Our first lamb arrived on 29th of July, a lovely wedding anniversary gift from our sheep! 🙂 The rest arrived without any intervention from us and we have just marked 97 lambs for 2016. While we did have some losses, we took a very hands-off role during this lambing season and are happy with the numbers we achieved.
We spent a great deal of time and effort prior to lambing ensuring that the lambing paddocks had plenty of feed so that the ewes could remain close to their lamb during the hours after birth. A ewe that has to walk away from her lamb to find enough grass to eat leaves the lamb vulnerable to predators. Thanks to the fantastic rain we’ve been having the grass has been keeping up with the ewes’ requirements.
We have also been continuing our fencing along the creek. This fencing is happening thanks to a grant from Melbourne Water who is trying to get landowners to keep stock out of waterways. Since our little Spring Creek is part of the catchment, keeping our creek healthy and clean means healthy and clean water for Melbourne. I am planning a future post with some tips and techniques for keeping fences tight and straight in hilly terrain – the only terrain we know how to fence. 🙂