Wark Farm

Organic Farm and Butchery in Aberdeenshire

Phone Number: 01975 581149

April 2017 at Wark Farm

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  • Posted date:
  • 08-12-2017

Counting down to lift off Wark Farm, we are ten days away from the ‘official' start of lambing this year. It's been an easy run through winter and up to this point. We altered our grazing management last year to leaving grass ungrazed in the autumn for so that there is fresh grass for the ewes now, a plan which has certainly benefited from the lovely spring days we've had. All being well it should mean that we won't need to buy in any concentrate food for the sheep this year meaning that they will have been 100% grass fed for the whole year, both the ewes and the lambs. There is the 'all being well' caveat though! A late burst of winter could change things and upset the best laid plans, but in addition to changing the grazing management we did put the date of lambing back two weeks this year, as an aid to mitigating the weather risk as well as reducing the need for anything other than home grown feed. After a difficult lambing last year, if the weather will play ball, hopefully these changes and the easy winter will put us on track for a better one this year. No doubt there will be a few challenges along the way though, so the colostrum is in stock, there is glucose, energy shots, stomach tubes and a pile of old towels ready for the hyperthermic, the slow or the otherwise challenged. The dogs are fit and along with the underfloor heating and the range in the farmhouse kitchen we should be ready for whatever the season brings us, be that the joy of leaning on the gate watching the sheep just getting on with it or a succession of lambs in need of TLC and recuperation. An exciting time either way.