Breakfast

We've been really busy again but there's only a handful of ewes left to lamb.

We finished the scanning yesterday and we've got a good amount of lambs coming later in the year.

These ewes are ones which were barren the first time around and we put them all to the Tup again - we go for natural breeding rather than artificial insemination which some specialist breeders use.

Whilst Jon and myself were helping with the scanning, my wife Julia had to cope with a ewe having triplets.

The problem was they were breached (coming the wrong way around) so Julia had to use her hands to help pull the lambs out.

She did well and they're all doing fine. I wouldn't expect anything else from her though as she's a farmer's daughter herself and she's also raised our three children. They were far more problematic than any of the lambs though!

We also spent yesterday putting out extra feed for the sheep in the fields. The lambs that are out with their mums are fine in the snow, we just keep checking to make sure they're all getting enough milk.

We used the quad bike to check the fields and because there was extra food out, the ewes could produce more milk to feed the lambs.

Sometimes people call us worried about the lambs being out in the snow but they're fine.

Nature is wonderful and they're designed to cope with cold weather. After all, they do all have natural woolly jumpers!

Day 15

It's started to get busy again, just like we thought it would.  We had three more single lambs born last night and just as I was swapping over with my son Jon this morning one ewe had twins. 

Sheep and Lambs in the snow

We've got a couple of big days coming up on the farm as we're scanning the ewes.  This is just like a human pregnancy scan although it's difficult to get the sheep to lie still on a table! 

Seriously though, we use a hand-held device which can see into the womb.  You can then see if there's one, two or three lambs there and also use the figures to plan lambing and predict the amount of lambs that will be born. 

In the past I'm sure the farmers and shepherds had some other methods of finding out but we're lucky that we've got technology now!

DAY THIRTEEN AND FOURTEEN

Sandy has now returned back to Scotland so he's handed his blog over to me - Tracey the farmer.

It was a quiet weekend but we've now reached the second stage of lambing.

Last night we had 1 single, 2 sets of twins and a set of triplets.

Sandy and Lorraine have now finished their stints on the farm for this year; hopefully we'll see them again next January.

A lamb poses for a photo

It means it's just myself, my wife Julia and my son Jon who are sharing out the lambing duties now.

Julia keeps an eye on the sheds in the day and cleans out the pens and Jon and I share the night shifts.

Home life more or less stops during lambing time, as one of us goes to bed the other is getting up to go out!

We have help from my mum and our two daughters who cook meals for us and leave puddings at the farm, but we all lose lots of weight during lambing as we're constantly on the go.

We've got about 45 sheep left to lamb and we're also looking after a few tiddler lambs (ones which have been rejected by their mothers) who we're feeding with a shepherdess - this is a machine which feeds milk to the tiddlers - like a giant mother with multiple teats.

It means we can guarantee that they're getting enough milk in their first few weeks.

If they don't they become weak and are more likely to catch infection

DAY TWELVE

We've reached the end of the first cycle of lambing so things were a bit slow last night; We only had two ewes going into labour, one had a single and one had twins.

We'll have a real gap in the amount of lambs coming now.

The ones still to birth probably won't start until the next cycle in a couple of weeks time.

We've got exactly 50 left to go but they'll all be helped along by Tracey, Lorraine and Jonathan as I'm back off to Scotland in a few days time.

I'm also applying for some shepherding jobs later in the year.

I'd like to get a few weeks on a farm in Wales because I've never worked there, but it'll just depend what comes up.

It's getting more and more difficult to get jobs and I have to travel further afield to get work.

When I started there were sheep farms across Scotland and the rest of Britain, but now more and more people are cutting back on staff or getting out of farming altogether.

It's been good fun on Watery Lane Farm; we've had a good success rate with the sheep and it's certainly been interesting being on the radio and on television.

I'm now preparing to have the mick taken out of me when I return home though - my friends will think I've become some sort of film star!

DAY ELEVEN

I am embarrassed, shocked and humiliated - I came last in the darts match last night!

I'm convinced it's because Herefordshire darts are weighted differently to Scottish ones; Either that or the match was rigged.

Tracey (the farmer), Jonathan (his son), Lorraine and myself played each other in a round robin format to start with; Lorraine beat Jonathan, Jonathan then beat me and Tracey beat Lorraine so Tracey was the winner.

A group of sheep and lambs together

He was overjoyed but I'm convinced that foul play was at work.

Next year I'm bringing my own darts and dart board down from Scotland to make sure there's no fixing of results.

Whilst we were out having fun, Tracey's daughter and her boyfriend had to man the lambing sheds.

There wasn't too much for them to do though; just two sheep gave birth last night; both having twins.

