Sheep are all individuals…
During a recent chat with Fred he asked if I could write him something for the newsletter…well, what could I write? He said something about food or farming. I’ve been out of the food game for a while and we try not to farm too much these days. So what could I write about? Lambing? The thing I think more than anything defines a livestock farmer. If you have sheep you need lambs to sell. I do miss that, the challenge, the buzz, the constant work. We only had 180 at most, not big in this day and age. These days you need 1 or 2 or 3 thousand. But I seriously do miss the lambing time.
I made a pledge to all our ewes (adult females) that we would leave none of them behind, no matter what the time or situation. I was going to be there and I would do my best no matter what. Long days, early mornings and the final check up at last light drained the energy reserves, but the fields of happy lambs did seem to make it worthwhile. The sheep were all individuals not just white woolly things, you could get to know each one and usually they had names.
There were some great characters within the flock. Holly, born on Christmas eve 2006 whilst I was at a farmers’ market. She was early and very tiny, no way could she survive such a bitterly cold time of year, but she did. She was part of an experimental early lambing Suffolk flock I messed around with. But she was dependable and friendly, you could call her in and she would bring the rest with her.
Suffolk sheep have great big black faces and long floppy ears, huge sheep with course grey wool. She lived for many years and her final lambing she delivered a lamb with 6 legs. I couldn’t decide what to do with it but the lamb and Holly deserved for me to try, so a vet visited to see what we could do. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a good pair amongst the legs so putting to sleep was the only option. Holly retired and lived out her life here.
Two other characters that still raise a smile when I think about them were Chip and Dale. I know the names could have been better but these 2 Shetland rams were born on our first lambing in 2005. They needed bottle feeding and they became part of the family. Chip in particular would come for walks with the dogs and run along with them. Many a time people must have stopped and looked. Nothing to see here, just family walking their Shetland tups.
Poor Dale came down with a brain infection and spent a week in a coma-like state. After a week of constant nursing I decided it was time to give up and the vet would be called the next day to end his short life. Next morning Dale was walking round the yard, it has to be said in tight circles and clearly now not the full shilling. But he was a true character, he only walked forward, going backwards was out of the question. If he misjudged things and ended up in a dead end he was there until you arrived to turn him round. But we all loved seeing him recover and he was free with Chip to roam around the yard and do as they pleased. I remember one the day the postman knocking at the door and excitedly telling me that there was a dead sheep in the yard and he couldn’t get past it. I looked out and I said “that’s Dale, he’s just asleep, just drive round him he won’t wake up”.
If you bent over anywhere in eyesight of them it was immediately taken as a challenge and they would prepare to fight with you. This led to many an amusing moment, particularly for my father who likes to mess with cars and often came face to face with a fully horned ram whilst working under a car.
They both lived for many years, still came for walks occasionally. Chip died of old age and Dale had to be put to sleep after an illness.
Just a couple of the characters, and trust me the cows and pigs were even bigger characters, that lived and occupied Sunnyside Farm. A small family farm run as sustainably and ethically as we could.
There are hundreds of farms like us across Scotland all attached to the land and livestock that makes them. I suppose the message I wanted to give with this piece is that there are producers out there who care and we need people like Fred and his team to find us and keep us going because the alternative isn’t quite so charming.
Carry on Farming!
Retired from farming, Dominic Smith now runs Sunnyside Lodges, three luxury lodges, all with relaxing hot tubs, in the picturesque Nith Valley close to the border of Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire in south west Scotland.