Lambing

Full marks to vet Stephen Powles for his lambing course! He covered all aspects of the course description from feeding the pregnant ewes right through to stomach tubing and ringing the new born lamb.

We knew we were off to a good start when Alison provided us with coffee and biscuits which were very welcome on this cold frosty morning. Stephen began the half day course with an excellent PowerPoint presentation, answering any queries from the group as he went along. This was accompanied with comprehensive notes for each student to take away.

Then it was off to the practical! It was hands on live ewes for 'condition scoring' which proved very interesting. For two almost identical looking ewes, one scored 2 and the other scored 4.5, which just goes to show how important it was to feel under all that wool!

Plastic sheep - ok buckets with holes in and plastic bagging! - gave us all an opportunity to perform an 'assisted' lambing. We not only had to remember everything we had learnt in the earlier theory session - but we had to perform all this by touch and feel - just as one has to for real!

This was an excellent course and I would thoroughly recommend it to any small holder with sheep or those thinking of getting some sheep. Many thanks to Stephen for his time and expertise and to Alison for her kind hospitality.