One of the very few advantages of this truly gruesome wet and cold weather is that, having brought our sheep back inside there is an opportunity to give some of them an MOT. This includes our rams.
Currently I have 11 working adult rams.All of them are quiet characters, but independent you might say! It took 2 grown men to hold each of them yesterday while I gave them a pedicure and, (my least favourite job on the farm!) dagged out their bums. After being outside on lush grass for 3 weeks they were running in muck and if I don’t clean them out now it sets hard as concrete round their fleece as it grows and causes endless problems.

“Hold still you b…!” was a typical soothing phrase I used on a few occasions. “I don’t think he likes you interfering with his nether regions!” one of my helpers piped up. Extreme understatement as there is absolutely NO doubt the rams felt their dignity was seriously compromised – and in front of their mates as well! Not good for ram-bo street cred!

I shall treat them with a preventative for fly strike as soon as there is any prospect of dry weather for a few days and then hopefully I can turn them out and let them enjoy summer without the need to disturb them again.

Turnover crates are used by some farmers to do this work (do exactly what the name says – sheep walks in, press a lever and the sheep is turned upsidedown) and while they seem incredibly attractive to those of us with aching backs, they don’t work well with horned sheep apparently so until I can afford to import the Australian versions which are designed for Merinos, I shall rely on my 2 men folk for help!

Later in the day I worked quite hard on the other end of the wool chain – in connection with my role in The Campaign For Wool I was sourcing a commercial knitting company for someone and talking to 2 people with ideas for promoting wool. I regard myself as very privileged to have both ends of this incredible chain in my hands at times. Both are precious and delicate – one end because you are dealing with living, sentient creatures, and the other, because often you are dealing with people’s dreams and ambitions. “Handle with care” is my motto for both ends although sometimes that can involve being quite tough!

Ajax aged 5 with a 16 micron fleece still.

Our Old Girl and friends in happier times

It’s strange how your perceptions of normality change. I was forced to ponder this yesterday when delivering a dead goat to our local VLA (Veterinary Laboratory Agency – the government vet lab) at Starcross here in Devon. The goat had died from old age (11) and the stress of recovering from Liver Fluke infestation. As I’m a member of the Scrapie Monitoring Scheme, I have to take dead goats or sheep to the VLA for testing to make certain they don’t have Scrapie. This is at my expense (approx £100 per time plus my 90 mile round trip and my time) but means I am declared officially Scrapie Free. Useful for exports.

So, on a lovely sunny morning, I loaded up number 2066, bless her, in the back of the car, covered her over with a sheet and set off. On arrival, I checked in, did the paperwork and drove round to the drop off point to find lots of builders vans blocking the area as they worked on the lab refurbishment. The vet opened up the back doors of the lab and helped me out on to the concrete delivery area with my old girl. Since we knew each other, we were discussing the up coming Devon County Show, the rising incidence of bTB in Alpacas locally, the incidence of Schmallenberg this year and so on, all over the dead body. Nothing unusual for us.

The reaction of the builders walking past, who must surely have seen dead animals arriving regularly over the weeks there, was instructive. Big burly chaps suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable and nervous at the sight of a dead animal lying on the ground. A couple asked what it was and why it had died. One asked what it was there for and I explained that it had to have its brain tested for Scrapie. “Wish I hadn’t asked!” he said with a feeble grin and walked off.

It’s a reminder how far away we are on a daily basis from death. Most of us see the process of dying and actual death so rarely these days that it’s a shock to be confronted with it – even in an animal. Familiarity with it is not something I’m pleased about of course, but it does make you more sanguine about life and death in general. It’s so much a normal part of farm life once you get above a certain number of animals.

For some, like this old girl 2066, who was one of my original goats from the old Macaulay Institute,it’s the conclusion of a long, productive and I hope, happy life here with me on my farm. For others, it’s a sad end to a very short life after a battle against something horrible like Listeriosis. Whenever possible, we shoot or have euthanased by the vet, those which we know are not going to make it so they don’t go to the VLA. But for the odd one who catches us out, it’s a trip to Starcross.

