Rain and Sheep

Finally, just as the lack of rain this year has been officially recognised, it is raining. Starting about midnight on the 11th it is still raining now- 5pm the 12th June. Very much appreciated it is too, the accompanying cold and wind not so.

The pond and water butts are full and everywhere is looking so much fresher. However I feel we will need more rain and warmer temperatures in the days to come to ease the terrifying lack of grazing we are facing at present.

We knew we would be tight on grazing this year due to last year's challenging weather conditions, to the point we had considered not putting the ewes to the ram. Yet we did and instead of each ewe having a single lamb we wished for, fate presented us with a pair of twins and a set of triplets.

The lambs are thriving and with extra hard feed are growing at an alarming rate. We can't however continue to supplement the lack of grazing and must consider selling at least three of the lambs.

Once I have re checked the regulations on ear tagging and decide on a fair price both for myself and the buyer they will be advertised for sale and maybe next year we will give lambing a miss, giving the land and ourselves time to recover.