am when we set off again for the next job. Outside the large shed, is a huge pile of neeps (turnips to us southern folk) I fill up the wheelbarrow and chuck them into the shed as instructed, trying very hard not to hit any ewes, casually minding their own business.
By the time I arrived, there were already a few lambs. At this croft, lambs are given about a day in the bonding pen (which stand around the edges of the shed) with their mother's. Mum is given a breakfast of rolled oats, sugar beet and soya after her lamb is born. This does not happen on every farm/croft/smallholding - every farmer has their own system.
These lambs are then ready for tagging and tailing. Tagging is required by law, so all animals can be traced back to a farm and all their movements (if they're sold etc) recorded. Their birth, whether difficult, assisted or natural is also recorded as well as those whose lamb they are. Believe or not, it is possible to have an idea of a ewes future mothering ability, from her own birth. Often, lambs who are born naturally, without assistance make better mothers. Of course there are a few which prove the exception to this rule.
Tailing, involves a small elastic band being attached to a lambs tail. At the time, I didn't really get why this was done but as I saw the lambs getting bigger, during my stay, I could see the necessity of this process. Sheep with long tails are more prone to dirty bums. This build up attracts flies and maggots which can make life for the sheep very uncomfortable. It also proves to be very difficult when lambing as you can't see what's going on behind the tail. Male lambs are also castrated using the elastic bands. As you know, it's the males that will eventually enter the food chain, unless they show all the signs of behing a good sire. We're talking about big nuts here guys! Massive nuts! Castration also means a calmer temperament and less likely to get into fights and mate with the wrong girls (as in sister's/mother's etc)
Next up, weighing and spraying. Lambs are very gently put into a shopping bag, today we used a bag for life, available at all good supermarkets. Weights are recorded. We then move on to spraying. Now then, there's a system for this too! There's a different colour spray for the different amount of lambs. For example; for a ewe with a single lamb, a green spray would be used. The number she has is where she came to give birth in the flock, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. This number is also sprayed on the lamb. A ewe which has twins would have her number sprayed on in red. A ewe bearing triplets, blue. Once these are put out into the field, it makes it easier for a farmer to see if a ewes' lambs are with her and more importantly, if any are missing.
Sheep can have quads, but this is extremely rare.
A sheep has two teats. So, as you can imagine if she gives birth to triplets, this can pose a problem. Small but strong, milk hungry lambs, with a mother in good condition, with plenty of milk can work. But often it's too much for the ewe to sustain three lambs and herself. In this case the farmer needs to consider getting a ewe, with a single lamb, to adopt another one. Making this decision must happen early on, to ensure the ewe dosen't reject the lamb and allows it to feed.
So, when a small single lamb appears, it's not uncommon for another lamb, from a set of triplets to appear. At the croft, it is always the larger of the three that is selected. This lamb will be covered in birth fluids and carefully introduced to the ewe. If all goes well, she will clean her lamb and the triplet and allow them to suckle. There's a 50/50% chance of this working. If you pull it off, brilliant. If you don't, you'll have what are called 'pet lambs' , which you'll need to bottle feed 3 times a day. A nice job, but one which can take up a lot of time, especially if they're not keen to take the bottle. These 'pet lambs' become very comfortable around humans and make good candidates in the future for training sheep dogs. But that's a whole other story.
Once lambs and ewes are ready, they are moved into the field to do their thing. There's a fox problem here so Claire likes to round these guys up and put them behind electric fencing at night. There are also three Alpacas, which many people keep as a deterrent to predators. These include, foxes, badgers, birds and any other opportunists lurking behind the hedgerows. Birds will go for the eyes of both ewes and lambs. Any sheep that falls over and can't get back up is a potential victim to our feathered friends.
During the night, the flock are checked every couple of hours. There's a shift at 12am, 2am, 5am and everyone is up and out at 7am. Everyone gets a different time each night.
After a few shifts with Claire's help I was fairly confident being by myself. I had managed to sort out a ewe giving birth to triplets, one of which was backwards. So I felt I could handle things, no sweat!
One particular night I had a 2am shift. Obviously, it's the middle of the night so it's dark, all you have is your headlamp until you get to the shed. As you approach, you listen out for labour noises, a very gutteral sort of chatter. On this occasion, there seemed to be a lot of chatter - immediately, I knew I was in for it. Switching the lights on revealed three ewes in the big shed and lean-to, all looking 'juicy'. Ideally, you want to get the them in a bonding pen, but sometimes she dosen't fancy it and run's of with her pals. The running can also shake off her 'juicyness' making it very hard to keep track of whose in labour and who isn't. Three ewes to separate from the rest of the flock is going to be a challenge by myself. I'm also a bit concerned about two other ewes which are very keen to nick someone's else's lamb (a term called mis-mothering) I still have to check the steading, so after deciding I've enough time to run down and have a look. I close the gate behind me and take off into the night. By this point it's raining and as I turn on the lights of the steading, another ewe in lamb makes herself known. I let the other sheep out of the steading and into an enclosed area outside. I successfully manage to get her into a bonding pen. She's got quite a while until she pops, so I've got time to leave her and go back to the other ewes in the shed. I go outside to fetch the other ewes and to my surprise, spot a new born lamb rolling down the hill and under the gate into an open field. In my mind, and in this weather, this lambing lark has reached biblical proportions. I've absolutely no idea who Mum is and to my untrained eye, they all look 'juicy' because they've been out in the rain. "Nevermind", I say to myself "get them back inside and go and rescue that lamb!" Lamb in hand and back indoors, I sit and wait for baby to cry out and hope that one ewe responds. This time, I've struck it lucky and ewe and lamb are reunited, she's definitely the right ewe and after checking her, this will be her only one. Good! Back to the shed.