Does it matter I wonder, this distance from death? I know my own understanding of the process is much greater than it was and I value that. I’ve learned to recognise the point of no return in an animal’s eyes and the right time to say enough is enough. I suspect in days gone by, we would have applied the same knowledge we had from our animals to our human families. Now of course, that does not happen for all sorts of medico-legal and social reasons. Are we better or worse for that? Who knows. I couldn’t possibly comment.

Yesterday was our first day of beautiful truely warm spring weather. The birds sang their hearts out, the sheep enjoyed lazing and grazing in the sun and we and our visitors sat outside for a Devon Cream Tea!However, welcome though it is, the warmth cannot obscure the fact that this is already gearing up to be yet another difficult farming year.

First cut silage round here is often taken in the last week of April or first week of May. Not this year. Grass is barely keeping ahead of the mouths grazing it. There is nothing spare for farmers to conserve for later in the winter. We must hope for a better later period of growth. But we are told May is set to be completely dry! No rain of any significance!

Farmers are still feeding concentrates to sheep with lambs – me included. One man with 1000 sheep up on the edge of the moor is feeding £250 worth of feed PER DAY to his ewes. Tot that up and tell me how he will make any money from sheep this year?
The tale of woes could go on for pages. There are some sheep farmers here who will go to the wall over this and we are NOT in the worst areas by any means – think of the stock losses in Wales and Cumbria for example after the snows of March. And of course this comes on the back of a truly atrocious year LAST year when many sheep farmers were clinging on by their finger tips hoping for better this year.

So as I watch them wheeling overhead, one swallow doesnt make a summer, one fine day doesnt put everything right but you can bet your bottom dollar people in cities and towns will forget all that when it comes to paying more for their lamb this year.

What is it they say about buses? You wait for ages then all of a sudden two come along at once! Well, you could say the same about my blog posts. Nothing for ages then 2 in one day. But I just had to share some pics of new Cashmere kids  born this morning. And some of my fabulous Aussie Bowmont Merino lambs. Full of beans and just champing at the bit to get out on some grass – if we had any!

If I’ve been a bit quiet of late then put it down to mental incapacity. Getting up every night at random hours and then working full on during the day as well doesn’t make for clear and rational thought. I’ve just finished writing an article for The Sheep Farmer, the magazine of the National Sheep Association and that has required proof reading so many times more than normal to correct fundamental silly mistakes. A reminder that lack of sleep DOES catch up with you.

I’ve had small numbers to lamb of course – 35 ewes and  40 Cashmeres to kid (still on-going as I write – nice pair of twins born about 30 mins ago) but small numbers dont mean you have to get up any less often. Even one ewe needs watching until she’s safely delivered. 10 or 100 it makes no difference. The care and duty of the shepherd is the same.

Every year I end up saying -” never again” at some point!  Ususally as I drag myself out of bed at 1am after 2 hours sleep “That’s it! I’m selling the lot!”  One day I will of course – but not quite yet.

As I write we are still waiting for the grass to get going. This cold dry Spring has meant we still have “winter grass” in our fields, that yellow, short, tough stuff which is of no nutritional value to hungry ewes and lambs.  A few warmer days here are good but we have had NO SUNSHINE. London and the SE have basked in 22C and we have had 11C with cloud. The grass needs sun to get the sugar flowing. We still have completely bare trees here and the daffs are only just out now. Our primroses are a month late in the woods. The sheep are still in the shed and will have to stay there until the weekend at least. Then we may put them out with a round feeder of silage if things dont change. Lambs need fresh air and excercise at this stage.

As for how lambing has gone, very well I think. With 2 sheep left to lamb who were returners from the Artificial Insemmination programme I did this year, we have had very good results. Roughly equal rams and ewes which is much better than I usually do. 66:33 rams to ewes has been the norm for the last couple of years! Some cracking lambs as well. The Australian AI programme has been a great success and I have some fine lambs to choose from for future breeding. The proof of course will be in their wool. I’m not looking to improve fineness  or wool quality – this is already excellent – but I am looking to increase volume and THIS is what the Australian ram I used will bring to the flock. Fleece weight has increased massively in the 25 years since the Macaulay Institute developed the Bowmont and it was time to adress that deficiency. These sheep are now Bowmont Merinos, another stage on from that old Bowmont flock. 2 injections of  new genetics have moved them on light years from the old Macaulay stock and yet I am continuing the work the project would have done if they had still been in existence. It’s a precious legacy.

