Marchweeke Farm,

Each month we provide an update on the activities and events that have taken place at Marchweeke Farm as we develop our own beef, lamb, pork and poultry enterprises.

With the warm weather cattle turnout was a week earlier than usual and coincided with the appearance of the first swallow on April 10th. Turnout is always a pivotal date in the farming calendar; the winter feeding and bedding routines are abandoned and the longer evenings allow us to crack on with the summer tasks.

The Large Black sows are now back out in the field after leaving their winter quarters. The daily routine is pretty consistent for the ladies, wake up, feed, have a chat and sunbathe, wallow in the mud, then freshen up for supper and back to sleep. Once again a farrowing date was overlooked and one sow was found to be missing at breakfast time. She was pre-occupied with her litter of nine. We usually bring the sow and piglets into the farrowing pens in the piggery so that we can keep an eye on them and provide a heat lamp. As the farrowing pens are full and the weather is so warm we decided to let the sow stay outside in an arc with her piglets. Now that the piglets are two weeks old they emerge into the sunshine to explore the big world outside. The contentment of the sow and her family has led us to consider purchasing some additional small arcs to enable all the sows to farrow outside during the summer months.

Lambing is now nearing completion with just seven ewes remaining. The last group comprise of inexperienced hoggetts (one year old ewes that are lambing for the first time). These tend to fall into two extremes; the majority are avid mothers who are transformed from being idle cud-chewers into attentive mothers. They protectively stamp their front feet, instinctively lick away the membranes and scrape at the lamb encouraging it to rise to its wobbly feet. Conversely there are other hoggetts that expel their lamb, rise to their feet and walk briskly away without a backward glance. In these instances we are forced to attend to the maternal duties; briskly rubbing the lamb dry with a wisp of hay and then attempting to wedge the hoggett into a corner of a pen with a shoulder while simultaneously endeavouring to clamp the lambs mouth on to a small teat while the hogget dances the tango!

Like every lambing season there have been the ups and downs. Lamb 37 was a point in case; she started life as one of a triple; she was fostered on to a ewe to make a double but was subsequently rejected; she was returned to the orphan pen but shortly afterwards was fostered on to a ewe who had lost her only lamb. Despite the trauma of her formative days Lamb 37 is now thriving and showing no signs of post traumatic fostering disorder!

A particularly overweight Poll Dorset ewe had given us the impression that she was imminent but day by day her belly swelled until we were convinced she was carrying quads. When she did finally lamb, late one evening, she produced one weedy specimen. We made sure the lamb was dry and suckling and retired to bed; the following morning the lamb was nowhere to be seen until the fat ewe rose to her feet to reveal a very flat lamb. A notch out of her right ear will remind us that the fat ewe is not “fit for purpose” and will be culled.

We are delighted that two pairs of swallows have returned to the farm. One pair is nesting in the garage while a second pair is using the old nissan hut in the back orchard. With no recent rain the yard and fields are dusty and baked hard so each day we have been hosing water into a gateway to create some puddles; the swallows soon fluttered down to collect the mud to construct their nests. It is the least we can do to assist these courageous little birds after their epic three thousand mile journey.

Have a great month. Julie, Simon and Rebecca