Calving

We have pretty much finished lambing for this year but there are more new arrivals to keep us busy - calving season is now upon us and here is a photo of one our South Devon cows with her calf who is half Galloway hence its black coat.

Spring Update

Here is a lovely pic of a Whiteface Dartmoor ewe with her lambs. Lambing is going well, we are now over half way through our indoor sheep and the outdoor ones are well under way too so we are being kept very busy! We have had a bit of rain to dampen the dust today but we need more to get that green grass growing!

Lambing Live 2012

Well, our feet have finally touched the ground after the second year of lambing live at Greenwell Farm. Once again it was a fantastic success with over 300 general public and numerous schools and children’s groups coming to see us. Mum worked really hard pulling it all together and it was very well received. We had approx 50 visitors per night who were given a guided tour of our lambing shed including a breakdown of what we do on a modern beef and sheep hill farm. They then had the opportunity to wander around the shed where they could observe the lambing ewes and cuddle the lambs and ask lots of questions! The children loved bottle feeding our tame orphaned lambs and (luckily!) on most nights we managed to see a live birth. We had several volunteers who gave up their time to help and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all. Dartmoor Farmers did the catering and Mat was very pleased to be eating beef every night, however I am not sure Gemma approved and he is now on a strict salad diet!

Freedom

After being well looked after in our sheep maternity ward for a few days, the first lot of lambs and their mums are now ready for the outside world. It is always a lovely sight to see the ewes and lambs leap of of the trailer into a field of fresh green grass. Let's hope the weather stays kind to them. Apologies for the not so good photo quality, it was taken first thing in the morning with a wriggling baby in my arms waving at his daddy!

Little Visitors

Today we had our first Greenwell Lambing Live visitors of 2012 - approx 15 children from Meavy pre-school! They had a lovely time cuddling the lambs (and our sheepdogs!) although I think the lambs were glad of a rest once they'd left!

Ladies in Waiting

The sheep maternity ward was set up last week just in time for the new arrivals. Mat and Gem spent the day putting together the lambing and nursing pens which will soon be full of new mums and their newborns.

A Swaledale ewe has early triplets

On Sunday this ewe had the first mule lambs, she was sick and weak by the time she had lambed which left her unstable on her legs and unfortunately she lay on one of her lambs. Both of these lambs have been feed by bottle until today, mum is feeling much better now and her milk has come through.