The toughest job of the year by far, for my sheepdogs is the first gather of the new seasons lambs. It’s the first time that lambs are moved as a flock, up until this point they just follow their...
As ever the last weeks of the lambing season has flown by. Although the icy east wind howled through the lambing barns almost daily, we have fared far better than sheep farmers in the North of the country. For...
It’s always good to see the first lambs of the year, born this morning five days early. with the Schmallenberg virus so prevalent in local flocks just before Christmas, there we’ve been particularly worried about this years lambing, so...
I’m not sure if it counts a a new enterprise at Borough Farm, but we’ve recently acquired a pig. ‘Mary’ ( when you only have one your allowed to give it a name) is a...
One of the disadvantages of being a sheep farmer is that it’s difficult to get away from the farm. We rarely have a holiday and even a weekend away takes a lot of organizing, but I’m lucky to have...
Fortunately we missed the worst of last week snow, not that I mind a little bit of cold weather, and it does make the countryside look wonderful for a few days…. but the novelty soon wares off! Every journey...
I think that 2012 will go down as one of the most challenging summers ever experienced by most farmers across the country. Although sheep shouldn’t be as affected by the weather as some sectors of farming, the continuous rain...
We were very pleased to escape the newly identified ‘schmallenberg’ disease which has affected many farms in the south east of England, but the lambing season didn’t pass by without throwing up some problems. We usually have half a...
The lambing season started this year on the 28th March, and with the ewes looking in fine fettle we had high hopes for a good crop of lambs. The first ten days of the season were hectic with over...
You may of heard of the schmallenberg virus which is presenting a new threat to sheep this year. SchmallenbergIt had received a lot of attention in the press in the last couple of weeks because of the potential damage...
