[Closed] Lambing Live, STW style

I'm on nights so I'm in.

ben awaiting the calving pics from my Dad this year, in full flow so to speak.
For a true lambing I want to see Blizzards, horizontal rain, knee deep mud and said farmer laying in a heap having run 7 times around the field 🙂
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Been there, done that Mike 🙂
Hoping all will go without a problem this year (YEAH RIGHT).

Hoping all will go without a problem this year

Great idea, will follow with interest.

Good luck welshfarmer with lambing and a blog sounds a terrific idea. Shall look forward to pics too, nothing gruesome though.

Grand. I'll put the kettle on.
How many Lambs are you expecting to care for?

Great idea for a thread.

We are first time sheep farmers with our 6 Herdwicks so may need some tips 🙂

Let the herdwicks get on with it...

Pics of the Herdwicks please! Good luck crosshair.

Lambs 🙂

Had an amazing holiday on a farm in Northumberland when kids were 4 and 2 in lambing season. Every morning and evening we went to the shed to see what had arrived. The farmer and the team of trainee vets he had helping were great with the kids.

They saw birth and death, an amazing thing for them. Their only real memory though is of me trying to to catch a lamb in the barn that had got free. Quick little buggers, even at two days old!

As a kid (from age 11 until 33!) I would always spend the two week School Easter holiday working on my friends farm on Exmoor. They would lamb for the entire two weeks and it was the best time of my life.

Looking forward to pictures of the weather, lambs, sheds full of sheep etc...

My friend and his wife both died before 2000. So this will bring back great memories.

I used to love lambing

And watching the goslings hatch in the incubator.

Interesting the memory's people have because as the son of a sheep farmer, I have absolute zero interest in farming or any aspect of it...

Roll on calving; we have cattle in the field behind us and on a couple of occasions I've shaved while watching calves dropping out. Unfortunately the cows aren't too bright and on more than one occasion they've dropped their calves into a wet muddy ditch meaning a quick rescue and dry-down is needed by the farmer.

lol @ jam bo. I know how you feel sometimes

Anyway, today spring has sprung and the weather is fantastic here in our little corner of Wales. Our ewe with the prolapse isn't looking brilliant at the moment but she is eating OK, which is half the battle with sheep. When they stop eating it is time to really worry. Otherwise all shepp in the shed look happy and content and the rams and single bearing ewes are enjoying some early morning spring sunshine.

2 of our boys enjoying a spot of breakfast

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The single bearing ewes enjoying the sunshine. They are due to come into the lambing shed tomorrow, but if this weather continues I may lamb them outside as it is healthier (though not without logistical issues)

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Every morning and evening we went to the shed to see what had arrived. The farmer and the team of trainee vets he had helping were great with the kids.

Unfortunately the cows aren't too bright and on more than one occasion they've dropped their calves into a wet muddy ditch meaning a quick rescue and dry-down is needed by the farmer.

One of my wife's friends is married to a beef farmer, and one evening he happened upon just this, a weecalf struggling in a ditch unable to get out. So not wanting to ruin his clothes any more than he had to he stripped to the waist and picked the calf out over his shoulders and walked it back to the yard.

Once the photo had been posted on facebook there wasn't a dry knicker in the village.

On three occasions I've found stuck sheep out on the fells and rescued them. Once was a ewe stuck fast in a bog at the foot of a slope. A big group of walkers had just strolled past and done nothing so I thought I'd have a go. Not wanting to get my boots, socks and britches filthy I sat down and undressed down to my shreddies then waded in, approaching the ewe from behind. For one mad moment I thought about dropping my pants and simulating sex with the ewe but the group, who had stopped to watch, included some children. So I waded on, up to my thighs in bog and got over the ewe then got my arms around her middle and heaved her out with a squelch, which took some effort. I got a round of applause for my rescue but no thanks from the sheep, who just ran off and carried on eating grass like nothing had happened.

😀

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We took our little daughter to a live lambing thing at a vet school near crewe. Various pens in a barn with preggers sheep in every one and they turned the camera on the one that was currently delivering so everyone could watch on a big screen. Spent the best part of an afternoon watching a man with his arm up a sheeps vagina on a giant screen. never again 😐

I wike wambs

Awwwww, lambsies 😀

Mint sauce.

eddiebaby - Member

Mint sauce.

Don't s'pose you've got a keyring I could bor.....nah forget it 😉

Was hoping these updates would be presented by Ellie Harrison, or maybe Kate Humble at least. Is disapointed 😕

Really miss lambing time. Spent several happy easters doing various lambing jobs when at Vet school. Sheep are one of the few species which start off quite bright (lambs) but end up really thick (sheep).

