More related content:<\/p>\n
- Guide to One Man and His Dog: history of British sheepdog trials and the rules<\/a><\/li>\n
- Meet the sheep-farming opera singer Gwawr Edwards<\/a><\/li>\n
- Sheep to return to Hampstead Heath for the first time in over 50 years<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>Farm stays to experience lambing<\/h2>\n
Here are a couple of farms where you can enjoy a spring break and watch lambs being born.<\/p>\n
The Olde House, Cornwall<\/h3>\n
![\""Lambs"\"]( "\\"\"Lambs\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Mother ewe greets her lamb at Penpont Farm. Picture: Philip Hartley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Experience life on Penpont working farm, featured in the pictures above and below, while staying in one of a range of self-catering holiday cottages. Take part in a range of activities from feeding the guinea pigs in Pet Corner to lambing and sitting on a tractor. There\u2019s also an indoor swimming pool, farm trail and play barn, and a hide for bird-watching. <\/span><\/p>\n
theoldehouse.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Native British sheep breeds and how to recognise them<\/a><\/h4>\n
During any countryside walk, \u00a0it is very likely that you will pass a field of sheep grazing or lambs frolicking. Britain is home to a variety of native sheep breeds.<\/p>\n
Here is our guide on native sheep breeds in Britain, with a few key details on how to identify and key characteristics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>Hare Farm Hideaways, Sussex<\/h3>\n
Lambing takes place on a large scale here, with 1,000 pregnant ewes giving birth in four different farm buildings, just a stone\u2019s throw from the shepherd\u2019s hut and oast house holiday homes overlooking the serene village of Brede.<\/p>\n
harefarmhideaways.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
Abbey Farm Liveries, Norfolk<\/h3>\n
Guests can help the shepherds lamb the 600 ewes, including day-to-day running of the flock, feeding, cleaning and bedding-down pens, nursing and bottle-feeding pet lambs. Book the onsite self-catering cottage, or pitch up the tent or caravan.<\/p>\n
abbeyfarmliveries.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
Guide to the farming calendar: a year in the life of a British farmer<\/a><\/h4>\n
From weaning calves in January to livestock markets in July and rebuilding walls in December, farmers are busy all year round. Month by month, our farming guide looks at the busy year in the life of a British farmer.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>\nStay Lambing Live, Cumbria<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Lambing takes place in March and April at Stay Lambing Live, so named because this was the location in 2011 for the BBC\u2019s Lambing Live, presented by Kate Humble and Adam Henson. The 400-acre farm has 850 sheep.<\/p>\n
staylambinglive.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
Millmoor Farm Holidays, Cheshire<\/h3>\n
Watch lambs being born between January and April, and hand-feed orphan lambs in February. Book one of a number of self-catering lodges.<\/p>\n
millmoorfarm.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWhat is it like to experience lambing?<\/h3>\n
Ali Wood relates the wonder of taking the kids lambing.<\/p>\n
![\""UNITED\"]( "\\"\"Sheep\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Ewe and lambs shelter by a drystone wall and gorse bush in Exmoor National Park.\/Credit: Tim Graham\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n It\u2019s mid-lambing season, and the kids are clambering over the hay bales with the farmer\u2019s sons, imaginary rifles in hands. Around us, fat-bellied ewes graze and sleep, apart from one, who is pacing and emitting a low-pitched bleat. She pauses to lick her newborn lamb, now an hour old, then slumps down into the fresh hay, ready to give birth to another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
We\u2019re in the lambing shed at Penpont Farm, which, thanks to the mild Cornish climate, has an extra lambing season in November. While the children play, my baby daughter is sound asleep in her carrier, despite the cacophony of starlings fighting over spilt corn, and the noise of the tractor moving older lambs out to the surrounding fields.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
![\""Woman\"]( "\\"\"20Lambs-023-6e8a182\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Ali Wood and her children experience the joy of lambing season\/Credit: Philip Hartley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n At four years old, the ewe is an experienced mother, and her first lamb today was born easily.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed a couple of hours ago that she was bleeding,\u201d says the shepherd, Rob Hawkey, who works 12-hour shifts during lambing season with his cousin Oliver. Farming at Penport is in its third generation and the pair are old hands at lambing. \u201cI knew she was coming to lamb, but I didn\u2019t expect it to happen so quickly, as some pace around for hours. I came into the shed and she was half out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to deliver the ewe\u2019s second baby, so Oliver gets down on his knees, and gently slides his hand inside her to check the position of the lamb. Most ewes give birth without assistance, but with multiple births the shepherds like to get them out quickly, so that the lambs don\u2019t get muddled up with other little ones born at the same time.<\/div>\n\u201cWe check that both legs are coming,\u201d explains Rob. \u201cIt\u2019s not like with humans. We want the legs first, not the head, because if they get stuck you can\u2019t pull the neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
