This month we’ve been doing a lot of routine vaccinating and worming, made more difficult by the fact that lambing was spread out so much. Some of the drugs can’t be used on really young animals so we’ve had to split them up into batches based on age and do a batch every few weeks. As there are 3 batches, and each batch needs 2 or 3 treatments a couple of weeks apart, it feels like we’ve been doing something every single week.

The main event this month was getting our ewes clipped, or sheared. We had to wait for good weather as the fleeces have to be dry, and as we used a local contractor we had to wait for him to have an available slot. He was good though, and fast. We gathered all the sheep ready for when he turned up, and he was here for no more than 2 hours, which included getting all the equipment set up and put away after. The sheep looked quite relieved about having lost their wool, as some of the fleeces were very thick and heavy. We rolled and packed the fleeces into big sacks, and took it off to the wool depot the next day, where it will be sold on our behalf.

The next jobs on the list are to find some new tups and get them settled ready for tupping in November, and weaning the lambs, which we plan to do at the beginning of August. This gives the ewes a chance to rest and get ready for next season. There’s always something to do around here!