Lambing at Beer Mill Farm March 2001

The Lambing Story 2001

(for 2002 click here)

We had the flock scanned at the back end of 2000 so we knew what to expect from each ewe and had due dates for most of the flock.

Lambing started a couple of days ahead of schedule on Friday 9th of March. We had twenty one to lamb, with four we knew to be carrying twins, not particularly common, but increasingly so as the animals are kept in better conditions. Our first ewe to lamb was a couple of days early. Her name is Daisy and she has been with us for the ten years. She is one of the two ewes we bought on our expedition to the West Country described in the story of the Bramble Flock. She often has twins even though when we bought her, the owner made a point of saying, 'of course Portlands NEVER have twins'!).

An odd thing if you are not used to Portlands is that the lambs are usually very dark when they are born. they have very dark red/brown legs and heads and usually a brown or mottled brown fleece. Within a few months they lose this birth coat and have tan coloured legs and heads and a cream fleece. If you do not know this you may wonder what sort of ram got in with your ewes!!

One of the little luxuries not available to the shepherds of previous generations! A remote camera giving a picture of the lambing shed on a TV screen in the house.

We share the lambing shed with a pair of collared doves who nest there every lambing time usually raising two broods a year. They are amazingly tame, normally sitting on the hurdles watching us.

Friday 9th March

Daisy's first lamb was born at 3.00am. She then stood around not doing a lot. Because she had been scanned we knew she had another one in there so we left her for an hour and then Hilary had a look. A breach! (lamb facing backwards). Hilary normally sorts out the back legs and then brings the lamb out backwards. One of the advantages of twins is that they are usually small, so in couple of minutes out it came. Two very nice little ram lambs Costa and Rica. One of Daisy's ram lambs, a twin born in 99, was the highest priced Portland at Stoneleigh last year so we have hopes!

Right: Hilary at 4.15am! when Daisy and the twins had been taken to their mothering-up pen. They will get to know each other for a couple of days before being let out to grass.

Monday 12th

A second ewe had a lamb today at lunchtime. Bramble Bounty who had not had a lamb before, seemed to be taking a long time to get going, so after waiting for a couple of hours, Hilary decided to give her a hand. After an epic struggle we delivered a huge ewe lamb, quite the largest ewe lamb we have ever had. Usually it is the ram lambs who refuse to come out as they have much broader heads.

Despite a very difficult birth the lamb was on its feet and staggering around in less than five minutes! When lambs are born in the main lambing area we carry them to a mothering-up pen with the mum following along. This lamb could have walked there!

Right: Up on it's feet in less than five minutes!

Left: Bounty and her lamb on their way to the mothering-up pen.

Later in the day at 8.00pm we had another ewe lamb from Bramble Bo, one of our older ewes. She seemed to be struggling so Hilary gave her a hand and out it came after a couple of minutes. She would certainly have had the lamb unaided eventually, but helping her saved her a considerable amount of pain and effort.

Tuesday 13th

I had to be away from home for a couple of days so Hilary was on her own on Tuesday evening. One of our most difficult ewes decided to get going of course. Called Missi,we bought her some years ago from a breeder in Kent and despite our best efforts she remains a very suspicious and 'flighty' ewe. The last time she had a lamb, she took one look at it and shot off to the opposite side of the pen in horror! Hilary kept a cold and lonely vigil almost all night before Missi decided to produce the lamb at 7.00am. Luckily, it was a textbook delivery and amazingly, Missi was quite calm about the whole thing. Perhaps she is calming down at last. She had a really nice little ewe lamb.

Missi and her lamb seven hours later

Wednesday 14th

At around 8.00am, after Hilary had been up all night on her own, another ewe started getting going in ernest. This was Orchid, one of our experienced ladies. She just could not get get anywhere so Hilary had to have a look. Luckily she was able to call on a friend from the village and he assisted by holding the ewe while Hilary sorted things out. It was a large ram lamb with a leg back which had stopped him emerging.

At 6.30pm another ewe, Poppy, had a very nice ewe lamb with a little assistance, no real problem, she just wanted a little help with the last effort. Brian home by this time.

A good day all round.