I call over the children. They\u2019re mildly annoyed at having to stop their game of soldiers but soon become curious.\u201d<\/p>
Oliver nods. This one\u2019s in the right position. Had it been breech, he would have had to pull the lamb out quickly, because once the legs are out past the navel they start breathing and can drown in the ewe\u2019s water bag.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cOnly you can\u2019t pull too fast, because you might break their ribs,\u201d warns Rob. \u201cIt\u2019s not as hard as it sounds,\u201d he adds quickly, noting my horrified expression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The water bag pops with a farting sound that delights the boys, and out comes a pool of blood-tinged water, followed by a dainty pair of hooves, which poke out like a crocus. The mother remains stoic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The kids edge closer, although I can see that Brenin, my five-year-old, is anxious. I must confess, I am, too. We saw a lamb stillborn two years ago while walking through a field, and it was distressing to watch the farmer swing it around to dislodge fluid from its nose and make fruitless chest compressions.<\/p>\n
With one hand on the ewe\u2019s side, Oliver pulls the lamb by the ankles and we all gasp as a sweet little face emerges. He wipes the lamb\u2019s nose, and swiftly pulls out its lean body like a rabbit from a magician\u2019s hat. It\u2019s still.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cOh, no!\u201d says Brenin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Oliver rolls the mother up on to her feet and carries the limp, wet lamb by its forelegs around to the mother\u2019s head so she can lick it. Relieved, I see the lamb\u2019s ears twitch, and it raises its head to nibble on the hay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
More related content:<\/p>\n
- Meet the sheep-farming opera singer Gwawr Edwards<\/a><\/li>\n
- Hands on holidays: the best farm stays for an educational adventure<\/a><\/li>\n
- Government sets out more environmental schemes to reform UK farming<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
\u201cIt\u2019s born! It\u2019s born!\u201d shouts Brenin.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a straightforward birth, but that\u2019s not always the case. Yesterday, one of the mothers lay on her newborn lamb and killed it. When that happens, the shepherd will give the mother an orphan lamb to feed, but she won\u2019t always be fooled. At times, they have to resort to bottle-feeding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger, I\u2019d form attachments to the bottle-fed lambs,\u201d says Rob. \u201cBut not now. When you get older, you see that many. I must have been seven or eight years old when\u00a0I lambed my first sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newborn lambs are now on their feet suckling. They\u2019ll stay in a pen until they\u2019re three days old, before being moved out to the field. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Our conversation is interrupted by a flurry of joyful, high-pitched bleats. Four newborn lambs skip into the barn, followed by Oliver\u2019s nephew Joshua, who carries the fifth close to his chest, like a large teddy bear.\u00a0We sit in the hay to bottle-feed them, and I can feel the lamb\u2019s heartbeat slow as it relaxes in my arms \u2013 at least until three-year-old Dylan pours milk over its nostrils.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
It might only be a lamb \u2013 one of 300 to be born on this farm over the next 10 days \u2013 whose carcass will fetch \u00a3100 in a few months\u2019 time. But, right now, it\u2019s a little miracle, one that has taught my children their very first lesson about life, and thankfully not death\u2026 I\u2019ll leave that one for another day.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n
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- Hands on holidays: the best farm stays for an educational adventure<\/a><\/li>\n
- Meet the sheep-farming opera singer Gwawr Edwards<\/a><\/li>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""UNITED\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/22\/2018\/09\/sheep-5d7a9bd.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Sheep\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Woman\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/22\/2018\/09\/20Lambs-023-6e8a182.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"20Lambs-023-6e8a182\"\\"\/")
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