The wool is to die for. A Bradford wool merchant  who buys and sells top class Merino from and to all over the world looked at my samples last week. He was very impressed particularly with the staple length in association with fineness. Apprently my wool would sell for a premium price on the world market because of the extra length I am achieving – makes it perfect for worsted. A lot of Saxon Merino is barely long enough for worsted so  some which is amply long enough will command a high price. Good news. I am clearly on the right track. If only I could turn back the clock ten years and cope better with the long drag which is the lambing season!!

(Yes I know it appears to be spelled incorrectly  but bear with me!)

I’ve been quiet of late since we are right in the middle of lambing and kidding. For all sorts of reasons, the two are running in parallel this year which makes for a busy not to say exhausting time. On Easter Saturday I went to bed at 10pm leaving DH in charge and got up again at 1.15am. I then spent the whole remaining night lambing a fiddly first timer and getting her to take her lamb, feeding some weak kids, feeding some hungry mothers, returning to new sheep mum and  the “alien” she had spawned, feeding weak kids, feeding hungry mothers, returning to new mum etc etc – you get the picture!

Easter Day was spent doing all above with 3 extra new mothers in addition  – all of whom were initially convinced they had been “done” and the lamb “thing” was nothing to do with them! Fortunately they saw sense pretty quickly but in this incredibly cold weather it takes very little time for a new lamb to get chilled and die. Colostrum into tummies within the first hour is essential if they are to have the best chance so we have to help them.

Oh and yes, being Easter, I had a full dinner to cook and serve for 5 people.  I fell into bed again at 10pm having been on the go flat out since 1.15am. A fairly typical day.

The nature of my precious flocks mean that I am lambing and kidding much older animals than standard commercial flocks. This is because I need to get as much valuable genetic material from each of my females. The old girls need very special care and while they often lamb /kid easily, they may need help afterwards with extra food or the occasional supplementary bottle. They still enjoy their babies and it’s a pleasure to see how the old ladies fall into the routine immediately. Proper old pros!

This sounds busy and it is. I am just beginning to reach the point where help at night would be really welcome. Farmers who lamb only a few more than me generally have experienced help to call on. Maybe next year I will have to do this. However, I find it very difficult to let my sheep and goats’ care pass into the hands of another. Even DH doesn’t notice the initial tell tale signs of early lambing/kidding and he spends a great deal of time with them. Trust would be the thing. We shall see!

Meanwhile I have a few management decisions to make. We have given up castrating ram lambs at birth. Firstly, you ALWAYS castrate the wrong ones (Sod’s Law) and secondly, when you intend keeping wethers for wool production for several years, it’s best to give them a few months  growth so their urinary tracts get to a decent size. This lessens the chance of painful bladder stones developing. We have NEVER had bladder stones in a sheep but there is a theoretical increased risk in an adult wether.

No, the decision is on tailing – the application of a rubber ring to the tail to shorten it. We gave this up 3 years ago. It is already illegal in some EU countries and may possibly be so here in another few years.  We have had few problems except this last year. The terrible weather meant our lambs had fluke and worms regularly and while of course they were treated, the dirty back ends meant some tails were in a terrible mess. Raymond our shearer did a great job cleaning them up but there were a few cuts and a lot of blood. Now THIS is just as much a welfare issue as tailing.  Do I risk another year like this and leave tails or do I return to the practice? I don’t know. The jury is out for another 24 hours.

Time for a well-earned cup of tea I think before I return, once again to the barn.

I spent Tuesday to Saturday at Somerset House in London helping to run Wool House, (on until 24th March so go along!) the major Campaign For Wool event of the year.  Well, what can I say? I was absolutely blown away by the room sets, the carpets we walked on, the fashion and tailoring etc.

