24th May 2011

Our ‘sheep priority’ this month is to give the lambs their first combined vaccination against the clostridial diseases and pasturella, as the protection they inherited from their dams will be waning now.  They’ll have a further booster vaccination 4-6 weeks after the first and then all the sheep on the farm (including the rams) get their annual jab six weeks before next year’s lambing.

While the flock was gathered, we weighed each of the lambs; this is a fairly basic form of ‘performance recording’, which when compared with their birth weights, gives an indication of how well they’re growing.  Eight-week growth rates are one of the indicators of their mother’s Maternal Ability – a hereditable characteristic that helps us to decide which lambs to keep for future breeding.

We’re very interested in Performance Recording for our flock of pedigree Hampshire Downs.  At the moment, we only do basic recording: Birth weight, litter size, 8-week weight, and finishing time (that is, the time the lambs take to reach our target liveweight of 42kgs).  We also keep records of sheep that are repeatedly lame or scouring, as these traits can be inherited – this information can tip the scales for us when deciding which ewes to retain as replacements.

In Programme 3 of the Sheep on Your Smallholding series, we explain the complex subject of Performance Recording and EBVs (Estimated Breeding Values) with the help of Sam Boon of Signet Recording, and a very enthusiastic Shropshire Down breeder who has successfully improved her own flock through the Shropshire Breed Improvement Scheme.

May is the month we shear our sheep – or rather we have them shorn!  Each year, we promise ourselves it will be less chaotic, and we will be very prepared and organised.  So, we brought the sheep into the shed while it was dry, because, of course, you cannot shear wet sheep), made a holding pen and a further small ‘feeding pen’, so that there was a constant supply of sheep to the shearer.  It all worked very smoothly, though as the ‘fleece roller’ I always find a backlog of fleeces piling up faster than I can roll them and pack them in the woolsack!

As they left the shearing shed, we treated all the sheep and lambs with a ‘pour-on’, which gives long-lasting (16 weeks in the case of the product we use) protection against fly-strike.  Job done.


There’s much baa-ing and frantic rushing around as the newly shorn ewes and lambs reunite, and, I have to say, the naked sheep do look very comical!

18th May 2011

This year there have been dire warnings about mass hatchings of Nematodirus battus – a roundworm that can cause havoc in a group of naïve lambs.  Larvae that have over wintered in the soil (they can survive the hardest winter), hatch en masse during a warm spell following a cold snap, causing profuse watery scouring in lambs.

Faecal Egg Counts can’t detect them at this early stage of their lifecycle, and once the lambs are infected they can quickly die from dehydration.  To make the situation even more complex, lambs may also be exposed to coccidiosis, which has pretty much the same symptoms (but an FEC will detect coccidial oocysts).

 

 

The recommended precaution is to avoid turning lambs out onto pastures that have carried lambs during the previous 2 years, which brings me on to the subject of field rotation – a real challenge to the smallholder with limited acreage. 

At Green Farm we have 7 separate paddocks and fields, which sounds a lot until you start planning seasonal grazing for the different groups of sheep:

•  Breeding ewes + their lambs in Spring

• Replacement ewes,
  (previous year’s ewe lambs that will join the breeding ewe flock in autumn)
• Rams

… then take into account the fact that we have had virtually no rain since February  so the grass is exceedingly sparse!  In May, we shut up the hay field, so that takes us down to 6 paddocks.  Then when the lambs are weaned in September, we have two further groups to cater for:

• Fattening ewe lambs
• Fattening ram lambs (because we don’t castrate, they have to be managed separately)

Next, we have to factor in grass growth rates, and sward height: at this time of the year the ideal height for the ewes and lambs is 4-6cm, so out comes the topper when it starts getting out of hand.  Later in the year, the weaned lambs will do best on pasture that’s closer to 8cm, while the ewes will dry off more quickly on sparse pasture … until, that is, they’re ready for flushing on lush grazing!

Ah, one other factor – we have horses.  Great big horses that gallop around trashing the paddocks! 

So, you see, it can be quite a headache providing good, clean grazing throughout the year.  To add yet another level of complexity, last year we experimented with keeping some of our ewe lambs back to grow on as hogget, that is, a female or castrated male sheep between 12 – 24 months (at which point the meat from a ewe is called mutton).

It proved to be a great success, the meat was wonderfully lean, tender and flavoursome – and our customers have asked us to produce hogget again next year, as the eating quality is superb.  Great feedback, but it means more winter grazing!

Green Farm - April 2011

Lambing at Green Farm

Well, so much for being prepared and having everything in place for lambing well ahead of time – they caught us well and truly on the hop this year!

Our first lambs were due on the 15^th of April and we normally bring them into the lambing shed a few days beforehand to settle into their maternity quarters. So when on the morning of the 9th I spotted a ewe in the field, separate from the flock, laying on her side and apparently straining hard – I thought I ought to take a closer look! Within the hour she’d delivered her perfect twins, all by herself (or ‘ABH’ as I gleefully write into my lambing records!) and they were up and suckling within a further 15 minutes. A lovely start to lambing.

Thankfully, we’d pressure-washed and disinfected the lambing shed earlier in the week, so all we had to do was erect some lambing pens, straw down and bring the ewes in, starting with the new mother and her lambs. From this time until the end of lambing we were on a 4-hourly watch.

