Country diary: I'm up with the sun, to check on the lambs and yows

Tebay, Cumbria: Some are bouncing around already, some less so. I will only intervene if there is something wrongToday is the first official day of lambing and I have three weeks off from my day job to fully concentrate on it. The alarm goes off and I roll out of bed and into some work clothes, rattling the ash out of the range cooker as I go past so that the kitchen will be warm when I return, past the sleeping dogs and out into the sunrise. The first check of the day is done quietly, just me on foot with my shepherd's crook.The sheep have been put into four big fields for lambing; two have sheep expecting twins and two have sheep expecting singles. It is quite cold and there are three sets of fresh steaming twins in the first field that I go into. The yows have everything under control, so I do not intervene. I stand and watch from a distance as they clean their newborns and welcome them to the world. My job is to help if there is difficulty - if a yow is struggling to give birth, or if a lamb is unable to feed. Continue reading...