Life, death, great fry ups and tootling about in a tractor or haring around on a quad ready to leap off to grab the runaway buggers. Great fun.

Would love to follow Stw lambing live.

Not quite as strong as Jambo's sentiments but I don't envy you welshfarmer!
Although it does look lovely at the moment, I've too many memories of freezing, East Riding nights, shivering in a shed with dry, cracked hands, trudging through mud whilst fighting sleep deprivation!

This Spring is the first that my Uncle hasn't had sheep. Long story but I don't think any of us will miss it after the last two years!

I hope it all goes well for you and I will be checking in to see your photos.

You should name all the lambs after forum members and spray paint the names on them.

Lambs are cute and lovely - and they taste nice too 😈

Just to chime in, if nobody objects? I don't live far from welshfarmer and also currently in the throws of lambing, though the farm is mixed, with a couple of hundred acres of arable. Other half is a partner in her parent's farm business. I have a day job that actually pays, but help out as and when needed.

They're lambing about 800 ewes at home, roughly split 1/2 and 1/2 between texel and welsh mule ewes, texels are about done, they live with us down on the good ground, the mules are normally on rented ground about 15 miles away at 1200ft, but come down to be lambed (all indoors) and get lugged back up slowly once spring arrives. Mules just starting properly now, 300 or so left at a guess.

All will be fed and fattened to be sold as fat lambs, mule lambs (crossed with texel/charolais tup) will come back down to finish too. Some of the best texel tup and ewe lambs will stay as replacements.

Today is a proper spring day here too, we need it, grass was starting to get a bit tight to turn them out on, but it'll grow well if this weather holds.

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Don't you feel dead guilty and bad when you take their lambs away destined for the dinner table? Don't they bleat for days? I can't imagine their grief and imagine someone taking my baby away from me and never bringing it back. I think it's terrible but I do enjoy lamb, one of my favourite meats.

@Jekkyl. Good question. Weaning is always stressful, both for the sheep and for us. However, it is a necessary part of the sheep year in order to give the ewes a good well-earned break from the lambs before they go back to the ram in Autumn. We usually wean at the start of August so the lambs will have been with their dams for 4 months. Many will already be largely independent from mum and may have completely given up on milk. They say a goldfish has a memory of about 5 seconds.We generally find that sheep memory is more like 2-3 days. After that they kind of forget what they were upset about and carry on with eating grass and trying to think up ways to die.
And yes, I do feel guilty while weaning is in progress.

@crosshair. Nice sheep 🙂

crosshair - thanks and love the almost charcoal fleece. Do keep us updated.

welshfarmer - stunning pics there and such good weather for you, long may that continue. How far through the pregnancy are you able to tell whether it's one or two lambs? Do you have an instinct with any sheep as to whether the birth will be straight-forward?

Looking forward to hearing more and obviously hope that you manage some sleep. 😀

In my experience sheep are fatalists. I've seen fat sheep accept death upside down in the mud only to then exhibit the ability to extract themselves and carry on living exposed to a sufficient volume of abuse*.

*colourful language, quad bike engine, land rover horn etc

@cinnamon-girl We get the lambs ultrasound scanned at about 11-12 weeks, so a little over half term. We have mostly twins, 20 odd triplets and a quad. There may be more quads as it is hard to see all the lambs when there is so many. And you can often see if a ewe is going to have problems. Generally you won't see them lamb unless there is a problem, so any you notice lambing are probably going to be problematic....

Crosshair - please put up a photo of your herdwick black lambs when they pop out? They're my favourite sheep.

I live in the sticks in the Highlands next to the field my neighbor uses for lambing. I'm going to conduct a scientific experiment (with a very small sample size) to define the lambing lag between Wales and Gairlochy. I reckon three weeks difference?

Aah, do I miss lambing. Almost as much as I miss no central heating, the outside loo, no hot water cause the stove had gone out, constantly smelling of wet wool and shite.
People who only lived or worked on a farm for short periods of their life look back on it through rose tinted specs and with a romantic charm like they were in Darling Buds of May.

Will do! They don't start for another fortnight I think.

Fantastic thread. Thanks for this. I will share it with the Saxon Family.

Good luck with it all!

Fantastic thread.

+1

Looking forward to seeing how it progresses. Must organise a trip to a farm that allows visitors for lambing next year. My little fellow would absolutely love it.

Crosshair - it looks flat where you are. Do your sheep go up into the fells? They are gorgeous, I would love a cuddle.

