We have finished lambing our early ewes, which amounted to about 2,000. The weather and grass growth has been excellent, as has the scanning. With nearly 300 hesston bales out for shelter, the second batch is just starting, and with rain and snow coming sideways, no amount of bales will suffice.
All hands are on deck leading every ewe and lambs inside that is born. We will keep this up for another 24 hours and if the weather hasn't changed, all the twin-bearing ewes will come inside. We have done this before and it just seems to cause more problems such as twin lamb disease, staggers, watery mouth etc.
On the plus side, we have a tremendous collection of waterproof trousers and jackets; these, combined with good food, seem to be keeping our 10 lambing staff happy.
And just to make life a little harder, we have nearly 30km of temporary fencing to construct. This has been put up by ourselves in the last 10 days all over the farm, and now 80% of our fields have suddenly become two fields, complete with extra water troughs and extra creep feeders.
This has all been done in the name of Middlemoor wind farm, which has been in the planning system for the last 10 years. It couldn't really have started at a worse time of the year as farming goes. But it coincides with the Easter holidays which is great for children - they love big diggers.
Source Citation
"Livestock." Farmers Weekly 20 Apr. 2012. Environmental Studies and Policy. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA287044854&v=2.1&u=22054_acld&it=r&p=PPES&sw=w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A287044854
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