Sorry we haven’t posted anything for a while, it’s all been rather hectic, we have finished this years shearing (we did it back in June if we're honest!) and it won’t be long until we start weaning.
Melplash http://www.melplashshow.co.uk and Dorchester Show http://www.dorsetcountyshow.co.uk will soon be with us and we always try to support them by entering lambs in the carcass classes, 
The good news, is that means that we will soon have lamb available for sale again. 
We get asked a lot about shearing, does it hurt the sheep, why do you do it, etc. 
We do it because we have to, most sheep do not shed their wool, (there are exceptions, some old breeds do and some modern easy care type composite breeds now do as well). So if you don’t shear it off, the poor sheep gets incredibly hot in the summer, this can lead to fly strike, overheating and ultimately death for the poor things. We don’t shear for profit unfortunately. It normally costs more to have them sheared than the wool is worth. Does it hurt, no not really, we use contractors (specialists who do it day in and day out) they are very quick, very efficient and most importantly very good. You do get the occasional cut (think of a shaving cut) which isn’t nice for the sheep, but this would be far preferable to not being shorn. 
So you can see for yourself how it’s done we have put a little video below for you to have a look at. 
Any questions or comments just drop us an email [email protected]  or contact us here 

Turning Ewes and lambs out or onto new grass, nothing like it, baby lambs jumping about in the sun..

Sometimes you get a Ewe, that for whatever reason doesn’t take to her lamb, you find the poor thing shivering, or not responding at all, and in need of help. So what do you do, you stick it in the oven obviously... Don’t worry it’s not as bad as it sounds, if the poor little thing is hypothermic you need to get colostrum into it as quickly as you can and get it warm the obvious place is the bottom oven of the Aga. Just until it’s warmed up and can go back to its mother.

As farmers there is nothing we want less than bottle fed lambs, it means something has gone wrong, either their mother has not made it or she is not able to feed them. So we have to make a decision, do we keep them on the mother and top them up, or do we take one away so the other has a better chance.. We do what we think is right at the time.. Only time tells if it was... On the positive side the children thinks its wonderful, they get a new pet to play with..

So after our last post, here is another, a lovely little bull calf this time, cow calved herself and he's up and sucking already, perfect...  

It might be quiet on the sheep front (they are all out practicing their snorkelling technique!!) but the sucklers are starting to calve. Here is the first born on Tuesday a lovely little heifer calf... No matter how bad the weather (or the day) you can't help but smile when you see these gambling about in the straw...

The wait is nearly over... Thank you so much for all of your enquiries, we will have a limited amount of our award winning organic lamb available at the end of September. Get your orders in quickly as they won't be around for long.

 I know we keep banging on about it, but our lambs really are free range, so I thought I'd share a few pictures with you of us checking them over the weekend just to prove it. This is shepherding Dorset Style, no quads for us, just a good old nag, (mine tried to buck me off twice!!)

 If you haven't been to Dorchester Show you really must.  Now billed as the Dorset County Show  www.dorsetcountyshow.co.uk it has something for everyone yet still maintains its traditional farming feel. We entered some of our lambs in the Commercial Lamb and Carcass classes and after the success we had at Melplash show www.melplashshow.co.uk  we were feeling the pressure...  We're delighted to announce that we won the native