Welcome to Part Two of my Lambing Live blog!

So we are now at the “tail end” of lambing, with our second group of ewes (99 in fact) steadily starting on the 8^th April before stepping up a gear on the weekend of the 13^th;

The ewes have just been pushing lambs out left right and center ever since! Check out some pictures on the Farm Adventure Instagram page

Chuffing heck! 2 triplets lambing at once!

As I write this, we have only 10 ewes left to lamb, all but one being our new ladies, the Llyens

Lleyn Sheep – a little bit of information for you!

They are a Welsh breed who are renowned for being docile and fantastic mothers. Fantastic mothers? Yes! Docile? Jury is still out on that one, having had to rugby tackle at least 2 in the field, I can vouch that they are anything but!

Poser! One of our Llyens

They are shearings, as are 20 mules that we bought last year.

Our shearings are first time mothers, so two problems arise.

1. Firstly, if the lambs are big, the struggle for both ewe and either Rob or myself to get them out makes both parties swear and sweat a bit! There have been times (especially in the middle of the night) where we have had to spend a lot of time coaxing a very large lamb out of a very small space which leaves both lamb and ewe a little shell shocked.
2. And then (here’s the second problem), the ewe sometimes really doesn’t want it! So frustrating as they can often turn around with a look of disgust on their face as if to say
   

   “what the hell is that!”

But time and leaving them quiet often does the trick!

Welcome to the world little lamb!

Essential kit – luckily, you don’t get a strange look at our farm store when buying lube in bulk! 😀

Now we always end up with a few pet lambs, but this year must be a record for the lowest number; we currently have 3 who are now huge and very demanding! We have managed to adopt a lot of lambs from triplets onto ewes that just had one with great success, which always cuts down on pet lamb feeding!

Peekaboo! Is it time for milk again yet?

The weather has certainly been great this year, and with lambing that bit later the ewes and lambs are benefiting from sunshine and plenty of grass. It has been so warm that most days we have been able to put ewes and lambs into the field as soon as they have given birth.

These ladies and their lambs being chauffeured to their grazing

There is nothing better than seeing lambs skipping around in the lush green grass or sunbathing!

Trying to top up their tans!

So before Rob & I know it, it is all just about over. Sitting in the office writing this, it is very easy to think that I have blinked and missed it! But then I remember late nights, 2am alarms, lambing in my pjs and wellies, difficult lambings, easy lambings, iodine covered fingers, finding castrating rings in every pocket and going to tesco with jeans covered in blood and fluid! All worth it though when you see happy lambs and ewes out of our office window!

What a view from the office!

Signing off until next year……

~Jess