Winter scene in the middle of July – hay rack, troughs and no grass With the shearing all completed last month, the next main sheep task was to give the dear ewes a complete break from their ever demanding lambs. The lambs have been on their mums for at least 4 months and with some of the lambs growing to be really large, it was time to wean them. We always try to wean them at a time when we can put the ewes onto a field where we have cut hay, or where the grass is not in abundance – this is so the ewes milk dries up as quickly as possible. Secondly we always try to select a date when we are not full up with B & B guests – the noise for the first 24 hours is quite deafening. My neighbours are quite used to this annual event and I hope that their sleep is not too disturbed. The ewes get put in a field as far away from the lambs as possible and at the same time we split the ram lambs from the ewe lambs. The rams soon get the hang of their role in life and we don’t want any ewe lambs being tupped at all.
Finding a field with sparse grass for the ewes has not been difficult at all this year – as I write the whole farm has very limited grass anywhere. In fact, this week we started to feed hay to both our cattle and sheep and also the ram lambs have been put back on to creep feed as they are not growing at their normal rate. Goodness knows how this will affect both the price of winter fodder or indeed the price of lamb and beef – no doubt it will all soon become apparent ……… and it won’t be going down, that’s for sure.
This beautiful weather does have a positive affect on our B & B business and we are welcoming so many guests to the countryside and hopefully they are contributing to our local community by using the shop and our pub. Long may that continue.
Janet East
Yellingham Farm