Stories are told, experiences are shared until about 10am when we set off again for the next job. Outside the large shed, is a huge pile of neeps (turnips to us southern folk) I fill up the wheelbarrow and chuck them into the shed as instructed, trying very hard not to hit any ewes, casually minding their own business.
By the time I arrived, there were already a few lambs. At this croft, lambs are given about a day in the bonding pen (which stand around the edges of the shed) with their mother's. Mum is given a breakfast of rolled oats, sugar beet and soya after her lamb is born. This does not happen on every farm/croft/smallholding - every farmer has their own system.
These lambs are then ready for tagging and tailing. Tagging is required by law, so all animals can be traced back to a farm and all their movements (if they're sold etc) recorded. Their birth, whether difficult, assisted or natural is also recorded as well as those whose lamb they are. Believe or not, it is possible to have an idea of a ewes future mothering ability, from her own birth. Often, lambs who are born naturally, without assistance make better mothers. Of course there are a few which prove the exception to this rule.
Tailing, involves a small elastic band being attached to a lambs tail. At the time, I didn't really get why this was done but as I saw the lambs getting bigger, during my stay, I could see the necessity of this process. Sheep with long tails are more prone to dirty bums. This build up attracts flies and maggots which can make life for the sheep very uncomfortable. It also proves to be very difficult when lambing as you can't see what's going on behind the tail. Male lambs are also castrated using the elastic bands. As you know, it's the males that will eventually enter the food chain, unless they show all the signs of behing a good sire. We're talking about big nuts here guys! Massive nuts! Castration also means a calmer temperament and less likely to get into fights and mate with the wrong girls (as in sister's/mother's etc)
Next up, weighing and spraying. Lambs are very gently put into a shopping bag, today we used a bag for life, available at all good supermarkets. Weights are recorded. We then move on to spraying. Now then, there's a system for this too! There's a different colour spray for the different amount of lambs. For example; for a ewe with a single lamb, a green spray would be used. The number she has is where she came to give birth in the flock, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. This number is also sprayed on the lamb. A ewe which has twins would have her number sprayed on in red. A ewe bearing triplets, blue. Once these are put out into the field, it makes it easier for a farmer to see if a ewes' lambs are with her and more importantly, if any are missing.
Sheep can have quads, but this is extremely rare.
A sheep has two teats. So, as you can imagine if she gives birth to triplets, this can pose a problem. Small but strong, milk hungry lambs, with a mother in good condition, with plenty of milk can work. But often it's too much for the ewe to sustain three lambs and herself. In this case the farmer needs to consider getting a ewe, with a single lamb, to adopt another one. Making this decision must happen early on, to ensure the ewe dosen't reject the lamb and allows it to feed.
So, when a small single lamb appears, it's not uncommon for another lamb, from a set of triplets to appear. At the croft, it is always the larger of the three that is selected. This lamb will be covered in birth fluids and carefully introduced to the ewe. If all goes well, she will clean her lamb and the triplet and allow them to suckle. There's a 50/50% chance of this working. If you pull it off, brilliant. If you don't, you'll have what are called 'pet lambs' , which you'll need to bottle feed 3 times a day. A nice job, but one which can take up a lot of time, especially if they're not keen to take the bottle. These 'pet lambs' become very comfortable around humans and make good candidates in the future for training sheep dogs. But that's a whole other story.
Once lambs and ewes are ready, they are moved into the field to do their thing. There's a fox problem here so Claire likes to round these guys up and put them behind electric fencing at night. There are also three Alpacas, which many people keep as a deterrent to predators. These include, foxes, badgers, birds and any other opportunists lurking behind the hedgerows. Birds will go for the eyes of both ewes and lambs. Any sheep that falls over and can't get back up is a potential victim to our feathered friends.
During the night, the flock are checked every couple of hours. There's a shift at 12am, 2am, 5am and everyone is up and out at 7am. Everyone gets a different time each night.
After a few shifts with Claire's help I was fairly confident being by myself. I had managed to sort out a ewe giving birth to triplets, one of which was backwards. So I felt I could handle things, no sweat!
The shed is busy, we've two new lambs and a hell of a lot of activity. Thankfully, two ewes are still in the throws of labour and the third shows all the signs of having just given birth. Great! I pick up the lambs and wait for Mum to follow, she responds perfectly and I get them into a bonding pen. They're all given the necessary checks and can now be left to their own devises. The ewes here, still have some time, so back to the steading I go!
This hive of activity continued way beyond the two hours until Claire's shift at 5am. She looked quite surprised to see me running about in the yard, sweating and out of breath. In the end, 5 ewes bore 10 lambs in two hours.
At breakfast, after I'd had power nap. There was much discussion about the busiest night in the history of the crofts lambing season. Now, to many who work on farms, particularly commercial ones, that may not seem like a lot. But to me, it was. I felt quite pleased with myself and tried very hard not to show off when I got home. (I didn't do very well)
Four weeks flew by, and on the last day Claire and I were discussing my future plans. I wasn't yet sure what I was going to do. There had been mention of Agricultural college, but at the time it wasn't on my radar. Claire offered to give me a good reference should I wish to apply, and very kindly said she thought I'd do well. I had a lot to think about, but for now, a bit of time off and on to my next job...
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