treating the lambs

added by David on Wednesday June 9, 2010 at 11:00 pm

We hardly seem to have finished lambing, when it’s time to get the lambs in for their first round of treatments. It’s been a difficult spring for the sheep, the long cold dry spell meant that the grass was slow to start growing and although the ewes were fed extra pellets, they didn’t produce as much milk as normal, which in turn causes the lambs to nibble at the grass earlier than they usually would. So the first treatment round in the second week of May included a worm dose for the lambs, together with a second dose for another internal parasite, coccidiosis, and a vaccination against pasteurella, the disease that is the biggest killer of sheep.

With over 900 lambs to treat it’s a big job, completed over four days. The noise from the sheep pens is enormous as every ewe calls to it’s lambs and every lamb responds. Once back in the fields it take several hours for the ewes and lambs to mother up again and peace and quiet.

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lambing open days

added by David on Thursday April 29, 2010 at 10:47 pm

We’d been planning for some time to open the lambing barns to visitors this year, and with the interest aroused by the BBC’s ‘Lambing live’ programs it proved a great year to start our lambing open days.  With the lambing in full swing it took a huge effort to ready the barns for visitors (we put up nearly 100 information and safety notices!) but with the help of all the family we managed all the preparations and on April 3rd we opened the doors for the first time. I must admit to being slightly nervous about inviting visitors in at such a busy time, with no control over when lambs might be born, or what sheep problems might arise. In the event I needn’t have worried, the viewing gallery that we incorporated into the new barn proved a great success, and the sheep delivered lambs right on cue. We had some lovely comments left in the visitors book, so it now looks as if lambing open days are likely to become a regular part of the borough farm calendar.

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the lambing season

added by David on Thursday April 29, 2010 at 10:25 pm

The lambing season began on 21st March this year and was hectic from day 1. The first 8 days saw nearly 300 ewes give birth and right in the middle of that first week the weather to turned  cold and wet. We were forced to keep the lambs in for an extra couple of days, which uses up every inch of space and creates a lot of extra work. Fortunately the cold spell only lasted for 3 days, after that we could turn ewes and lambs out to the more sheltered fields. With plenty of good sized double lambs born and no more than the usual lambing problems, it’s been a good lambing season and we’re now back into a more normal routine and catching up on some sleep!

lambs playing

first lambs

added by David on Friday March 26, 2010 at 11:51 pm

p1010947 It’s always good to see the first lambs of the year, and on Sunday evening the first lambs arrived in our new lambing barn. With most of the flock looking very heavily in lamb,I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the rush started, and on Monday no less than 50 lambs were born! We’re now with the sheep for almost 24 hours a day, and hoping that the weather will dry up a little so that we can turn ewes and lambs out into the field. Sometimes lambing seems to be so busy that you don’t know where to turn next, but as a I was once told by an old shepherd ‘they only have to arrive once’. And much as I love to see the first lambs of the year, it’s also pretty good to see the last!

lambing’s just around the corner

added by David on Tuesday March 2, 2010 at 10:51 pm

The past few weeks have been very busy with the building of the new sheep shed, but with the shed nearly complete I need to turn my attention to the coming lambing season. The ewe flock is being fed heavily in order that they produce strong lambs and give plenty of milk, and have been vaccinated with the clostridial vaccine, which provides protection to lambs via the ewes milk, against 8 different diseases. Half of the flock has been housed in the exiting sheep shed for the last couple of months, with the rest of the flock still grazing on the National Trust ground at Mortehoe.

With the new shed due to be completed this week, I hope that all of the flock will be under cover by the weekend.

This picture is of ewes steaming breath in the early morning

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building the sheep shed

added by David on Friday February 12, 2010 at 10:21 pm

Work is well underway for the new sheep shed. Although Borough farm looks like a building site I’m hoping that by the end of next week (the third week of February) the shed will be almost complete, with just the concrete alley ways left to do. As soon as it’s finished I’ll be bringing the rest of the flock in, so this year the whole flock will be under cover for the start of lambing

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return of the natives

added by David on Tuesday February 2, 2010 at 10:38 pm

Borough farm is surrounded by steep woodland and each winter as the grass stops growing, I always seem to end up with half a dozen ewes taking themselves off for a better life in the forest. And it’s not just any old sheep, they are invariably led by one black-faced ewe, (the ‘legend of Borough woods’ for anyone who has watched that episode of  ‘Mist’ on the telly)  who seems to feel more at home amongst the thicket and bramble of the deepest woodland. A couple of weeks ago a neighbor reported seeing some sheep in the woods, so I set off on the annual search, accompanied by Mist Jake and Ernie.

After a little over an hour, the errant ewes were spotted by Jake, and although they were determined to run in any direction other than back to the , the dogs were up to the task and six ewes were eventually captured and will now spend the rest of the winter in the shed with the rest of the flock!

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winter visitors

added by David on Wednesday January 27, 2010 at 10:34 pm

The cold weather may bring it’s problems, but one positive has been the welcome arrival of several flocks of Lapwings in North Devon (also known as Peewits or Green Plovers).  When I was as shepherd in Kent during the eighties, I’d see these birds in their thousands during the autumn and winter, taking up residence on newly sown fields. Sadly their numbers have been in decline ever since, so it’s really good to see flocks numbering several hundred in the fields around the farm

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Snow again

added by David on Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 10:56 am

January saw a week of snow at Borough farm and although only a few inches actually fell, it froze hard and turned the farm drive into a sheet of ice. The sheep flock were completely unconcerned. The Romney ewes are a hardy breed and scarcely seem to notice the cold. They gather around the bale feeders and await their next bale of silage, fortunately all of the sheep were in easily accessible fields and feeding wasn’t difficult.

On the coastal ground at Mortehoe, the snow hardly settled, so they carried on grazing as usual

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a new sheep shed for Borough farm

added by David on Tuesday January 19, 2010 at 11:16 am

The beginning of the year saw the arrival of ’swing-shovel’ excavator to prepare the site for our new sheep shed. We’ve been short of shed room for some years, with enough space to house little over half of the ewe flock, so this year we’ve decided to erect a new shed (nearly 5500 square feet) which will be big enough to house a further 350 sheep.

It’s always a bit sad to see the digger starting to work, knowing that it will change the look of the farm for ever, bit the resulting shed will be a great asset for the sheep farming

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