The SF caught up with Shepherds all about their lambing

Flood alerts have been issued for much of Scotland in the past couple of weeks and April’s wet weather was expected to continue with ‘very heavy and persistent’ rainfall across the country throughout this week, the Met Office said.

With much of the country in the throws of lambing, The Scottish Farmer caught up with shepherds to find out how they are coping with lambing in the cold and wet weather.

Compostable lamb jackets help keep the newer lambs dry in the wet weather

Gert Van Dyke is the farm manager at Edderton Farm in Tain up in the Highlands where he has just under 550 Cheviot ewes lambing.

He explained: “Lambing is going alright but we were supposed to start on March 31 but the lambs came pretty slow. It worked out well though because of the bad weather. The stronger twins and singles were out at the very start but I ended up losing a few, I kept the rest inside.

“Now half the shed is lambing and the other half is storing sheep that aren’t ready to go out. It isn’t ideal to choose between losing a few and keeping them inside for longer. I started using the compostable lamb jackets, I’m not too sure if it makes a big difference but I caught some of the lambs after they had them on and they were a lot drier.”

Putting the ewes and lambs outside frees up shed space but proves risky during the current rainy weather

He continued: It doesn’t cost much and you can put them on when they are still in the pen which is easier but putting them on in the field can confuse the ewes. If it saves one or two lambs then it is worth it.”

Viki Johnston works at Mill of Inverarity farm just outside Forfar where she currently has 1000 mules and Texel crosses lambing.

She described this lambing as 'a memorable one this year!'

She said: “The weather hasn’t been the kindest since October really. The sheep came into the shed from gutters and have gone back out into gutters, even in the dry fields. I say gone back out, we’ve had to ferry ewes and lambs from our lambing shed to other sheds at other steadings, because the weather has been so nasty we don’t dare put lambs out in it if we can avoid it.

Gert Van Dyke manages Cheviots in Tain

“Even older, stronger lambs are succumbing to the weather. There’s been mornings where we’ve dreaded to go out and check the fields. We’ve been using lamb jackets as well which I’ve only seen used on the most delicate lambs in years gone past. There’s been days where every lamb leaving the shed has had a jacket on.

“Not only does this weather cause financial damage through losses, it causes emotional stress and creates lots more work at an already very busy time where labour can be spread thin at times anyway.”

Further south, Nicholas Thomson is lambing 350 Easycares at Summerhill Farm, near Castle Douglas. “I chose Easycares specifically so that I didn’t have an intense indoor lambing but I’ve currently got 30 sheep inside with lambs because they literally can’t survive outside”, he told the SF.

“Yesterday had four or five fatalities from the wet weather and this morning I picked up seven lambs to take to the hotbox. We have two old barns that we have just had to turn into lambing sheds and have had to craft makeshift pens out of old pallets and bed down areas usually reserved for cattle. “Once the lambs come out of the hotbox they are ready to go out but they will not survive in this weather. The last two days of rain have been the hardest lambing of my life and yesterday morning I almost broke down and gave up.

“I’ve thought about using jackets but I have so many sheep that it’s a lot of work for something that might not help.”