Thursday 15th

After keeping us waiting for a few days, Bramble Goldi went into labour at about 5.00pm. After two hours nothing much had happened so once again we had to intervene. After a struggle Hilary delivered a big ram lamb with very well developed horn buds which had held his head back. He also had slightly bent front legs from being in the wrong position in the ewe. We have had this before and they usually straighten out after a time. His problems arose because he was late coming out into the world. Fingers crossed, he should be okay as he is a very strong lamb.

We thought we would be okay to go straight through the night and not get up at 3.00am as usual, but when Hilary did a last check she found another ewe, Bess had gone into labour. At 11.30pm we once again had to intervene and found the lamb had one leg back and could not get out so Hilary gave it a hand and a very nice little ewe lamb appeared. At 11.50pm when Bess and her lamb were in their mothering up pen we had a last look around before going to bed when we noticed another ewe going into labour!!

Friday 16th

I went to bed at 1.00am as I had to get up to check everybody at 6.00am and Hilary stayed to supervise things. At 3.15am Bramble Flora had a very pretty ewe lamb. Hilary had to help at the last minute as the lamb had one leg back. According to the book, 99% of all sheep lamb unaided. Our sheep have not read this book!! A lot of them would probably have lambed eventually but at the cost of a huge amount of effort and distress to both mother and lamb. So far all involved have been really strong as soon as the births are over. More than can be said of Hilary! She finally got to bed after 4.00am.

Right: Flora and lamb 3 hours after the birth

Once lambs have been born in the lambing area in the main barn, the family are moved to mothering-up pens for a few days and then into another area in the lambing shed with other new-borns to get to know everyone. Today we hope to turn all these families out to grass for a few hours. They will come back inside at night until the lambs are big enough to cope with foxes etc.

The older lambs and their mothers went outside for a few hours and came back in when it started raining.

Left; "I can't look, I wonder if that electric fence will make his eyes light up?"

Saturday 17th

A truly miserable day! Rain virtually all night, damp and grey first thing. One of the first lambs born a week ago did not look at all well. Hunched up and not wanting to move, checked temperature found it very high. Phoned vet who advised a short acting anti-biotic. We only use anti-biotics very reluctantly as Hilary is very keen on homeopathic remedies but with a tiny lamb you have very little time. If you don't use something that acts very fast it is usually too late. They have no reserves of strength. We seperated the ewe and her lambs out and crossed fingers.

The ewes with lambs were turned out to grass but it started to rain so heavily they had to come back in. Luckily we have the buildings to do this. Losses among those flocks who are trapped in the wrong place due to Foot and Mouth must be appalling and is something that we think about a lot.

We have decided to house all the ewes and lambs inside until the weather improves and needed more straw. Phoned up a neighbouring dairy farmer who very kindly agreed to supply us a load (refusing payment). Disinfected the pickup truck and met him away from his farm where we off-loaded our straw from his vehicle on to ours.

The rest of the day was a mixture of rain and sleet. No new arrivals today. By evening the sickly lamb was up and about and full of beans!!

Sunday 18th March

6.00am Rained much of the night, no new arrivals. The lamb we were worried about yesterday seems fine now.

When lambs are housed inside we always give them a bale to jump up and down on, which helps keep them amused. Two of the lambs born three days ago are wondering what the strange lady is doing sitting on their bale!

Some of the 'Ladies in waiting'. We always shear the wool away from back ends so we can more easily see what is going on.

A cold raw day but at least no more rain. We decided not to check the sheep at 3.00am as no-one showed any signs of doing anything at 11.00pm. We have due dates for vitually all the remaing 12 ewes the next one is due tomorrow.

Monday 19th March

6.00am checked everyone all calm.

Cold windy day again, lambs bouncing all over their pen with their mothers munching their way through vast quantities of hay. Not a bad life! I had to go to a Parish Council Meeting at 7.30pm so at 7.00pm one of the ewes went into serious labour. Perfect timing. I went to the meeting clutching my mobile phone and left early after the Chairperson kindly rearranged the agenda slightly. As I was driving up the track the lamb was born. This was a ewe who knew how to time things to perfection! Bramble Flo was National Portland Champion in 1999 so we were quite keen to see what she produced. The lamb turned out to be a really nice looking ram lamb. Hard to tell at this stage but he looks pretty good .

