What’s happening with my lambing | spring 2022

It’s day 23 of lambing on the Tessleymoor farm.

My Ryeland tup aka Whiskey covered the ewes over two cycles, giving me a longer lambing time, perfect for me as a first time farmer. So far 29 ewes have lambed, given me a total of 52 lambs, of which we’ve lost just two. This is a 172% return, a figure that I’m pleased with.

We have ten sheep left to lamb and I’m hoping these will be as uncomplicated as the others. Allowing them to lamb out in the field with minimal intervention seems to have worked well. However, I’m always learning and will no doubt do a few things differently next year.

My flock is a mix of Hexham Black Faced Mules, Swaledales and Ryelands. Of these, as expected, the Swaledales are the most tricky. One in particular runs into the next field every time she sees me on my quad. This has resulted in a lot of jumping on and off the quad to check her and her lambs – not something I though I would be doing as I approach my 50th birthday.

I’ll keep you up-to-date on the final days of my first lambing season.

If you’d like to follow my farming journey then please check out my YouTube channel where I post regular footage of life on the farm.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYIuyKbxUQNeWwAJ897aY3g

Posted: April 14, 2022