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Spring has Sprung in the Lambing Pens

Owen remembers his time as a shepherd in the 1960s.


Hello Ole Partners,


My gardening tips this month…

  • As the soil warms an early sowing of broad beans can be made. Test soil by placing the back of your hand on it; if it feels warm you can plant out.

  • Lettuce: take a tip from me and sow a few seeds in a flowerpot filled with compost. Press about 12 seeds in a 5" pot, cover with a piece of brown paper or newspaper and stand on a warm windowsill. Watch them carefully and once the seedlings have emerged remove the paper and keep them well watered. When the seedlings are bigger plant them in odd corners of the garden. This is much better than sowing them in rows when they may all go to seed. Once you have planted the contents of the pot, refill with fresh compost and sow another 12. Done this way you will have a continuous supply. The best lettuce to grow in this way is the 'All Year Round' variety.

  • Shallots are the easiest to grow of all the onion family. They can be grown for lifting in late August for either storing or pickling. I’ll give you hints on lifting and pickling onions in August.

  • If you love green salad onions (spring onions) then grow White Lisbon. Sow a second lot three weeks after the first and repeat. You'll then have a continuous supply of lovely spring onions. They are best lifted with a very heavy screwdriver to avoid damaging the roots of the adjoining onions.


As I sit here now, in the full Spring, my mind goes back to 50+ years ago when I was a shepherd in charge of a flock of breeding sheep at Shrubbery Farm in Carleton Rode. Lambing season was the busiest time of the shepherd’s year and I would stay at the farm for several days and nights to take care of my flock. My late wife Sheila always said she didn’t miss my heavy snoring and right enjoyed those nights to herself!


Owen at the lambing pens he built himself. (Credit: EDP)

I well remember one day in particular when I had 27 lambs born within an hour and a half - that's what you call busy! Those of you who are not familiar with sheep habits may think there's nothing unusual about this. The trouble is that a ewe whose birthing is imminent will try to take over the newborn of a previously lambed ewe to the extent that they may fight and the poor young lamb is trampled on and killed. This puts the shepherd on full alert to make sure that the ewe who has lambed has her baby boxed up with her. The ewe knows her lambs by scent once they have dried off. If the wrong lambs are boxed with the wrong ewe she will reject them once they are dry and their natural scent returns. Although I was always vigilant, I sometimes made mistakes during the busiest hours when 2 or 3 mothers were claiming the same lambs.


Owen the Pied Piper Shepherd. (Credit: EDP)

Sadly, a ewe would sometimes die giving birth, leaving a new born lamb orphaned. If another ewe had lost her baby the method of taking the skin from her dead lamb and tying on to the orphaned one could fool the ewe into accepting it as hers. Ewes have a strong maternal instinct but are not quite as stupid as you may think. A lamb that is much older than the new born or a very different colour will arouse her suspicions so fostering was always tense work. If I could not fool another ewe into accepting it, an orphan often found its way back to my home in Bunwell, where it was kept warm in a box by my kitchen Rayburn and my daughter Annette helped me to bottle feed it until it was strong enough to be outside.


Another strong memory is of when I took 200 lambs to Bury St Edmunds sheep sale in late July. A pen of 25 lambs (Border Leicester ewes x Suffolk ram) from my entry were sold for the top price of the entire sale. There were 2000 lambs entered from all over Norfolk. Considering I was competing against lambs entered by such prominent breeders as the Earl of Leicester from Holkham Hall and another group from Gawdy Hall near Harleston I did well. My employer Diana Penson and I were highly delighted – though she was never delighted enough to pay me a bonus! North of England buyers who came to the sale every year bought my lambs, telling me that they did very well in the Northern winter climate. I was very proud of this fact. The sale gave me something to look forward to when I began the lambing season.


Owen enjoying time with the EDP journalist! (Credit: EDP)

In the 1960s, the EDP newspaper came to report on and take photos of our lambs regularly, as you can see here from my copies of these original photos I have kept all these years. I was still helping local farmers with their lambing season 40 years later when I was in my 80s.


Until next time, moined ‘ow yer go.

Owen


First published in the Wymondham Magazine, April 2021


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