Having started early, our ewes obviously thought they might as well get on with it! By early afternoon another ewe was well into second stage labour – a perfect presentation (nose and 2 front feed visible) but she was obviously struggling to give birth. As she’d scanned for a single, it was likely to be a large lamb, so with a little ‘pull’ timed to coincide with her ‘push’ I drew a beautiful ram lamb, weighing in at an impressive 5.9kgs.

The next day was quiet but for the frequent bleating of 2 little and one not-so-little lambs. Then a busy day, starting with a ‘head-first’ lamb, his forelegs pointing back towards his crotch – it’s virtually impossible for a lamb to be born in this position, and often as the ewe strains harder the lamb’s head will swell making the situation worse. In this case, the lamb was quite small and with lots of lubricant it was relatively simple to ease the head back into the birth canal, slide my hand alongside and gently flip each of the front legs into the birth position. The second lamb was delivered in a similar manner within the hour.

Hygiene in the lambing shed is of paramount importance. Any assisted lambing is preceded by scrubbing-up with surgical spirit, accompanied by lots and lots of lubrication, and carried out with the utmost gentleness. Once the ewe and her lambs had bonded, I gave the ewe an antibiotic injection as a precaution – however careful, it’s impossible to be 100% sterile and any infection of the uterus (Metritis) may cause serious illness, and can be fatal.

Later the same day – another ‘hung’ (headfirst, no feet) lamb! It’s all very well being familiar with the theory, but putting it into practice with a valued ewe and her lambs can be quite daunting for the first-timer. On our DVD, "The Breeding Flock", we describe and illustrate all the different lambing variations, and I still review these each year – then close my eyes and visualise exactly what I need to feel. This has helped my confidence enormously, knowing that I can help the ewe whatever the circumstances – including knowing when to call the vet. Fortunately, this lamb, and its twin – each weighing a very respectable 4.3kgs, was born safely.

Meanwhile, I’d noticed another ewe’s water bag – the start of second stage labour, and quite possibly another hour until the lamb is born. A single spot on her flank indicated that she was carrying a single lamb, and if the others were anything to go by, possibly a large one. An hour passed and I could see the lamb’s head and protruding tongue (which looks alarming, but is quite normal!), but no further progress. On closer inspection, I could see the soles of both front feet below the lamb’s nose – a perfect presentation. But still the ewe made no progress, so, a quick scrub-up, and grasping both feet I pulled the lamb in time with the ewe’s contraction … and out slid a 6.8kgs monster – a real cracker of a lamb!

So, still 4 days to go before any of our ewes were officially due to lamb, and we already had 8 lambs from 5 ewes, with just another 8 to lamb.

The following day, at 4 a.m., another ewe lambed: the first twin ‘ABH’, then 45 minutes later another head appeared! On this occasion, I quickly found one leg, drew it forward and judged that she was sufficiently relaxed for the lamb to be born in this position, despite the lamb being quite large. Within minutes, both were up and seeking the ewe’s teats.

Shortly after, my favourite ewe, Meggie had her twins – ABH and weighing in at a very respectable 4.8 and 4.6kgs. Within 10 minutes they were ‘up and running’!

A quiet day followed, but I had my eye on our only ‘maiden’ (ie. her first lambing) this year, who had been quite restless throughout the day. At 3.30 the following afternoon she began straining and shortly after … a lamb’s head appeared! By now I felt fully confident in managing this situation and managed to bring one leg forward; by grasping this, and cupping my other hand behind the lamb’s head, I was able to help the ewe’s contractions expel her first lamb. Within the hour, the twin was born without assistance and it was an utter delight watching our first-time mother loving her lambs, making deep rumbling bleats in answer to their little cries. I defy anyone not to get a bit soppy at these times!

Day 6 into lambing brought another strapping pair of twins, born ABH and up and running in minutes. This was the day we had expected to start lambing!

Day 8 – another big single ram lamb @ 5.3kgs, born at 11p.m., ABH and quick to stand and suck.

Then 3 days went by and we started to worry that our last 3 ewes were going to be 2nd cyclers – meaning they wouldn’t lamb for at least another fortnight. A ‘tight’ lambing is every shepherd’s wish, and is better for shepherd, ewes and their lambs.

On the morning of the 20th lambing recommenced with the birth of twins, ABH. In the afternoon, another pair of twins was born, ABH. Then two more days passed quietly, and on the 22nd our last ewe delivered our final set of twins, at 8a.m., ABH.

We kept all the ewes and lambs in the shed for just one more day, bedded down on deep, clean straw. A couple of our ewes were slightly lame – we’d decided not to ‘tip’ them in the late stages of pregnancy – so now was the time to inspect their feet and treat any problems. We then drenched all the ewes – the added demands of lambing tends to reduce their resilience to gut parasites, so drenching them prior to turning out will lessen the eggs they shed onto the pasture. As new lambs have no resistance to parasites, this measure gives them a little protection at the start of their lives.



We then turned all the ewes and lambs out into our Orchard where they have lush grass, shade and shelter. Importantly, we haven’t put lambs on this paddock for the past two years, so the danger to the lambs from Nematodirus is minimised (see ‘Things to do This Month’ for more information on this subject). We’ll continue to feed the ewes a decreasing amount of cereal-based feed for the next 6 weeks, and – most important of all – I shall spend many happy hours sitting and watching the lambs playing and the ewes scolding their increasingly boisterous offspring!

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