Last year nbt and I were walking in the outer Hebrides, when we came across a 'black face ewe' about to pop. Hiding behind a large rock, we witnesses the exciting sight of the birth. Lamb was licked clean and was up and about in no time. A much better experience than being in the smelly crowded lambing sheds.

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Here is the lamb seconds after the birth.

And so it starts.

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Rude awakening by Birgit this morning at 6. The ewe we had separated due to her having a monstrous belly had given birth to 4 (she was only supposed to have 3. Unfortunately 1 was born dead and another was weak (but currently very lively in a box by the Rayburn). While getting her sorted I heard something over the wall and pop, the next ones were there

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And since we grouped our ewes with specific rams last autumn, we finally now know which of our white rams has been throwing these black lambs over the past 4 years. He obviously has a residual Blue Texel gene. Both girls, so I will be keeping them 🙂

*likes*

welshfarmer - Member
After that they ....... carry on with eating grass and trying to think up ways to die.

My father always used to say that it's what sheep are best at - dying.

A very good morning ! Thanks for the thread @welsh at this hectic time, love it.

No. Sleep for next few weeks, what extra rations did you feed to twin and triplet ewes?

Will you try and put orphans with another ewe or hand rear them?

From that photo it looks like you are over the hill from Llangorse.

@ Pigface.. over the hill 3 times till you get to the Llanthony Valley.

The twins and triplets are separated out from the singles and fed in their groups. Triplet feeding started 6 weeks ago on a rising ration so they are currently on about a lb a day. Twins get about 1/2 a pound of ewe ration per day. Singles get nothing extra and have in fact not even had any hay/silage for the past 4 weeks as the grass has been growing here. We only bother with an adoption these days if a ewe loses her only lamb and we can use its' skin. We have treid over the years to adopt a triplet onto a single ewe but the success rate was so poor we don't bother now. Just have a creche and an auto feeder and rear a big batch of orphans. Works well and much more successful than adoptions.

To everyone who has commented so far. Thanks for kind words and anecdotes. Keep them coming and I will try and keep you updated. If it all goes quiet you can be sure things are getting stressful here. Ah well, better go and feed the tiddler in the box.

bookmarked to show the kids. Great thread

we spent one Easter break in the Brecon and the kids had a really great time on the farm and they got to see and learn a bit about process and the wee ones.

I must admit I was a bit mesmerized by the fact that there were dead sheep in a big kind of bin..

The views on/from your farm are stunning welshfarmer

My father always used to say that it's what sheep are best at - dying.

Thanks Welshfarmer, agree with the orphan regime. That's how we did it.

So Blacks rather than Beacons, lovely part of the world.

Thanks for the thread. Very entertaining. Why are you specifically keeping the black female lambs? A part from black jumpers being popular 🙂 , is their more financial gain to them ?

Yesterdays ride find of lambs:

[img][url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2847/32657135453_2cd715fa62_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2847/32657135453_2cd715fa62_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/RKNmBx ]2017-03-16_10-35-12[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Bit of a thread hi-jack but we're only a short ride away in Talybont, got a shepherd's hut and cabin so if anyone fancies seeing some lambing and getting out on the bike then have a look at us on AirBnB (Aber Farm, Talybont on Usk).
We lamb our small flock of Welsh ewes outside. It does seem to keep overnight births to a minimum, around 75% of ewes lambing at dawn and dusk.

Edit, forgot to say the girls ought to start 6th April, but a few earlies are expected the week before due to an incident with a rather energetic young tup and a fence or 2...

My favourite time of the year.
Those little black lambs are gorgeous.

Am also liking the Jacob's lambs.
My friend who kept Jacob sheep had a nasty accident. He was feeding from a bucket, 1 ewe got too excited and jumped up. Its top horn went right through my friends lip. Could have been serious if a centimetre or 2 higher.

Well it is all go here at the moment. Funny how it coincides with a change for the worse in the weather! All my triplets seem to be having quads and these early lambers all seem to have too little milk. It is always the first & last ones that are the problem cases. So currently have 2 on the bottle and one more to join them in the morning after it has got its' colostrum from mum. Got a problem with one of my little bottle lambs not wanting to suck. Kind of drives you mad and would test the patience of a saint. The other (her sister) has taken to it without a problem. Anyway, enough talking, cut to the cute pics 🙂

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Stop it with the lamb pics. It's almost making me want to become a veggie!

Is it a *thing* that sheep like bread too? We stayed at a B&B in Froome a while back, and the owner gave us some bread to give to the sheep one morning. I thought he was taking the Michael, but it seemed they couldn't get enough!

