13 April 2012

Lambing amost live Day 1

Hello everyone, I am currently on leave from work lambing my flock of Cheviot and Herdwick sheep on the hills above Coniston Water.Its a different sort of vacation to most of my colleagues or anyone else I suppose but as i have a farm as well as working for the National Trust its something i have done since i started and it is a great place to be so why go anywhere else. During the next couple of weeks i will be posting daily updates on what is happening on the farm at this time of year including a few photos of the sheep, cattle and local scenery.


This photo is of a freshly born lamb, its mother had chosen a great place to give birth out of the wind and in the sun, the lamb is about 5 minutes old and is already up on its feet and looking for its first feed.

Today has been nice with a few showers and hailstones but on the whole not a bad day but with a cold wind its best to get in the trees or behind a hill to find a snug place.

I have also quite a lot of cattle on the farm and one of the cows is due soon so figures crossed i will be about at the right time. The last calf looks a bit like a buffalo and is quite a star getting his photo taken by many of the tourists  who see him in the woods.


The sheep lamb up on the intake next to the fell and i gathered them in last week ready for lambing and they will stay in on the better ground for a month or so till the lambs are big enough to follow their mothers across the fell. I scanned the ewes in February and kept all the sheep due to have twins down near the farm house so they can be looked after better and given a bit of extra feed. The ones carrying singles much prefer to be on their natural habitat, there is the threat of predators but with just one lamb to look after they manage without any problems.

Day old lamb with its mother





I will post again tomorrow and will tell you a bit more about the farm and include some more photos, with about 20/30 lambs born each day i am sure there will be plenty to tell you about.

John Atkinson Lead Ranger

Want to read the rest? .....to read the whole of John's 'Lambing Almost Live' series of posts go to the 'Lambing Posts' tab at the top of the page. (We've moved all 14 days onto one page so you can read all the stories together.)

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