My First Lamb

My First Lamb

This year was my first ever experience with living and working on a farm. This has been a set up to the rest of my life. Honestly couldn't be more lucky to be in the situation i am in. Traditionally lambing season starts around easter time in the year. It all starts when you hire 2 or more Rams (boys) to come into your flock and they have a couple of months of good times with your girls.

We had one particular gentleman with us called Frank who was an absolute gem and much to my delight was very photogenic.

This Snowy handsome gentleman is frank! Isn't he one special looking Dorset! Shot on a Canon 500D with a 28-80mm lens.

After a short while the lovely boys had to return to their homes all happy and i'm sure a few pounds lighter, the girls had to get ready to become mums.

We did our part in making them comfortable and cosy ready for the moment they pop. Up in the barn lots of food and water and cover from the inevitable rain, however in this case it was snow round 2!

One day I returned from work to find the family humming with excitement and confusion. When I went to investigate I was led up to a field where the young male rams and the elderly ladies of the land were staying, much to my surprise and delight our eldest resident Spot who is a grand old age of 13 had a little bundle of joy by her feet.

The lovely Ram Frank decided he wanted the older lady and decided to jump the fence one evening. and out came a gorgeous numero uno of our new flock Dot!

She was the first lamb that I had ever seen up close and personal. secretly I had a tear in my eye, she was so young, small and beautiful. I wanted nothing more than to cuddle, however mum spot was protective and feeding so I left her to be mum.

After a few weeks of seeing Dot grow up into a mini sheep which happened so fast under my nose. it was astounding how big she got and how much of a character she became.

Before long the lambing days had started. We herded them into the barn and set up pens ready for them to pop. I had no idea what a full time job this entailed. There are 6 of us on the farm so we were all given time slots to check the girls and potential lambs 24 hours a day 7 days a week I was given the pleasure of the midnight run which I was happy to do, The girls were more likely to give birth at night so I was first to volunteer for that time slot.

First few nights came and no shows just some very uncomfortable looking mums, a sign of this would be them grating their teeth. However, 2 were starting to show signs. they usually go off of food and lie down with their back legs slightly apart and they keep panting and looking behind them at their bums in the kind of 'whats going on down there' fashion.

Then finally very late one night with the assistance of the mother of the house we delivered our very first lamb.

He was an absolute gem of a lamb, without going into gory detail he came out quick and easy and the mother cleaned him and we make sure he is healthy and ok then we put them both into the pen so that they can relax and focus on feeding and both getting strong.

Once one pops they all start to go. it was fascinating to see! they were producing such beautiful offspring and it was hard work to find space for them all but we managed. After they were born and approved that they were stable by one of us they were sprayed in the belly button to help kill off the chord and prevent infection. If they were boys they were also balls and tailed. not as horrendous as it sounds I promise. Before long there were a mass of little lambs that were running around causing mayhem.

Unfortunately when there are some ups and beauty in this world, there are some downs as well. we lost a few lambs in birth and some yews (mum sheep) as well. It was hard to cope with some loses but we kept positive and looked after the young ones that needed us.

After all of the girls had popped and all lambies were up and ready to go, we moved them back to the fields. this consisted of one tractor with a metal bucket filled with 25 lambs, 6 people 3 dogs and 24 hungry sheep with a couple of curious horses peering over the fence. it took a few attempts but we managed to get them all in safe and sound.

An array of events have happened since which include; Lamb racing (when on lamb runs down or up a hill the rest follow with hast) and hand rearing which my ultimate favourite thing to do. I have had the ultimate pleasure of playing mother to 4 little lambs that have either lost their mother or their mothers have rejected them. so twice a day I get to go and feed these lovely creatures and spend as much time as i possibly can with them.

Every time I come back from seeing them i look like this lady, as happy as can be.

Cannot wait for next year.