Left: Bramble Flo National Portland Champion in 1999

Right: Bramble Flo and her 8 hour old lamb

Checked everybody last thing and decided not to get up at 3.00am. Bearing in mind the miserable weather, not a hard decision!

Tuesday 20th March

Another really miserable day. Snow sleet, rain, wind.

Nobody inclined to produce anything, I don't blame them!!

Wednesday 21st March

Hilary checked everybody at 3.00am all quiet. I got up at 6.00am and found Hannah one of our older ladies producing a ewe lamb. We knew she had another in there and sure enough, after a few minutes, another lamb started to appear. Unfortunately a head only. Hilary pulled out one leg and then got the lamb out safely. Two very nice ewe lambs, just what we wanted from Hannah.

7.30am At least two more showing signs of action. Should be a busy day. At least its not raining!

At 8.00am another ewe started, Bramble Morag is a big strong ewe who has in the past produced some spectacular rams. She has a real mind of her own and is not an easy sheep to deal with. Luckily she had a text- book delivery and by 9.00am we had a nice ram lamb. Several others showed signs of getting going. Probably later tonight, not too late we hope!

7.00pm Mindi decided to start bringing her lamb into the world. By 8.00pm after at text book delivery she produced a very nice ewe lamb. No problems and civilised timing, very little strain on the ewe. If they were all like that it would be very easy.

After showing signs all day Bramble Arcady decided to get serious at about 11.00pm. We knew she was carrying twins, it promised to be a long night. I went to bed about 11.45pm. Hilary stayed up to supervise.

Thursday 22nd March

Hilary woke me up at 2.30am. After loads of effort Arcady seemed to be getting nowhere then suddenly produced a water bag followed after few minutes by what seemed to be a head only. While I was staggering downstairs she suddenly popped out a ewe lamb. I decided to stay up and about ten minutes later almost without straining, another ewe lamb slid out. This is one advantage with twins. If they are presented correctly there seems to be much less effort involved as they are usually slightly smaller. We finally got to bed at about 4.00am.

6.30am. Checked everybody. Another ewe, Bramble Flojo, one of our best ewes, showing definite signs. She is carrying twins so it could be quite interesting. So far, ewe lambs far outnumber ram lambs. We don't really mind as long as they are all healthy but ram lambs would be better for our purposes as that is what we would really like to breed.

As it wasn't actually raining we decided to let the ewes and lambs outside for the day, great excitement among the lambs!

11.00am both Bramble Flojo and her daughter Bramble Grace will lamb tonight but it will be a long one!

Friday 23rd March

2.00am, after fiddling about all day yesterday Flojo finally produced her first lamb, a ram lamb. Then nothing for an hour or so. Finally at about 3.15am out came the other twin, another ram lamb. Really easy births, they both pretty much fell out! These are the last set of twins due this year, we have four sets now, a very good result.

While Hilary was helping Flojo lamb, a large rabbit hopped into the pen and disappeared under one of the hay feeders. The sheep took no notice of it. Obviously a regular occurrence!

3.00am Flojo's daughter Grace produced a ram lamb and at 3.30am Hilary finally got to bed having had almost no sleep the previous night. Heavy rain.

6.00am checked everybody, all well. Still raining hard. Lambs won't go out today I think. Only five more ewes to lamb. Three due today or tomorrow. Several remaining ewes very restless but just as we thought one was going to get serious, she would suddenly start tucking into the hay.

11.00pm Just as we were thinking of retiring for the night, Bramble Emily starting straining in ernest.

Saturday 24th March

1.30am Emily produced a nice looking ewe lamb.

3.00am finally got to bed.

No rain today so the ewes and lambs went out to grass for the day. Much noise as ewes and lambs kept getting seperated. Interesting watching ewes torn between tucking in and looking for lambs.

above: Emily and her new lamb

Two sets of twins from different rams.

Note the differences in colour

Four ewes left, one overdue from Thursday. She's either really stubborn or we got the date wrong. Everyone looking uncomfortable but no action.

11.00pm Bramble Fortuna making moves to lamb. We decided to get up at 3.00am to check on progress.

Sunday 25th March

3.00am Fortuna uncomfortable but not really doing much.

