With lambing successfully over for the year, the weather remained very dry until mid April. The main hay field began to look as though it could do with some rain to get it going but as we do not intend to cut it until mid July at the earliest it still has plenty of time. After nearly 12 weeks without any rain the drought broke in the middle of April and a spell of colder unsettled weather began. Still no real heavy rain but enough to get things growing nicely. Suddenly we began to have to start cutting the grass in the fields the sheep were grazing. Contrary to what many people think sheep do not like long grass. The perfect sward is only about two inches high but they must be moved on quickly. We try to move the stock to fresh paddocks about once a week if we can and each paddock is cut before the sheep go in to get the grass short enough.  This may seem odd to many people but in the heyday of sheep keeping, flocks were usually not kept in paddocks or fields but moved in large numbers over relatively short grass on the Moors and Downs.  The secret was that they were kept moving.

 In late April we had last year's lambs that we are keeping or selling as breeding stock, tested for Scrapie resistance. More As we had hoped, all the results came back in the top grade.

On May 24th we held the second of our three Sheep Days here at Beer Mill Farm More

June 2003

  May was a typical English summer month. Some rain, some sun, some cloudy days but on the whole quite dry. Our particular area, which is just off what is known as the Somerset Levels, has a relatively low rainfall for the West of England.  About 26 to 28 inches per year in a normal year.  Although sometimes it seems as if the entire years' rainfall is coming down on one day! Only a few miles away on the high ground of the Blackdown Hills or into East Devon, the rainfall rises to 70 or 80 inches a year and over 100 inches on Exmoor.  After the rainfall of mid April and early May the ground is starting to looking distinctly dry again.

  Luckily the earlier rain got the hay fields going nicely, unlike last year.  The wild flowers and the various grass varieties are starting to create the wonderful mosaic of colour we always look forward to.

June 5th.

  We have booked Derek who very kindly shears our sheep every year, to come tomorrow.  Sure enough after two weeks without rain.  Its raining today!  Wet sheep cannot be shorn.  It is difficult to get the cutters through but most importantly the hand cutters are driven by mains electricity and don't mix well with wet sheep! Do we leave the sheep outside and hope it stops raining and they dry out? Or do we bring them inside which is not good if they are wet? We also have the problem that the ewes and rams have to be well separated if they are housed.  In typical British fashion we decide to wait and see what the weather does.

June 6th

It did rain overnight but not much.  The morning was bright and sunny and the sheep were drying out nicely so we decided to go ahead. The rams were sheared first, giving the ewes more time to dry out and all went very well.  For more pictures and information see the fleece section on the main page or click here. The rain the day before washed the fleeces on the sheep and we were really pleased with them.  Years ago, sheep were nearly always washed prior to shearing, usually by driving them through a dammed up river or stream.  There are a number of hamlets called sheepwash in the West Country.

We supplied a number of rolled fleeces to hand spinners last year by post and repeat orders are coming in, which is encouraging.  Recently we supplied a fleece to someone in the London area to be used for felting.  An ancient art which can produce some lovely results. Details in the fleece section.  

June 10th  We are now getting ready for the last of our sheep days this year which is being held on June 21st.  This will be on care of the breeding ewe and ram management.  Two subjects we are particularly interested in.

June 17th The lambs born last year who have made it through the various selection hurdles and are still with us have suddenly grown up.  The spring grass and the warm weather seems to have brought them on with a rush.  The ewe lambs are real young ladies now and the rams have acquired real presence, that 'look at me' air about them.  The two, two year old rams we have kept through have bulked up amazingly and although not fully grown for another year are quite impressive. The one year old rams have not got the weight but the potential is suddenly visible.  

Pictured to the left is one of our two year old rams.  As a two year old he has another year of growth left in him but he is not a ram to argue with even now! Although he does seem to have quite a good temperament our motto is 'never trust a ram'!

To the right is a picture of one of our shearling (12 month old) rams.  He was born in April last year. The difference between the him and Otto (above) is not height but bulk. He is much lighter around the shoulders and hindquarters than Otto and his horns are not so well grown.  Another year and that will change. Portlands are of course not large sheep but in a ram we look for a good spread across the chest, a good back end, a nice deep body and as many judges often say 'A leg in each corner'. We also look for horn shape (well away from the face), a 'handsome' face and that certain 'presence' that marks out the special sheep.  There are many other factors, mouth, legs, fleece etc. see Information section for more details but there is a certain air about the really special sheep that you have to see to appreciate.  Both the above animals have it.

June 23rd

We held our sheep day focusing on breeding ewes and care of the ram on June 21st. It was hard work but helped enormously by our friends John and Norma Sanders we felt the day went very well and it was lovely to see so many faces old and new. For a report click HERE.

July 1st 2003

The longest day is now past and the year rolls on. The weather has been exceptional so far this summer. Lots of sunshine and a bit of rain but not enough if we are honest. Long dry spells are okay but the ground does need a bit of moisture now. The hay crop looks really good. We are cutting about 10 acres this year more than have ever done. It is not due to be cut until the middle of July as we want all the various grasses and wild flowers to spread their seed around. Also it gives a good chance for all the butterflies to make the most of it.

We are starting to think about weaning lambs particularly the ram lambs. We don't want any unplanned pregnancies by leaving the ram lambs with the females too long! Also, after thinking we would not show any sheep this year, we have entered a couple of shows this month (July) for a bit of fun. More details and photos of the preparations later. One of them is the Chulmleigh Show in Devon on the 23rd which is advertised as the 750th annual show. It is not somewhere we have been before but we couldn't resist entering a show that has been running since 1253. In the past we used to show the sheep with some success but after the enforced break caused by Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001 we never got going again.  To do it properly takes a lot of time and effort although it is very rewarding.  One bonus is that sheep that have been shown are much easier to handle and they never forget their training even years afterwards.

July 24th 2003

Went to Chulmleigh Show and came back with rosettes and a cup click here for a report

To reduce the download time the story is continued on a new page CLICK HERE