The 2017 lambing season has now finished here at Swanston Farm and this means the end of many sleepless nights and hard work whilst all of our ewes finished lambing. Our flock of ewes all produced healthy twins and we even have one set of triplets! We were very lucky this year not to lose any of our lambs, following last year when we lost one to a dog attack. Our sheep are Texel crosses and are strong, sturdy and good mothers. The ewes are now grazing our lowland fields where the grass is rich, which enables our ewes to produce plenty of milk for their youngsters. We wean our lambs at around 16-18 weeks of age, depending on growth rate and separate them from the ewes – if we leave them any longer, the ewes will naturally reject the lambs, preventing them from suckling (they will kick them off and walk/run away from the lamb) and this only makes the lambs more needy, instead of learning to graze the grass, so the lamb can rapidly lose condition and become ill. Our ewes get sheared of their heavy woollen coats around June/July, to give them plenty time to grow a ‘rise’ after lambing and milk production. We donate our wool to a local farm who produces much larger quantities to be sent off for processing to be used in things like carpet, clothing and other textiles.
