by Tria Stebbing.

THE signs are all there, spring is on its way at the field.
I have never seen so many snowdrops, especially under the trees and in the hedgerow – they for most people are a true sign of things getting better. Hard to believe that they were not recorded as growing wild until the late 18th century in the UK.They are not native to the UK and once were viewed as a sign of impending death if growing on their own – more recently a compound in the bulb has been used to develop a dementia treatment. Snowdrop bulbs are poisonous, so treat with caution.

The previously laid hedges are beginning to shoot, and him outdoors is busy laying the remainder of the perimeter hedge before the spring deadline comes. We are keeping our fingers crossed that winter is done now, as a hard frost at this stage would kill off all those young shoots.
The sheep too have noticed that spring is around the corner. The ewe lambs are now headbutting each other, always a sign of good weather or madness. Scanning is about to happen for us. A very late lambing again as we prefer to have the lambs born in line with the lighter evenings and ideally less mud. The need for heat lamps is less, and the lambs can be let out of the lambing sheds at a day old, it is hoped to hop and skip in the sun.
Alex the scanner has scanned the sheep for the past four years and is now scanning ewes that were lambs in the first scan. We have an assortment of ages this year but only one first timer. Alex comes out to us with everything he needs neatly stored in his truck. We get the sheep rounded up before he arrives and this also gives us the chance to check their feet, trim hoofs and give any treatment needed.

Why do we scan? Zwartbles are known to carry multiple lambs and will need to be fed to reflect this, in proportion to their needs. Nutrition and trace elements are essential in the run up to lambing, more so if more than one lamb is on board. The optimum window for scanning is 85 days after conception, and we are scanning bang on time.
So today was the big day. We rounded the sheep up and put them into a small space made by fencing them into a square, with not too much room to move or to jump out. While we had them contained, we trimmed their feet and looked for any signs of foot rot, and unbelievably found a tick, a parasite that feeds on the blood of animals, which was far earlier than usual. The warmer weather brings them out and warm moist conditions are good for them to breed.

Alex arrived and set up his scanner, and we were off. The first ewe through, although only 85 days into her pregnancy, had clearly eaten too many ginger biscuits and had to be shoved through as she was so fat. A pattern started to develop, as each one went in and through the scanner, Alex called out ‘twins’ until they had all gone through.
So, we have a flock expecting twins, which will help us to gauge and install a good feeding regime in the next few weeks. It was a joy as usual to scan them as they love the attention and the extra ear tickles, and that extra ginger biscuit for being good!