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It's time to pop open the bubbly, because it's congratulations to Monty, Edgar and my 3 new ram lambs. At 7am this morning, as the temperature read minus 7, my ewes were being scanned. After weeks of worry I was relieved to find that out of my 162 ewes only 2 were empty of lambs! 100 were scanned with twins, 25 triplets and 35 singles, which is a possible 310 lambs due in April. Now I need to feed the triplet bearers more than the twins, and the twins more than the singles to encourage equal size healthy lambs.

Finally we've planted and guarded the last of the 1200 hedgerow plants that will fill in any gaps and re-establish any lost hedges. The plants are a mixture of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, and Hazel and will make an ideal habitat for nesting and feeding wild birds such as finches, tits, linnets, and hedge sparrows.

Around this time of year I tag the ears of my lambs. Although this is law, it's also helpful because it allows me to separate my males and females. The gimmers (female lambs) are kept away from the wethers (male lambs) and are now running on pasture alone to prepare them for breeding and to ensure their fleeces are in perfect condition. The wethers are given plenty of pellets before they have to go to the sheep farm in the sky. It's very sad to see them go but most farmers send their stock at three or four months old, whereas mine are already ten or eleven months old, they've been treated with lots of love and care. Awww!

The foundations of the new hemp storage barn have at last started. The barn measures 32m wide by 32m long, or 120 foot by 120 foot if you're as ancient as me.  The space will allow me to house all the hemp bales I provide, plus all the bales other farmers grow for us. The concrete strips around the barn will make an ideal area to administer any medication, worm, shear, scan etc. to my sheep. I will update a photograph on the completion of the barn.