The problem now is the last 40 sheep or so will probably take quite a while to have their lambs - they do tend to drag it out a bit at the end!

DAY TEN

Things have got much quieter in the lambing sheds, last night only one ewe went into labour!

Instead of having somebody in the sheds 24 hours a day we're now moving around the farm doing other jobs and checking the sheds every 30 minutes or so.

We've got 45 ewes left to have their lambs and, sod's law, they'll probably take ages to give birth.

Most of the lambs have now been moved out into the hardening-off pens with their mums or out into the fields.

The hardening-off pens are big areas of the indoor sheds covered in straw where ewes and lambs stay together.

This gets them used to being part of a flock and also gets them used to listening out for their mum's call.

It's great to see the young lambs playing with each other, they love running up and down and jumping on to the bales of straw.

We'll also be playing tomorrow night as we're going out to the pub where Lorraine works to play darts.

We haven't had much time to practice but she reckons she'll beat me, I reckon she won't stand a chance!

DAY NINE

Another steady night with ten ewes giving birth.

We've now only got sixty sheep left to go into labour so we should be finished by the end of this week.

There'll still be work to do though, making sure that the smaller lambs are sucking OK and getting enough food off their mums.

Sandy Guild, author of this Shepherd's blog

We have three tiddlers, little lambs that we also feed by bottle, and they'll be kept in until they get bigger and stronger.

Two young lads that live next door to the farm keep sticking their heads over the wall and watching all of the action.

They love seeing the lambs being born and it's great to see children taking an interest in farming.

There was a bit of hassle just as I was starting my shift at six o'clock.

We had to call the fire brigade as somebody had set fire to the muck heap where we put the old straw and muck from the lamb pens.

It's in a field near the farm and one of the neighbours spotted the smoke just as it got started.

The fire engine came out and covered it with water so hopefully it won't spread.

This is the third fire that there's been on the farm, the muck heap was set alight last Summer and just after Christmas somebody set fire to some barns near the house.

Luckily no people or animals have been hurt so far, but it makes everybody really angry.

DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT

It was a steady weekend in the sheds, we're averaging about ten ewes per night now.

On Saturday night one sheep had the most enormous twin lambs, they must have hurt a bit coming out!

We also had another set of triplets and at the moment they're all doing well.

Lamb laying on hay

Lorraine had the day off on Sunday so once again, the whole family mucked in and mucked out.

They tidied up the sheds, changed all of the straw in the pens and made sure all of the areas were safe.

Lambs are very nosey and love to explore so you have to make sure they can't get out of the pens or into places where they shouldn't be.

There are water troughs in the corner of the sheds and we carried huge breeze blocks down and put them into the water so the lambs will be able to climb out if they get stuck.

Now that the workload has gone down a bit we're planning a night out on Tuesday.

We're going to the pub in the Golden Valley where Lorraine works and she's already challenged me at darts - I just wish I had time to get some practice in between now and then.

It was time to take the mick out of Jonathan, the farmer's son, this weekend though as he appeared in the Western Daily Press.

They did a piece on the farm and Lamb Cam and took a photo of Jonathan - he was even on page three!

DAY SIX

Last night was Burns Night and being Scottish I obviously celebrated even though I was on duty in the sheds.

New born lamb with its mum

Tracey and Julia, the farmers, brought me some Scottish whisky and some shortbread down as a surprise, so I had a few wee drams through the night!

It was quite busy; we had 30 ewes lambing with two sets of triplets.

We've also had a wee lamb born who's black and white - his markings are a chequered pattern, a bit like a Battenburg cake!

I've never seen anything like it before, the markings look as though they've been drawn with a ruler.

Lots of lambs have some odd markings and spots and freckles, but this looks like a chess board.

He'll certainly be an easy lamb to spot in the fields.

DAY FIVE

Things are still a bit hectic - last night we had 36 ewes lambing, with three sets of triplets being born.  Now that the weather is a bit better we've started putting some of the older lambs out in the fields with their mums.

Sheep are fine outside even if it's really cold, they're designed to live in cold weather and their fleeces keep them nice and warm. It's wonderful to see them jumping around in the winter sun. 

The worst weather for sheep is rain, if the ground is really wet it gets all boggy and it's not good for them to be grazing or lying on.

When it's wet the grass doesn't grow as well, so there's less for the sheep to eat and there's also a danger that the sheep can get foot rot. 

This weather is ideal, nice bright winter days.

DAY FOUR

Last night was really busy again - we had 28 ewes go into labour but there were only two sets of triplets this time.

Lorraine is doing the day shift and she hasn't had as many ewes giving birth but she's mucking out all of the pens and cleaning up so everything is ready for when it's needed.

