Preparing the ewes for tupping

Although most people might not be thinking about the spring Lambing Weekends just yet, we are already getting prepared. For there to be any lambs at all, the ewes have to spend a month with Billy No Mates the ram.

Our students from Langtree School have been helping Emma the shepherd get the ewes ready!

First we had to gently encourage the ewes into a long pen, so that they could all be treated.

We then wormed them all, gave each ewe a multivitamin, dagged them (removed dirty wool from around their bottoms to prevent flystrike), took down the numbers from their ear tags, and drew on them with a huge crayon so that we knew if we’d missed one!

Last but not least, it was Billy No Mates’ turn. Emma showed us how to trim his feet so that he can run about and do his job properly.

Then it was Oscar’s turn to rub some bright orange paint onto Billy’s chest. This is called a ‘raddle’ and rubs off onto the ewe’s backs when they are ‘tupped’ (mated with). It shows Emma which ewes are likely to be pregnant, and which ewes need to stay with the ram for another cycle.

We all learnt a lot and had a very memorable afternoon! Now we are looking forward to spring and helping Emma with those lambs...

Thank you Emma for letting us come and help you!

Lambing has begun!

The lambing season is upon us, and the lambs are arriving thick and fast ahead of our Lambing Weekends coming up in a couple of weeks (12th-13th and 19th-20th March).

The ewes and their lambs needed moving from one lambing shed into another this afternoon, so our students from Wallingford School very kindly lent a hand.

We carefully carried the lambs over to a new pen, then lined up to create a barrier while Emma the shepherd led the ewes over to their lambs with a feed bucket.

We loved holding the lambs and can’t wait for you all to see them at the lambing festival!

Cooper's Oxford Pork

At the Earth Trust, we run a programme called Farm Step which offers land and farm buildings to aspiring farmers who have previously been locked out of the industry by high land prices or lack of skills. We support green businesses who will work together for sustainable land management.

One of our Farm Step tenants is Mark Cooper. Mark keeps his Oxford Sandy and Black pigs in the woods around the North Farm part of the Earth Trust site, where they forage in the undergrowth and encourage rare woodland plants to thrive in the disturbed soil.

Every spring, the Countryside Skills students pay Mark a visit to learn more about the pigs and how Mark and his family look after them. Today, it was the turn of our students from Wallingford School.

You can buy Cooper’s Oxford Pork sausages online or from local farmers markets. We can highly recommend them!