No lambs yet in Gairlochy. Mmmmmmmmm lamb.

Farm next to our yard kicks off beginning of April, they're already looking for extra hands, about a thousand ewes with twins. The singles are on their other farm around the hill.

Another friend has already started above Rhosgoch.

Both are areas prone to snow, even at Easter. There have been lambs near Brecon since February where it's lower.

Pretty sure mine would love bread. They aint getting it though 🙂 Greedy things get too much as it is. Spoilt rotten by mrs farmer. seems we are on the triplets at the moment. Another one lining up to pop. Better give her 30 mins and then go and see if all is OK. Very high chance of malpresentation with triplets. Had a set yesterday with 2 heads trying to come out at the same time!

Love this thread. Learning lots of lamb facts.

I once caught a woman trying to feed my horse (years ago) with cucumber sandwiches. When I explained about the diet of these animals, her reply was "but she likes them" 🙄

Great pics and you've clearly got your work cut out with multiple births, 2 heads at once sounds terrifying! Do hope the ones struggling to feed are now getting the hang of it.

Hope that you manage to fit in some sleep, guess you must have some sort of shift system going on.

Looking forward to further updates with pics. 😀

Update on the triplet I was waiting for at midnight. I gave her and hour and still nothing so decided to have a quick look. It was instantly obvious that the lamb wasn't presented correctly (head stretched forward resting on the 2 front legs) as all I could feel was 1 leg and the back of a head. Relatively straight forward to push the lamb back a few cms, find the mouth, and rotate the head into the correct direction. Then pulling on the one leg while guiding the head, out the lamb pops. Being a mature triplet bearing ewe she had plenty of room so it was very straightforward. Big singles in young ewes can often get really stuck if not 100% perfect in presentation. Anyway, all was good but the ewe was very tired so I made the decision to fetch out the other 2 lambs while I was there. There is nothing worse than coming back in an hour and finding dead lambs as she is too tired to look after them when they arrive. I left mum with all 3 (very big for triplets) lambs doing well.

@cinnamon girl. Me and Mrs WF have a good shift system that generally works great. I am a night owl and she is a morning person. So I will stay up and do all the evening shift until about 1 am before turning in. Birgit then gets up around 3.30-4am and continues. Most lambs are born late evening or at dawn so between us we will be available for 99% of births should help be needed. The worst days for me are when there is a big problem at around 4am and I have to get up then to help. I end up like a Zombie all day. But I guess anyone who has had kids will relate to this 🙂

damn just seen this, heading over to the Gower for a day out today and would have loved to have arranged to pop over and say hi (if welcome of course!).

I have cocked up our lambing this year, we were a bit late getting a new ram (ended up buying a Texel as we can no longer loan our normal one) and then we tried sponging as I now I have a full time contract an hour away but that failed miserably and now we have a spread of 6 bloody weeks for just 7 ewes. Thinking about keeping some of the boys entire this year and selling for breeding as our big Texel ewe throws lovely boys.

Hmmm, rough with the smooth. Got this little fella in the warming box. His temperature is way down (low 20s). Be amazed if we can save him. He was one of a triplet but both his siblings were born dead so I am hoping to save him so that he can go back with his mum. If not then I will have to skin him and make a coat for one of the other bottle lambs and get mum to adopt them. Typical that this ewe has the most milk of any of the ewes to lamb this far and yet manages to end up with no lambs! Ah well, I better go and milk her now as the lamb will need to be fed through a tube whatever. And if it dies I will be able to save the colostrum for another lamb that might need it..

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come on lamb, we're all rooting for you.

Looking promising. Temp is now up to 33.3 degrees. Maybe we can save him after all

could you not fashion him a coat? Something of natural fibres, high thermal insulation properties, maybe treat it with some kind of oil or wax to waterproof it.......

🙂 what were you thinking. A mink?

Come on, lamby!

Looks like a Chuck to me.

Go on son.

Great thread and good luck. Roughly how many are you expecting and how long are you going to have to hold vigil?

🙁 Well Chuck didn't make it.

His skin is currently confusing his mum as he appears to have come back to life! The adoption lamb has sucked but she is still very wary. Hopefully she will calm down by morning and accept him. Expecting roughly 360 lambs in total. Rams were running with the ewes for about 6-7 weeks so could have lambs any time up till end of April. We do colour the rams bellies though so we know roughly how many won't lamb in the first 3 weeks (about 20 of them)

Great to have the updates, good news and bad. Lovely photos on the prior page. I think that the harsh reality of those that don't make it adds to part of the joy at those who do.