Full lambing pens and sheep supermums.

Full lambing pens

I went out to the lambing shed after tea to find that another Charollais cross gimmer was lambing. Now these animals can be a problem, they are inexperienced and flighty. But the two that lambed this evening had twins and plenty of milk so their hormones kicked in and transformed them into supermums.

It's a week since we started and two thirds of the flock have lambed, the pens are full and if there are more tonight we will need emergency accommodation in the feed passage or the byre especially as the weather forecast is dire.

Charollais cross supermum

Charollais are easy lambing, and fast growing but they are a bit thin skinned, not as hardy as the Cheviot cross lambs. They need at least a couple of days indoors before turnout to ensure that they are getting plenty of milk to enable them can survive the cold and wet. Hypothermia is probably the biggest killer of neonatal lambs.

A gimmer is two years old and usually lambing for the first time.