By Tria Stebbing.

The parched brown field now seems a distant memory as the grass is growing very fast. The glut of acorns continues to make mini acorn mountains along the hedgerow and still more to drop. The pond has filled up again after the torrent of rain that fell at the weekend. We are really pleased that a family of deer appear to have taken up residence and have chosen a favourite spot by the bottom corner where they catch the warmth of the sun during the day.

King on his way to the farm with ginger biscuits, and the wrinkle-faced Humphrey

We have hired out one of the rams to a local care farm. King, the best and most laid back of this year’s lambs, has gone to a neighbouring village to prove himself. He is still only six months old but certainly had all the moves, and being still on the small side he was best placed to be around children.
We fitted him out with his raddle, a harness he wears that holds a paint block on the chest, the plan being that if he cuddles a ewe he will leave a mark of paint on her back. Orange was the chosen colour as it stands out and is easily identifiable. He arrived at the farm after a short ride in the truck to be met by his ewes. Not wasting any time with introductions King plastered the girls with orange paint almost immediately – not just their backs but their heads, tails, legs and everywhere.

Now the waiting game begins, 80 days after taking him away from his girls we will scan them to see if he has been successful. King, if fertile, has a productive life ahead of him as he is well marked and his stance is spot on. It has taken us a few years to get to this standard within the flock but the hard work is starting to pay off.
Humphrey, our own adult ram, is set to go in with the ewes in the next fortnight. He is clearly up for the challenge and is showing his superiority by head-butting the other rams as well as pushing them about. The adult ewes on the other hand are behaving like teenagers skipping and dancing about in preparation for Humphrey visiting. We plan to lamb late again to have Easter lambs, when the evenings are lighter and the mud not so prolific, fingers crossed.
We have added some new blood to the flock and are the proud owners of yet more sheep having bought more slightly out of the area to ensure that we introduce new bloodlines. Most of ours are related now, so we needed some new ewes to breed with next year. They have settled down well with our ewe lambs, still slightly wary of us but getting better by the day.
The clocks have changed heralding the change in weather and the need for good quality waterproofs. Next year’s lambs will be named with ‘L’ names – I wonder how many Larry the Lambs there will be around the country?