7. Storms, torrential rain & surprise twins

After all the learning and absorbing of information about wool processing from Fernhill, next was care of the ewes prior to lambing. I had them all scanned in January, and our new little Herdwick ram Geronimo (yes we now had three rams to contend with and keep separate) had successfully got all the Herdwick ewes into lamb on his first season! With due dates starting from 20th March, it was an anxious time watching the brutal weather batter the flock.

Mr. Handsome - Geronimo, our Herdwick Ram

We were expecting seven singles and six sets of twins. As mid March approached, I was getting worried about our grazing. Waiting for weeks for a seven acre paddock to be fenced, but this being unavoidably hindered by bad weather, we knew we were running out of areas for the sheep to be. Going into organic conversion in January 2022 meant we had to be very careful of parasite infestation in our pastures, and flock management is key for this. Grazing for too long on any one area allows for parasites to build up in the soil which are ingested and the cycle continues.

Two sets of twins that arrived almost simultaneously, in getting shelter from storms in March

As the unrelenting rain of the winter and spring showed no sign of letting up, the fencers and their huge machines just couldn’t start. We agreed to do one area that at least would get the sheep into fresh grass in late March. As storms loomed, lambs were starting to arrive. Herdwicks hate being indoors and bringing them all in to lamb would stress them more than them staying out so we just had to hope they would be ok. The first few were born into reasonable weather but as the weeks progressed the weather got worse and worse, with one set of twins being born in the middle of a lightening storm with gale force winds and heavy rain. One sadly didn’t make it, a beautiful healthy ewe lamb which is never a good thing if you are trying to establish a flock.

New baby being checked over

In the end expecting 19 lambs, with two sets of unexpected twins and one mortality we clocked up 20 beautiful strong lambs to add to our flock. They were all up on their feet quickly, with only a few needing to go inside for a few days to get a head start while the rain pelted down.

New lamb up and ready to go within ten minutes of birth.

Starting with two lambs in July 2022 I was now looking at a flock of 46! All very exciting and rewarding to see them thrive.

Bringing in the flock to check all lambs - age 3 weeks to 5 days old. All thriving!