I always feel a little sad at weaning time, for it marks the end of the lambs’ carefree days with their dams, and the start of us having to decide which ones we’ll keep or sell as future breeding stock, and which ones are destined for someone’s freezer.
The process of weaning lambs is quite simple: gather the flock, separate the ewes who are taken as far away from the lambs as possible (preferably out of earshot); sort the ewe lambs from the ram lambs and lead each group into their segregated paddocks. I dream of one day being able to justify buying a custom-built handling system that would enable us to ‘shed’ ewes, ewe lambs and ram lambs into their separate groups at the switch of a gate. Our reality is a ragbag collection of hurdles and homemade sliding gates. It does the job, but takes split-second reactions to slide the gate at precisely the right moment to prevent two nippy lambs slipping through, or letting one of the ewes trot off with the lambs!
Before the lambs are put back onto pasture, we gave them all a vitamin and trace element drench to counteract the stress of weaning. Then, for the next two days we listen to the pitiful bleating of the lambs calling for their mothers. But good grass and time soon quieten them!
Meanwhile, the ewes are put onto our poorest paddock so that their milk, which is waning now, dries off as quickly as possible to help prevent mastitis occurring.