I get up at 6.00am, go out to the lambing shed to find Fortuna and a very sturdy ewe lamb obviously bornsome time before and already up and about. Thats the way to lamb!! Only three to go.

Grey, dull, cold day but dry, ewes with older lambs out to grass for the day. The lambs have really got their legs together and race around in a huge gang. Fantastic sight which we always look forward to every year.

7.00pm. After looking uncomfortable all day, Bramble Rosa decides to get going. By 8.00pm, when supper is nearly ready (roast lamb!!) she is really going for it. Hasty supper then out to oversee the birth. After she has struggled a while we decide to help matters and eventually Hilary delivers a big strong ewe lamb. If they grow up as they started we shall have some impressive ladies this year.

Monday 26th.

I have to be away for a couple of days. Nothing expected, but you never know.

Tuesday 27th.

No action while I was away. Hilary is the lambing expert (small hands, well thats my excuse!) but she does like someone to be there to hold heads (sheep) etc.

Still wet and miserable although the older lambs and ewes have been out at grass. Everyone comes in at night. Chaos while they sort themselves out when they come in.

Only two ewes to go. Twenty three lambs from nineteen ewes so far and some potentially very good lambs indeed. It is early days yet but we feel that this could be the best crop of lambs we have ever had. Maybe, just maybe, there is a champion or two in there.

Wednesday 28th March.

Still nothing from the two ladies in waiting. One is due today but will probably wait till the middle of the night.

Right: Lambs running about after a day in the field

Thursday 29th March.

6.00am Still no action. Much better day, lots of sunshine. When we tried to bring the Ewes and lambs back into the barn for the night there were all sorts of protests. Usually they are queing up to get in.

5.00pm At last, Bramble Truffle decides to get going. She aiming for 7.00pm when I have a Parish Council Meeting to attend.

Truffle gets her timimg wrong and after an absolutely trouble free delivery produces yet another very good looking ewe lamb at 6.00pm. For a first time lamber she did really well. 16 ewe lambs and only 8 ram lambs so far, with only 1 to go which is due on Sunday. Lets hope lots of people want to buy Portland ewes!!

Friday 30th. March

6.00am Checked everybody, Truffles' ewe lamb up and about. Bramble Felicity, the only one still to lamb, is looking rather lonely in her pen now. We will be putting a retired ewe who is not lambing in with her for company. Felicity is one of our prettiest ewes and we are looking forward to seeing what she produces.

Saturday 31st. March

Felicity resolutely munching her way through the hay and giving us a look that says 'you are going to have to wait!'. Hilary makes a trip to see relations in the South East and Felicity misses an opportunity to cause maxiumum disruption. We have put a sheep with the strange name of Big S in with her for company. Big S is the mother, grandmother and great grandmother of champions who is now retired from lambing and hopefully will provide some words of encouragement!

Sunday 1st April

April Fools Day. Lets hope Felicity has not realised this.

left: ewes and lambs after coming in for the night

Monday 2nd April

Despite us getting up at 3.00am and 6.00am, Felicity resolutely refuses to produce. Another broken night for us. The first lambs are really growing up fast now. Quite a noticable size difference between the first and the last born. Pictured right is a ram lamb facing up to one of the ewes.

Tuesday 3rd April

Still no lamb! Spent the day tidying up the lambing shed. Trimming feet and ear tagging etc. Many of the lambs are starting to graze now and chewing the cud when they lay down. Amazing how they mature. When out in the field they run around at top speed in an enormous gang.

Wednesday 4th April

Checked Felicity at 3.00am and 6.00am, still nothing. Suddenly mid morning she started to go into labour and at 3.00pm she produced a really nice looking ram lamb. Hilary came up with the brilliant name Bramble Finale (all our sheep are prefixed with our flock name 'Bramble').

l.

The Proud Fathers!!

3 year old rams Chester and Victor

That's Lambing over for us this year. Much better than last year when we had a lot of problems. A really good looking set of lambs. Sixteen ewe lambs and nine ram lambs.

I know a lot of people have been following our progress. Keep in touch and have a look at the site now and again, pictures and news will be constantly added. Have a look at 'summer at Beermill Farm' to see how we are getting on

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Brian and Hilary Howell©2001