New Barn Farm - Sheep & Lambs
I know that I had always said that I would not have a flock of sheep, like everything else, I have been persuaded to change my mind.
Trevor and Ben had insisted that sheep are not quite as suicidal as I had thought, and they were just the right thing to keep the grass down in our orchard. A phonecall from Trevor, one afternoon in August, informed me that I was now the proud owner of four Texel Cross sheep.
I must admit, that compared to some that I have seen, they are quite good looking. Two weeks later, whilst I enjoyed having their company, I was dismayed to find that not only had they eaten all the grass in the orchard, but also my soft fruit bushes and any reachable part of my apple trees.
We had, at long last, been given permission to rent some more grazing land, on the condition that we had some land opposite as well. The only problem was that the extra grazing is only really suitable for one thing - sheep!
Trevor and Ben went back to the auction and purchased 10 Wethers which will be available as Hogget in January 2009. Yes, you have guessed it, the next step was to buy some Ewes with the idea of raising a few lambs next year. Four Ewes were purchased, and Trevor was so impressed with the quality, that he eventually managed to find the farmer who had supplied them.
Having found the Farmer, who is based near Ashford in Kent, we made a couple of trips to buy some more. Each visit to the farm reminded me of the Darling Buds of May as there were piglets running around the yard with cattle and sheep in the surrounding fields. The farmer took advantage us, by making sure that he had some extra animals when we picked them up, and as we found it hard to resist, we ended up buying them as well!
We also made a trip to Norfolk to visit two farms (which were miles apart) to find a ram. We eventually found a really friendly pure bred Texel ram, who still has to be named. He is so laid back that he is more interested in getting a cuddle than a bucket of feed!
The end result is that we now have 24 Ewes, 1 Ram and 14 Wethers. Keep an eye on the web-site and I will add some more pictures in the near future.