How I Became a Part-Time Shepherd

I thought I'd just explain a little bit about my lambing experiences because if you don't follow me on Instagram you might not have heard anything about it. I started lambing for the first time last year in January. I'd never had any experience of it apart from seeing Phil the farmer lamb a couple of twins some time, I can't remember when it would have been, around about April probably the year before and then I started helping him around the farm with the sheep. Very simple stuff, just herding, holding cams and injections and all sorts of stuff like that for him and then I started actually going in the pen with him when he was sorting out the sheep, getting jostled by these ewes that weigh, I'm not sure, anything from about 40 to 70 kilos and then I just built on that.

So when he started lambing for the first time I sort of followed him around and he was doing the water and the hay and feeding them corn so I just kind of took over and started doing that and then there would be ewes who were struggling and initially I didn't really know what to do so I'd ring Phil and he'd come and he'd show me what he was doing and then if there was another one that was lambing on another day and it looked like I could probably help I'd just get on with it. So I just learned very much hands-on, picking up things as I went along. Phil would tell me bits here and there and if I was really struggling I'd just ring him and he'd come from the farmhouse which was only on the other side of the yard.

So we lambed first of all in January, I think it was about the 8th of January last year and then there was another round of lambing towards the end of March, early April so by that point I'd learned a little bit, I knew a bit more, I was a bit more useful and then this year we started I think it was about the 9th of January this year and although I don't profess to be fully up to speed I was really useful this time. So morning and evening I would go, I would check on the sheep, see if there are any new lambs, I'd get them penned up, especially twins, so that we knew which which lambs were with which ewe. If there was anybody struggling I could probably help. I delivered about seven or eight lambs this time and I'd get them marked up with numbers so you give the ewe a number and then you give the lambs the same number so you can match them together. Fed them every morning, every evening, we started taking the older lambs out into the orchard first of all and then once they were settled and everything was fine they'd go out into the field. So yeah I really enjoyed it.

I had a couple of ewes that knew me from last time, one of them was Dot Dot, sadly she lost her lamb this time, it was born prematurely. She had twins last year so she's out in the field again now and then I had a triplet that I named Muffin and he was the smaller of the three and the other two were kind of pushing him out when it came to feeding. So I brought him home, I had him in my putting shed and I bottle fed him. Initially, well probably every couple of hours, I was feeding him every four hours but I decided to give him less and feed him more often and then as he got bigger and he got more used to the bottle I started spacing out the feeds and he would just drink the whole bottle, he was really good and we had lots of cuddles and he was just adorable. I had him in the garden and he'd follow me around and then after about two weeks he was really getting big enough and he needed more space so he went back to the farm and for a few days he was in his own pen. I was topping him up with a bottle but he had a milk bar so in theory he could help himself but I'd spoiled him, he was having warm milk every day.and he wasn't very keen on the cold milk.

Anyway, the last ewe to lamb, she delivered a lamb but it was already dead. Unfortunately, this happens sometimes, but this year not too many times. And although Muffin was probably about three weeks old at least by then, I said to Phil, why don't we try and adopt him onto her? And it worked, it worked really well. Within a couple of days they were bonded and he was very happy and she was feeding him and looking out for him. So it was a good result. And we put them in the orchard for a few days and I went to feed her and check on him and he still followed me around, which I was really happy about. So we had a few more cuddles. Initially when we'd done the adoption, I was trying not to interfere and give him time to bond with his mum, but that was all working really well. So now they're out in the field with the other ewes and lambs and I'm hoping to go and see him soon and see how he's getting on.

So that's kind of the story of my part-time shepherding and we should be starting lambing again round about the 12th of April and I really just can't wait because I've really missed it, especially watching other farmers who have just been lambing in the last month. So they've just started, we're in a bit of a lull. But yes, it's going to be lovely having some more lambs and ewes to look after.