February 2014

December and January were wet and windy enough, but February brought even more heavy rain and gales, reducing our fields to something akin to paddy fields – more suited to growing rice than grass. Even now, as the first tentative signs of an early spring are showing, a walk across any of our fields feels like walking through treacle, and the paddock that we designated for ‘sacrifice’ to the horses’ hooves looks like it’s been used for artillery practice.

Although the grass has been growing through much of the winter (grass will continue to grow, albeit slowly, whenever the temperature reaches around 5°C) all but 3 of our fields are in pretty poor shape. So I’ve been looking at the most cost-effective way of restoring both the visible sward as well as the underlying soil structure, which will have undoubtedly suffered through water logging and compaction.

It’s impossible to write about our relatively mild woes without sparing a thought for the farmers on the Somerset Levels, many of whose fields have been under water since before Christmas. By this time, the grass will have died-off and the land contaminated with who knows what. I’ve been impressed by the generosity of the farming community countrywide which has organised convoys of tractors and lorries to ferry straw and fodder to the Somerset farmers, as well as the various marts who have offered their premises as collection and distribution centres. Let’s hope the floods retreat soon and appropriate management is undertaken to prevent our increasingly haywire climate causing more losses and heartache in the future.

So, back to my plans for the ‘re-greening’ of Green Farm: for the past few years I’ve been regularly taking soil samples for analysis from various parts of the farm. The results are noted on a simple map (updated annually), alongside which I also note when we apply farmyard manure (FYM) or lime to specific fields. The FYM comprises the contents of the lambing shed after it’s rotted down for a few months, plus the generous contribution made by our two horses. This enables us to spread muck on about one third of our fields in rotation. In the interim years, we spread lime, without which the land would become too acidic, ‘locking-in’ many soil nutrients and making them inaccessible to plants and therefore grazing livestock. Lime is possibly one of the most overlooked aspects of pasture management, particularly by smallholders who, with relatively few acres, only need small quantities and don’t have suitable machinery to spread it. We’ve come to a very friendly arrangement with a neighbouring farmer, who lets us know when he’s liming his land – and we open our gates so he can do ours too!

Our poor ewes are really not enjoying the wet weather, and I find it quite depressing to watch them paddling about on a muddy pasture, or lying down in a sea of mud, creating an unsightly ‘tidemark’. I know everyone’s in the same boat, but I cannot help feeling that I am a BAD shepherd! For this reason (and, of course, for the comfort of the sheep!) at the end of February I decided that the ewes should come into the shed and spend the rest of their pregnancy indoors, being waited upon by me, who would then be a GOOD shepherd!

TOP-TIP: Never house wet sheep; it would create an unhealthily damp atmosphere and may cause pneumonia.

Having the ewes indoors will also enable me to clip the fleece from their bellies and back ends, which will both stop them from getting too hot, and be much more hygienic for lambing – and, of course, the young lambs won’t be trying to suck on a bit of dirty wool. And for me, the bonus is it’ll also mean I won’t have to go out to the fields in all weathers to watch and feed them. That’s what I call ‘win-win’!
These last few weeks, the third trimester, of their pregnancy is a very critical time for the ewes and their unborn lambs. Foetal development is rapid during this period, and the ewes’ udders are developing in readiness to feed their lambs. Feeding is critical at this time, and for our c.70kg Hampshire Downs, we’ll be feeding the triplet-bearing ewes up to 1kg of feed per day.
Here are some useful resources as lambing approaches:
Ewe Feeding Chart
Lambing equipment list

I also thought a few sheepy-lambing facts would be of interest to readers who are just starting out with sheep, or just thinking about farming sheep – so here are my Top Ten Lambing Facts:

1. The ewe’s acquired immunity to gut worms is reduced around lambing time, meaning she could pose a threat to her lambs at turnout
2. Ewe’s colostrum (first milk) contains 20% more energy than a cow’s
3. A 5kg lamb will need a litre or more of colostrum during its first 15 hours of life
4. Hypothermia is the greatest cause of death of newborn lambs
5. If a lamb doesn’t stand and suck successfully within 2 hours of birth, you should check its teperature: 39-40˚C is normal
6. Never heat a limp lamb that is over 5 hours old, as its low blood glucose level would cause a hypoglycaemic fit
7. An intraperitoneal injection can be a lifesaver for a cold lamb; ask your vet to show you how to do this
8. Lambs depend solely on their mothers for nutrition during their first 3 weeks
9. Lambs can be offered creep feed from 2-3 weeks of age; lambs convert feed to muscle very efficiently at this age
10. Lambs between 3-8 weeks of age are at greatest risk from Coccidiosis, especially if raised intensively indoors, or if they follow older lambs onto pasture

www.smallholderseries.co.uk