Wern Fawr Farm Diary
Wern Fawr Farm the Home of Glam Lamb - Diary
19th July 2010
Wonderful news, we are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a 2 Gold Star Award at the Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food.
Thursday 24th June
We are pleased to say we are getting in the harvest in this glorious weather.Long hot days on the tractors but all is going very well as I write this.The silage we are cutting and baling this week will provide us with the vital feed for the ewes through the harsh winter when they come back into the sheds for lambing again!!Farming really is one big circle even though we have just finished lambing and the new lambs are out in the fields we are already preparing for the next phase.
early summer days and evenings are most enjoyable even though the hours are long as the weather is being kind to us right now it is a very positive time.The silage is cut and then turned with the haybob to dry in the sun then rowed up and then baled into large round bales and the final stage is wrapping the bales.After all of this we then move the bales onto the yard for storage until we need them for feed in the winter.Quite a long process and hours of tractor driving but an absolute thrill when it all works.
Wednesday 14th April
We are very pleased to now have the grass seed planted.The glorious sunshine has been a great relief.
Lambing is in its last stages however the work load is increasing every day.Now the majority of ewes and lambs are out in the paddocks and fields it is necessary to sheperd them twice a day keeping a constant watch that each lamb is still with its correct mother and that the ewes are still milking.It is a very rewarding sight to see the lambs growing and having litlle races in the fields and then sleeping in the sunshine.
A priority this week is checking all the fences are secure and doing immediate maitainence if any have been damaged-if there is the slightest gap one sheep will find it and hundreds follow such is the life of a sheep no matter how lovely the grass is on their side of the fence they always have to find a gap!Fortunately now the daylight hours are longer we do seem to get everything done each day but the list for each day is endless.
As there are only a dozen or so ewes left to lamb we can get a little more sleeep than we were having a month ago.
Saturday 6th March
The thinking farmer doesn’t let the grass just grow he grows the grass he needs.
As it has been so cold we have decided to delay sowing the grass seed immediately to allow the soil to warm up.Now we watch the weather carefully with the tractors at the ready.
Wednesday 3rd March 2010
We now have a short break in our lambing which means we both get some sleep.However the days are busier than ever shepherding and preparing the fields for the next crop rotation.
Monday 22nd February 2010
This has been such a busy week we spent nearly all night last night in the lambing shed got to sleep 2.30 am and john was back on the yard at 5am hence why the news here is a day late! I do endevour to update this page on a sunday so you can click in on a regular basis-thats the idea.
Many of the first born lambs were turned out to the padocks this week and are now out overnight.this is always a worrying time as although we are confident they are strong and happy alongside their mothers there is always the threat from a fox.We shepherd each bunch of ewes and lambs at least twice a day to keep a close eye on them a time consuming job but one we find rewarding.There has been quite a bit of sunshine midmorning in the week and the lambs love to jump and race around there is never a dull moment.
Early in the week John was busy chopping and storing up logs for next year.we have a very long term procedure with our logs ensuring they are well seasoned and dry.our greatest luxury is the heat of log burners so when we get a chance to be in the farmhouse we enjoy the roar from the logs.it is also important for the management of the farm when trees have fallen from the bad weather.
We have had a considerable number of twins this week and also a couple of triplets .when we get triplets john very skillfully will twin one of the three onto a ewe who is giving birth to a single .this is done while she is lambing so the ewe is convinced she has had two and happily rears them.to ask any ewe to rear three is not possible.As our farming methods are so hands on these situations are all part of a days work at Wern Fawr.
14th February 2010
Valentines Day first lambs turned out to skip in one of the paddocks with their mothers a truly rewarding sight.several twins born during the week .spent each day moving ewes&lambs from individual pens into hardening off pens .our sheep dogs love this job and we are always amazed at how clever and yet gentle our precious dogs are.Beauty who is now two years old decided she was in charge and seemed to have absorbed all the training and hard work John has put into her very rewarding for man&dog.The other older dogs were delighted she had decided to pull her weight!
It has been a very frosty week with the threat of snow howerver today was bright and spinglike.a perfect opportunity to let the lamb out into the real world but come the close of day they have been shepherded back into their shed all three dogs rounded them up .
7th February 2010
Sunday morning another set of twins how wonderful! Two litle Glam Lambs! as each lamb is born we carefully move the mother and lamb into an individual pen ,apply iodine to the navel to stop infection -one the most important things to do- and then of paramount importance is to ensure the lamb gets its first suck from its mother in order to get the collostrum in the first milk which is rich in antibodies ,the lamb is able to absorb this in its first 12 hours of life giving it natural immunity.This is the time consuming procedures of lambing at wern fawr.Lambing is very much a hands on job our animal husbandry is of an excepionaly high standard something we pride ourselves on and dedicate ourselves to.
This week we have only a small number to lamb however as the weeks go by we will be lambing 20 or more each day so we do end up quite exhausted by May.
