Although to many it may seem as though winter brings a quieter time on the farm, this certainly isn’t the case and we have been busy with the sheep, cattle and on the arable side too!
In January, the scanning man came out to the farm (pictured) and scanned over 500 of our Romney ewes to see if they are in lamb and whether they were due a single, twin or triplet. This year we have a high percentage of twins with even some triplets due! Overall it was a positive result and it looks set to be another busy lambing season.
On the farm we have been busy with maintaining our ditches continual fence repair and replacements where needed. The weather in January was particularly dry, which enabled us to do some groundwork by cultivating our spring cereals and beans.
During February we have sown Spring Beans along with more ditching maintenance work – this is to help keep the water flowing freely and is done annually as part of the cause.
With lambing time coming around quickly now, we have been prepping the lambing fields including building straw bales up for wind shelter. Paul has also been crutching ewes (clipping bottoms) in readiness for lambing. Crutching ensures that all the muck is taken away from the bottom end and around the udder so that the lamb has a clean birth (less chance of infections) and can easily get to the udder for feeding. This is also the wool that we collect to use in our Wool Pellets, meaning not only do they make a great slug repellent, they are also packed with plenty of natural, slow release fertiliser!
The sheep have also been given their annual injection pre-lambing of Heptavac P. (Heptavac P Plus is used for the active immunisation of sheep as an aid in the control of clostridial diseases and pasteurellosis in sheep.)
Our Merino Sheep are snuggled up back home in our shed and are set to lamb from the middle of March. Those staying with us in our Romney Marsh Shepherds Huts over the coming months are more than likely to meet some of our new arrivals, so it’s a great time to stay!
Storm Eunice arrived with a vengeance with up to 79miles p/hr winds, several trees were uprooted and Aldington Village lost power for 4 days. It took our phone line out as some of the trees landed on the line. Thankfully no-one was hurt and sheep and cattle remained safe. Apart from some roof sheets that blew off our buildings, we were relatively unscathed. The Shepherds Huts were strapped down to our heavy roller to give some extra stability and we’re please to report that we should be ok to supply plenty of firewood for the log burners & fire pits for a while!
The strong winds were not the only challenge that we have been faced with, transport has also been an issue in getting things moved off the farm as a result of Brexit and the lack of HGV Lorry drivers. Fertiliser prices on the back of energy prices rises have nearly doubled within the last year, this has been compounded by the recent events in Ukraine. Worrying times currently, and we send our heartfelt sorrow to all the poor people in Ukraine.
On a daily basis we are kept busy with our ongoing routines including checking and feeding our sheep and cattle around the farm, as well as feeding them oats and hay to keep them in good conditions in readiness for lambing & calving. And of course, with more events coming back for 2022, we are already getting lots of shows booked up and stock ready to take out on the road. As ever, a big thank you for your ongoing support of our online shop, it is always a pleasure to pack up and send out your orders and see your amazing creations with our wool!
With the days are getting longer, daffodils starting to appear and the sense of Spring in the air, whilst we are all facing a lot of uncertainty for the future, now more than ever we need to stand united, and here on the farm we are very much looking forwards to welcoming our little lambs into the world over the coming months which always denotes Spring and hope.