I’m a volunteer shepherd and livestock checker for Gwent Wildlife Trust (GWT), having joined in December 2010.  Prior to that, alongside a busy Registered Nurse career, for 11 years I volunteered on a local college’s large farm estate. I primarily worked with the sheep, but was also heavily involved in the general day to day care of all the livestock - a lot of sheep (!), the dairy herd, calves, a small beef suckler herd, and occasionally over the piggery. I loved every minute, but changes led me to join GWT which I’ve never regretted. 

It’s been fascinating to increase my knowledge from the experienced and supportive GWT staff, in learning the value of good conservation grazing management; not only to hopefully reduce climate change and benefit wildlife, but the huge benefits reaped by grazing livestock.  The diverse, natural, pastures promote much healthier and happier animals; greatly reducing need for chemical based medicinal treatments.

 Spring finally arrived; albeit reluctantly this year it seemed.  And with Spring comes lambing!  We’ve not lambed at Pentwyn Farm since 2019, so it was exciting to finally put the rams with the ewes (tupping) last year.  Not that there was any reluctance on their part, we had trouble keeping the devils out! '

The boss', Senior Conservation Grazing Officer Joe Ryder, selected the most appropriate ewes from the Hill Radnor and Hebridean flocks for tupping, making sure the rams weren’t the sires (dads) of the selected ewes. To avoid this with the younger Hebridean ewes, Joe arranged an exchange with a local farm and we borrowed their four-horned Hebridean ram; aptly nicknamed ‘Four-horn Phil’.  Phil was a fearsome looking chap, but actually quite docile to handle and sweet natured.  We weren’t sure if his offspring would have two or four horns, but only two horn buds are evident on the young male lambs thankfully.  Our Hebridean ewes are the two-horn variety.

Hebridean sheep can have two, four, or even more horns; though some ewes can occasionally be naturally ‘polled’ (without horns).  Hebridean horns are prized by walking stick and crook makers.  Two-horned Hebrideans are more commonly seen, presumably as they’re easier to handle with less horns to get in the way! 

After tupping, gestation is roughly 147 days (5 months); but despite a bit of careful planning on Joe’s part to time lambing for late Spring, we had an early arrival in January!  A tiny ram lamb, full of character, who has grown into a rambunctious teenager.  Makes me wonder if a shepherd devised that word. 

Fast forward to 19^th April, and four Hebridean ewes lambed on the same day.  Luckily Joe was on hand early morning as one ewe needed help to push her large, single, lamb out into the world.  All bar one of the Hebridean ewes were first time lambers, and although no longer yearlings, I wasn’t sure how they’d cope. 

Older ewes tend to be more settled and calmer than yearling ewes but these were still first timers.  However, they’ve proved themselves to be great mothers and only two needed assistance at lambing. 

The Hill Radnors were due a week later with lambs sired by our own Hill Radnor ram, Idris.  The Radnor ewes have also been devoted mothers, though not helped by the very cold and damp weather we were getting.  Early mornings were extremely chilly in the Easterly winds!  We had frost, rain, and thick fog, with only an occasionally warm and sunny spell.  Sheep cope well with cold, or wet weather; but cold AND wet is a bad combination.

Sheep tend to lamb either late evening around dusk, or at dawn.  Presumably it’s a long habituated trait written into their DNA, to choose a time on the cusp of activities between diurnal and nocturnal predators.  Not helpful for shepherds though!  But extra lambing checks were mostly shared between Joe, myself, and two of our volunteer shepherds who live very close by - Juliet and Paul Collins. 

Our daily livestock checking rota continued as normal, and these willing volunteers were able to supplement the lambing checks as part of their rounds.  Volunteers Mike Warmington and Liz Hopkins also added extra checks during their frequent bird box checking rounds as well as the livestock checks.  This all helped to free-up some of Joe’s valuable time, whilst still ensuring the sheep were happy and healthy.

Unfortunately the Radnors weren’t as hardy as expected, at lambing and rearing offspring solely outdoors; but the inclement weather may have been a big factor.  However, it’s been great for me as I’ve had opportunities for some hands-on involvement and ‘proper’ shepherding skills!  The Radnors have tended to produce twins, and some of the pairs have included a smaller twin which needed a helping hand to get going.  One Hill Radnor ewe produced a fine set of triplets!  But despite having moved them up to the orchard and safety of the haybarn, the smaller triplet disappeared overnight; presumably taken by a fox.  A couple of these small Radnor lambs required tube feeding with a warm mix of colostrum replacer soon after birth, to get them going. 

To tube feed a lamb, a short tube is passed orally directly into the stomach, and the warm fluid slowly given via a syringe attached to the tube, like a funnel.  It takes some training and practice to be sure you’ve not inserted the tube into the lamb’s lungs, which would be fatal if you then pour in fluid!  But it’s simple enough with care taken, and can mean the difference between life and death.  This can supplement or replace the vital first milk (colostrum) feed a lamb gets from the ewe, which is full of nutrients and antibodies; but as in any artificial replacer nothing is as good as the ewe’s own colostrum.  Lambs ideally need 200ml of colostrum within two hours of birth, and 200ml/kg of body weight within the first 24 hours of life to gain sufficient protection against possible infections.  So if the lamb is slow to get going and latch on to the mum’s teat strongly enough to draw milk, they just get weaker.  But the replacement colostrum did the trick and the lambs soon learnt to feed from mum. 

Sadly we’ve lost a few very small lambs to predators.  That is the way of things with outdoor lambing, nature takes care of itself.  But 24 lambs successfully survived their first few weeks and are growing like weeds, so they did well in the end!  It’s such a joy to see them running around in gangs and exploring their beautiful field, getting into mischief and annoying their mum’s, just like teenagers.  My work is done for the time being.