More reminders of days gone by.

It will be nearly 15 years since I spent any time with lambing sheep! However today the local agricultural college, a place I knew well once was having a lambing day. CC had spotted the signs as she passed yesterday so we decided to go. I know some of you are thinking "what's a lambing day?" Well its a bit of PR for the college really. They allow the public access to the lambing sheds hopefully to see lambs being born, have a stroke at the new borns and of course chat to the students and lecturers.

The opportunities for for blipping were legion, but I settled for this shot of a "greyface" Ewe because I particularly liked the way her face was lit. A quick lesson on stratification in sheep breeding! Mountain sheep (in this case Swaledale) are hardy and thrifty but only have a single lamb. Upland sheep (in this case Hexham Blue Faced Leicester) have high milkability and are prolific. Cross the two breeds and you (hopefully) get a reasonably prolific, high milkability, hardy thrifty ewe. Going by the number of triplets they are as reliable as they were when I last had anything to do with them. The "Greyfaces" are then crossed to a large heavy lowland breed such as a Suffolk or Texel to produce good numbers of lambs which will grow quickly,mature soon and achieve good slaughter weights.

We spent most of our time in the shed with the expectant ewes. I picked out the one which looked nearest lambing we chose a suitable viewpoint and waited. And waited and waited. Sadly my leg was tired and the open afternoon was coming to an end and nothing happened. Probably a few minutes after they closed there would be lots being born!