You might expect me to say that but it’s true. Even I, as a fully paid up member of the Wool Lovers Club was truly astonished at the versatility of wool. From solid, fibreglass-substitute chairs and acoustic noise baffling wall panels to the finest, most exquisite and complex woven cloth for suiting, it was a revelation.

On top of that we had marvellous craft exhibits – Jason Collingwood weaving incredible rugs, masterclasses in Shetland Lace and Fairisle knitting, all  helped along by a team of great spinners I had organised.

Visitors  came from all over the world. I had arranged to meet Australian Sheep Farmer of the Year Michael Blake there and show him my wool which I’m delighted to say he thought was great -excuse the little cock-a-doodle-do of joy! He was not the only Australian there and visitors from Uruguay, all places in Europe and the USA have signed our visitors’ book so far.

Their comments have been lovely. “Amazing, unbelievable, inspiring, thought-provoking, etc”.

Here are a few photos to show you what you have missed if you don’t make it to Somerset House by the 24th!

Off to “work” later today. Never has the phrase “mixing business with pleasure” been more appropriate. I’m going to Somerset House in London for the opening Reception of Wool House and then, will be spending the next 4 days there stewarding and being general dogsbody. I have also organised some wonderful spinners to be there each day and will be supporting them as they demonstrate.

This evening there will be the great and the good from the WHOLE world of wool milling and musing in the Party Room. People from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and many other countries.  The Campaign for Wool is an international movement – not just about British wool. I have a list as long as my arm of people I need to see and talk to  and an equal list of people who have asked to see me. Could be a very busy evening!

Sad news last night that Buckfast Spinners, part of Axminster carpets, is to close.  Buckfast have supplied the yarns for Axminster carpets  for 60 years and employed 100 local people in the process. I note that the Axminster carpets website still describes it as a full  raw wool to yarn plant  but in truth, it stopped scouring wool a couple of years ago and just concentrated on spinning and dyeing.

The parent company has already sold off Devonia Sheepskins, also in Buckfastleigh and saved the  jobs of 20 locals in the process. It’s a real blow to the town that the Spinning Company has to go. Employment prospects in the area are poor and travelling out to larger centres will be the only option. All the expertise will be lost  with many employees having three generations of experience in yarn manufacture. Those skills are precious. At a recent textile conference I attended, skills shortage was one of the biggest stumbling blocks mentioned as companies try to expand and develop here in the UK. I hope some of these suddenly cut loose can find work up north with other spinners in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

One hundred jobs are to be retained in Axminster itself and, by the sound of it, there is a buyer waiting in the wings for a smaller, leaner company. I speculate that it may concentrate on the luxury, one-off designer carpets made for particular clients and places. Moving up market and trading on the British reputation for quality, craftsmanship, heritage etc has worked brilliantly well for many others in the textile manufacturing world so it’s a possibility.

Whatever happens, I wish Axminster and its rump of employees well in the future. For the poor folk of Buckfast, I wish a job. Any job. And the sense of worth and value that goes with it.

Oh dear. I was all set to tell you about the excellent set of fibre test results I’ve just got back for the  Bowmont Merinos – and in particular my 6 rams I used this year. I was going to jump up and down, (metaphorically speaking), whoop excitedly and generally shout for joy because I’m doing well and moving in the right direction. BUT…… I went down to the barn at 5.45 to check on an old sheep who is feeling her age, and found one of my best rams dead. Stuck upside down in the feeding trough. Clearly he and the others had been playing about, he must have tripped just in the wrong place, turned belly up and got wedged, stuck fast. Death by suffocation followed as his head was caught on one of the strengthening bars. An almost impossible thing to achieve and sheer bl…y bad luck! Poor lad.

It’s a tragedy for me as he was half Australian and with a 15 micron fleece – one of the best I have.  Aged just 2 he  tupped 15 ewes this season which are about to lamb, so he will live on in that sense but I would rather have him!

If farming teaches you anything at all it is that triumph and tragedy are two sides of the same coin . I’m still very pleased with my results, but can’t quite bring myself to jump for joy this morning.