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Late September and we
are suffering a drought!! no rain for weeks. The
ground is rock hard and the grass has not put on its late
summer spurt of growth. The last weekend in the
month we brought in all the rams and ram lambs and gave
them a thorough overhaul. Generally given a good look
over, feet trimmed and wool round the back end
tidied up. We have pretty much decided which ram
lambs are destined for greater things and which are
destined for the freezer ours (and others). Not easy
decisions, we only really want the very best and
one outstanding lamb failed because his hooves were
slightly pale. We do have a waiting list for
freezer lambs so we don't have to worry about selling the
'also rans'. Several of the ram lambs
born this year are quite exciting and we have great hopes
of them next Photograph on the right is of some of the young hopefuls taken in early September (click on picture to enlarge) We plan a quite extensive program of conservation work during the coming winter and as a start Brian began clearing up the hedges that were laid last year. This involves clearing around the base and weaving in the shoots that have grown up from the laid hedge, further thickening the barrier. Very satisfying work as you see how much better the hedge looks after a summer's growth. October 11th and still no rain it is really odd to see summer bedding plants still in flower and the lawn turning brown. Luckily we have plenty of grass in the fields but it stopped growing some time ago and rain would be welcome. Some promised for this weekend apparently. In another month or so we will probably be wishing it would stop! This is the weekend the rams go in with the ewes and the sheepkeeping cycle starts again. All the ewes will be brought in and given a thorough service. Feet trimmed etc. and their condition assessed. Udders and mouths will be looked at and particularly with one or two older ewes, a decision will be made as to whether they will lamb again. If a sheep is not in good condition in late summer they will struggle through the winter so we would not normally put them in lamb. We are using three rams this year. Last year we only used one, which worked very well. However we have two other rams which are so good in our opinion we felt we have to use them as well as Ben, our main stock ram. Also we are conscious that we need to maintain different blood lines. Saturday 12th October, a really beautiful day with unbroken sunshine. The whole flock was brought into the barn and everyone had a full checkover, wormed, feet trimmed and generally tidied up. Only one ewe who had suffered from mastitis early in the summer did not make the grade and will have an easy winter. The flock is now split into five different groups. Not an easy exercise. Three sets of ewes with different rams, all the ram lambs and one ram we are not using and all this years ewe lambs plus the one ewe who will not be put into lamb. Sounds easy but everyone had to be sorted out, the rams had to be put with their ladies without fights breaking out and then put into fields where each group won't see each other. Next day the weather broke! Even the most enthusiastic chap has his spirits dampened by torrential rain and high wind. Two days later and it is still raining. Hopefully the rams will be only temporarily put off. This ends the Summer 2002 diary. As we had hoped, this was much better than 2001 since we were free of the worry of Foot and Mouth Disease. The weather was not particularly good for the first few months but the late summer and autumn was beautiful. Now we wonder what the winter will bring. The flock is in good shape, we have some very promising lambs who hopefully will forfill their potential next year and we are looking forward to lambing again in March. We plan more hedgelaying and the first of the new Sheep Management Days will be held in February. MORE A new page WINTER 2002 carries on from here. |
