Reflections after a week of lambing chaos

“You’re trudging,” she said, as I made my way towards the lambing shed. “Nonsense,” says I, “it’s the steel-toe-capped boots; they’re a serious weight on the ends of my legs.”

This brief scrutiny from my wife runs a bit deeper than a mere observation — it is probably indicative of an ageing shepherd who is gradually becoming more and more aware of steadily diminishing energy levels. I hear it’s commonly known as ‘getting old’.

Every year, the lambing season throws up a variety of points that are well worthy of further discussion. And it doesn’t matter how many seasons are under your belt, there will still be a few occurrences that will leave you bemused and confused because you thought you’d seen it all.

If I were to make bullet points of mentionable incidences or worthy queries from this year, they could be summarised as follows:

Last year’s lambing was too spread out and prolonged, and perhaps I overreacted slightly this year by introducing the rams to the entire main flock all at once. If we hadn’t had near-perfect weather conditions in early March, it could have been disastrous.

As things turned out, we were able to maintain a steady flow through the lambing pens and turned out a pile of doubles at little more than 24 hours old. Nevertheless, that peak lambing period seemed to be harder work than ever before, and I am convinced a disproportionate number lambed during the night.

This is despite having a recently retired wife on call at (almost) any time of the day or night, as well as our daughter’s partner who was largely available for general slavish duties (cleaning out pens).

Temper

I tend to check the cameras every couple of hours, and for a man who likes and needs his quota of sleep, getting up twice or three times on consecutive nights is a grand recipe for triggering a short temper.

I have never experienced as low levels in a lambing shed before, and there are only two things that were done any differently this year

On top of that, not all of them were a simple matter of spraying navels, checking milk supply, penning, then skipping off to bed again. No, too many seemed to be multiple births or damaged udders, resulting in the need for colostrum tubing and use of the heat lamps.

However, the really notable query from the 2025 lambing season centres around E coli (watery mouth), or rather the lack of it.

For as long as I can remember, E coli levels start off at zero, quickly rise so that each lamb receives antibiotic soon after birth, then tails off again as lambing pressure decreases due to fewer births on the straw bedding. I have never experienced as low levels in a lambing shed before, and there are only two things that were done any differently this year.

I know it’s a long shot, but is it feasible to suggest that removal of the accompanying stomach parasites somehow resulted in sheep with stronger immunity levels?

Firstly, we moved from liquid disinfectants (after each individual lambing pen was cleared) to hydrated lime. Could this have a bearing on E coli levels?

Secondly, all ewes were injected with Cydectin at point of lambing due to a potential risk from sheep scab. I know it’s a long shot, but is it feasible to suggest that removal of the accompanying stomach parasites somehow resulted in sheep with stronger immunity levels? I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that something occurred to drastically reduce E coli infection for the first time in decades. I’d be interested to hear other shepherd’s thoughts on that matter.

Period of calm

We are currently well through the main flock and things are quiet until the ewe lambs decide to start. This little calm period has given us time to gather our thoughts and reflect on those cast-iron decisions that were made in the heat of battle two weeks ago.

Strangely enough, it all doesn’t seem so bad now. Perhaps, despite my promises at the time, I’ll not get rid of the sheep and never have another one about the place ever again.

As a matter of fact, I’ve changed my mind and currently think they’re splendid little creatures. Maybe I’ll buy some more next year. Me, getting old? Not yet.