Rosie Montgomery says she promised her kids that this year that she would cut back on the number of new lambs they’d raise at Endswell Farm. So far, that looks like 19 lambs with four ewes (potentially) left to give birth. She admits that she has lost track, but it is definitely fewer little ones than have been born in past lambing seasons.
The first lambs of this year came as a surprise, in January.
“My barn girl, Mirella Nichol found the lambs and I actually didn’t believe her at first,” says Rosie. “But then I found them, and they were clearly not premature as they were a good weight. Those two, Keiran and Fiona (named after Keiran McSkimming and Fiona Beatty, as the lambs came close to their birthdays) are two and a half months old now and getting really big. Afterwards, Corrina (Headley) remembered that Florence had a little foray into with the rams this summer. That must’ve been when she got pregnant.”
Florence, by the way, is the mother of Keiran and Fiona, and is herself named after Eva Kepesova’s daughter Florence.
Rosie says that she predicted lambing season would begin at the end of March, but that too came early with the next lambs arriving on March 16. She explains that before lambing begins, all the ewes are moved into the barn in order to protect the newborns from ravens. This hadn’t happened yet, so both David Smith and Sean were born in the field. When Rosie found them, she says she thought one was dead but managed to revive it.
Last past Saturday, visitors to the farm were in the barn when Rosie found a lamb still in its sack beside its mom, Hope.
“Normally they stand up to deliver, so the lamb falls on the ground and the sack breaks and it starts breathing,” explains Rosie. “This time, I broke the sack and started swinging it around but I was so worried people were going to have to see a dead lamb. I swung it really hard – hard enough to clear the lungs, then, like a miracle, it came to life.”
Having people in the barn, says Rosie, isn’t ideal while the ewes are giving birth so people who want to visit the farm should definitely call Home Farm Gardens first. Visiting times are now limited to Saturdays between 12 and 2pm, and will wrap- up at Easter.