New born lamb learning to stand up

The lambs and their mums only spend a night or two with me in the big sheds before we move them up to holding areas elsewhere on the farm.

If the lambs are premature or we need to keep an eye on them then we'll keep them down here for a bit longer.

There's at least one person on duty 24 hours per day so there's somebody around if one of the sheep or lambs gets into trouble.

Tracey the farmer has been in demand since David from Midlands Today and Nicola from BBC Hereford and Worcester came down here.

He's been contacted by BBC Breakfast News and also GMTV - we don't know if they'll make it down here but everybody is having fun by ribbing each other about being on TV.

If this goes on, we may all have to get some new fashionable boiler suits, coats and woolly hats for our TV appearances!

DAY THREE

Well, did you see me on TV?  The Midlands Today cameras came out to the sheds last night and their reporter David Gregory did some live reports on the lunchtime and teatime news.

Chequered coloured lamb

Tracey, the farmer, spoke live and David also interviewed Lorraine who helps out with the lambs during the day.  We've been ribbing Lorraine that she won't turn up to work tomorrow because she'll have loads of people stopping her and asking for her autograph! 

I couldn't believe how many people they need to do live television - there were cameras and lights everywhere.  David was holding a lamb for some of the live bits, but he had problems holding on to her as she was wriggling all over the place.

I think he'll need to wash his suit today as well because sheep too have a distinct smell which his friends at Midlands Today may not appreciate! 

My wife and friends back in Scotland will think it's really funny that I've been on TV, it's a far cry from 'Take the High Road'! 

It was another busy night with 38 ewes lambing, it will be like this for a week or so now. 

I only had to cope with two sets of triplets though, which was lucky as we were a bit rushed after all of the filming.

DAY TWO

The busy time has certainly started in the lambing sheds.  Yesterday all of the family had to muck in and muck out. 

The farmer I'm working for and his wife called their children and their partners in and the day was spent mucking out pens and moving the ewes and their lambs up who were ready up to bigger sheds. 

I missed most of this as I was asleep but when the others disappeared off for their Sunday dinner of roast lamb (no, I'm not joking!) at six o'clock I took over.  

I had one of the busiest nights I can remember - 33 ewes lambed and nine of those had triplets so I had to adopt five lambs on to other ewes. 

Lambs with their mum

It's something that's been done for centuries - if a ewe has triplets and another has a single lamb or loses her lambs then you'll try and get one of the triplets adopted. 

If it's done within hours of birth the 'foster' ewes will normally take to the lambs early on and feed and rear them without a problem. 

The adopted lambs need to smell like their mum or brothers and sisters so we'll skin the dead lamb and tie its skin on to the adopted lamb so that the ewe thinks it's her ow

Last night we lost one ewe and her triplets, she had pneumonia and we tried to save the lambs after she'd died but we couldn't.  It's really hard when that happens but nature is nature and unfortunately sometimes there's nothing you can do to save the animals. 

I love lambing time although it's hard work - it's wonderful seeing nature taking its course and the lambs coming into the world.  When you see them out in the field skipping and jumping that's when you think it's all worthwhile.

Tomorrow night will be a bit different as we've got Midlands Today coming down to film the lambing and set up a 'lamb-cam' in the sheds. I haven't been on TV before myself but my sheepdogs used to appear regularly on the Scottish programme 'Take the High Road' which was filmed near my home.

I'll have to think back and get some tips from the dogs on how to look good on screen!

DAY ONE

Things are getting busy on the farm. Last night my shift started quietly but between 5am and 8am lots of ewes went into labour so I was rushing from pen to pen making sure all of the lambs and mothers were OK. 

I take over at 6pm from the farmer and his family who look after the sheds and pens during the day and work through until eight in the morning. 

I don't tend to eat too much during the night, I just drink lots of coffee and smoke cigarettes.  I did give up smoking last year but it didn't last long!  21 ewes had lambs last night, so there was almost 40 lambs to look after.

Newly born lamb

We're having a sort of competition at the moment on who has the most work to do - those who're working in the day or me when I'm on nights.  At the moment it's obvious that I'm doing the most work by miles. 

I'm here for three weeks then I'll go home for a bit, I've got to play in a big darts match for my local team, and then I'm hoping to get some more work in March; maybe in Wales.

This farm are lambing 780 ewes this year, less than they did last year but still a large amount.

One lamb got stuck on its way out this morning and its head was still in the birthing sack so I had to swing it to get the circulation going and rub its chest to get it breathing, it happens sometimes and if there isn't anybody there to help then the lambs will probably die.

One ewe also went into labour without showing any signs, the first thing I knew was when I saw the lambs near the feeding pen!