THE FIELD with Tria Stebbing

5^th of March is the start of our lambing season.
In ‘normal’ times we manage, sadly this will be our second lockdown lambing which makes some of the simple tasks harder.

Normal life goes completely out of the window as we do not live on the field, so must check on the ewes every couple of hours, including overnight. We have made up a lambing bag with some very strange items in, that we carry around like sheepish midwives, waiting for the moment we are greeted by the first.

Luckily him outdoors is a farm manager, so has a very understanding boss and if needed he can drop everything and run; he is also able to take annual leave during this time. Meals become snatched between checks, and sleep can become a couple of hours in the barn on some very scratchy hay. Our breed are good lambers and do not necessarily need us to be present, but you can guarantee that if we are not there something will happen. It is also a good idea to watch both mum and baby for a while after birth to ensure that the first drink of colostrum has been successful and that mum has accepted her new baby or babies, an important time.

This year the Zwartbles Association have asked that all lambs are named with the letter J. Last year being H we had Hope, Hallaballoo and Hero. This year’s mums to be are Gemma, Gismo, Gorgeous, Gayle and two older ewes that we started the flock with. By using the letter system, we can tell what year the sheep was born in, which is useful both for breeding purposes and for when we come to sell.

So far, the names used by other breeders include Jack and Jill, Janet and John and Jilted John (he was rejected by his mother). I need to name possible 12 lambs so over to the readers. Those in the village will notice that we have put a box up for ‘Sheep post’ – please feel free to jot your suggestions down and post it through.

There is a list of field jobs that need doing, so whilst on lamb-watch we will crack on and work our way through. It is a good time to rake the weed off the pond, avoiding the frog and toad spawn. Hedge laying season is about to end as bird breeding season is about to begin, so tools will be cleaned and put away, time to focus on the next field project.

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