Category: Sheep

Today is tupping day.  What that means is that we have collected a ram (called Ginger) that we are borrowing for the next few weeks.  Ginger has been carefully selected to ensure we have good lines (of breeding).  Coloured Ryelands are not rare, but they are not common either.  They did, in fact, used to be classed as a rare breed.  The upshot is there are not many that are not related to each other in some way.  So find an unrelated ram is a delicate task.

Fortunately, a breeder local to us has entirely different lines to ours and Ginger is the furthest removed.

So, today we collected Ginger who, for a ram not far from a field full of ewes, seemed remarkably calm.  He was easily led into the trailer.

A careful driver home and we were ready to deliver him to our flock.  We drove into the field as we thought that as soon as he smelled the ewes, the calmness would evaporate.  And we were right, he was Mr Impatient as we opened the trailer.

The ewes were also curious and trundled over to see what was going on.

We opened the trailer and he shot out and straight over to the ewes, nose in the air and tongue hanging out.  It was a combination of male excitement and female curiousity as they met for the first time.  All the ewes seemed happy to see him, until he started focusing his attention on those he thought closest to being in heat.

This led to some “games” of chase and some half hearted mounting.  But, it would seem none of the ewes were particularly receptive, and Ginger soon gave up and started eating some grass.

We will be checking for yellow stains on the back of the ewes over the coming days to see who the ram has found ready and willing and so enable us to calculate the date the lambs will appear.

And this week, two tons of concrete arrive and I will be spreading and levelling that to make the floor of our lambing shed.

Last year, we purchased a field around 3.25 acres in size.  We planted about an acre or so of natural woodland and a blackthorn hedge down one side.

The rest remains as orchard and meadow. Now that we have 11 sheep, our original field is a little small and so the grass was getting shorter and shorter, and shorter.

We had to act. We put in a new stock fence. The existing one was just a couple of strips of barbed wire, OK for cows but easy for sheep to get past. We mowed the meadow so as to get young, sweet grass growing and we cleared away all the hawthorn hedge trimmings. We cleaned up the water trough which looked as though it had been stagnant for centuries.  We also installed an electric fence to protect the young hedge (they do like a bit of bark, our sheep) and tested that it worked (ouch – it does!)  We also spread 5 tons of hard core under the gate as it was high off the ground and we want to keep the sheep in and dogs out (except our own, of course).

Then, yesterday evening, we gathered them and sprayed them to protect them from fly strike.  Then we attempted to herd them again, but this time they were less keen to be gathered.  Nevertheless, we eventually rounded them up and loaded the first batch of 5 into the trailer.  This took a bit longer than it should have as they are nippy and strong and somewhat reluctant to go into the trailer.

Now, the field may only be 3 or 4 hundred yards away so you’d think it might be easier just to walk them along the road.  Well, with three roads, two gates and a playing field entrance to pass not forgetting our questionable herding abilities, the trailer seemed the easier option.

We took the first 5 up to the new field and let them out. Normally, when split, there’s a lot of bleating goes on.  But our 5 trotted out of the trailer, took one look around and almost skipped into the field.  5 heads were down investigated all this new grass.  Not a single ‘meh’ to be heard!

So, we nipped back for the other 6.  We set up the trailer, funnelled them into the race and they trotted up into the trailer without any intervention.  It was as though they already knew where they were going and couldn’t wait. Perhaps the others had sent a sheepmail, not as silly as it sounds because I have read many stories about animals communicating at a distance.

We drove them the short journey to the field.  They, too, were delighted with their new pasture and all 11 settled in really quickly.  They are really happy and this makes us happy.

Today, eight new breeding ewes joined our flock.  It was something of a reunion as these new ewes were the flock our original three came from.  So our three were reunited with their mothers.

We only have a small trailer, so we collected them in two batches of 4.  We had fun getting them into the trailer, but once in our field, they came out quite happily.  Our 3 were not quite sure what to make of the new arrivals, but unlike chickens, they enjoyed a peaceful introduction.

The second batch of four were most restless when they were left behind and were duly delighted to be re-united.  By evening, they were all happily lying together chewing the cud.

Horner Shearing sent us a replacement part overnight and with rain forecast from tomorrow (which probably means it will be sunny), we thought we’d better get the sheep sheared today. You can’t shear them with a wet fleece and also, wet fleeces are attractive to flies. The main reason for shearing them is for their health, the wool is a bonus.

It was a lovely, sunny afternoon (after a fairly breezy morning), so conditions were perfect.

We started with Bluemli. She was not happy at all. She considers herself the leader of our small herd and so is used to getting her own way.  Well, I am much better now at getting a sheep to sit and to her surprise, she found herself in shearing position A.  Not for long.  testing my training to the limits (and I spent the early part of the afternoon studying the DVD again), she struggled and moved did everything she could to get free.  Especially when I tried to shave her leg!  She did get a little stressed so we did spend some time calming her.

But, my revision paid off and we had much more control.  Our positioning was also better so we put less strain on the drive shaft.  And 35 minutes later, Bluemli emerged sheared, albeit a bit scruffy!

Then, it was the last sheep, Louise’s turn. She struggled at first, but soon relaxed.  I didn’t do her stomach particularly well which caused problems later on.  Nevertheless, we improvised and soon, she too, was sporting a short summer coat, albeit with some trimmings.

But we are really pleased.  Sheep shearing is not easy at all (my back is most put out).  But they are done, we have three bags of wool ready to be cleaned up and weaved.

The question is, do we do that too, or do we send it off.

Decisions, decisions!

Plus, 75 minutes to shear 2 sheep, the Blue Seal requires you to shear 3 sheep in 30 minutes, unaided.  I think we need a bit more practice.

Having had trouble finding sheep shearers for our small flock, we decided to do it ourselves.  But, first, we thought some training might be a good idea.

So we signed up for the sheep shearing course run by the British Wool Marketing Board at Fernhill Farm.

We turned up on a freezing cold, wet May morning and shivered gently in a large barn full of sheep and other trainees.  These ranged from young farmers with hundreds of sheep to older farmers with a smaller number of sheep and us.

It turned out to be two of the most physically demanding days I can remember.  But also highly rewarding.

The key was to learn the moves so that the sheep is both comfortable and in the right position.  Get it wrong and the sheep was off in a flash.  And weighing in at around 80Kg, these sheep were pretty strong.

But we worked hard and managed to shear a few sheep, albeit with some help from the instructors.  We plan to do another course and get our Blue Seal.

In the mean time, as soon as our shearing kit arrives, our 3 ladies will be shorn.

We are expanding our flock from 3 to 11 this week with 8 new arrivals.  There will be some reunions as the incoming flock are the ones our three orginated from.  So they will be reunited with their mothers.

We can’t wait and look forward to having them.

We have commisioned some new stock proof fencing in our orchard so that will give us extra pasture.  It will be interesting when we come to try and move them.  The training has begun.