A day in the life of lambing by Jayne Harkness-Bones

Jayne Harness-Bones - Depot Manager from Muckamore tells us all about a typical day lambing on her farm. 

Beeping sound (alarm goes off) …

What time is it? Oh no, it's after 3:00 I've overslept by 15 minutes.

I leap off the sofa, trip over a sleeping dog and rush to the door, waterproofs on. Boots on. Coat on. Gloves on. Hat on. Headlamp on and run.

I get to the shed and quickly scan across all the pens- not so much looking but listening… is there anything muttering? Can I hear anyone in distress? Is she pressing? OK, she's fine.

On to the next pen… brilliant! A set of twins. “Good girl you did that all by yourself”.

I get her penned up and make sure she's got milk, it's all good.

On to the single pen... OK, she looks like she's going to lamb soon as she’s sniffing and scraping at the ground. I'll set my alarm for another hour.

The rest of the shed is sleeping so I head back to the sofa for a cuppa and watch the weather.

On my return I get her penned up to check everything's lined up and ready to come…. there’s just a nose. OK, where's the feet… there we go… give it a pull, she gives a push and out pops a great big single. Happy days… should I get a spare triplet on? It’s too late, I’m too tired. So, one big single she will have. By this stage, it's half four in the morning and Dad normally gets up now to be in the shed for five, so I send him a message and say, ‘Don't worry about it Dad, leave it to six’.

On to the triplet pen, all looks good, nice and quiet… back to the twins… she looks like she's bag out… get her penned up to check everything's in line… what's this… OK, that feels like a back leg… yes it is… find the other leg and give it a pull and out it comes- alive and well.

By now it’s nearly 6:00 in the morning and Dad will be here soon, so I might as well just lamb her and have it done… so I reach back in find the other lamb… all good… check her for milk, go to get her a bucket of water and when I get back a third lamb has arrived… Oh my goodness where did that come from?

The first part of the day is done, and 6 healthy lambs have hit the ground… back into the house for 40 winks on the sofa and then back to the shed at 7 am as the day begins. At least now we have daylight, and coffee in the shed.

This dance continues right through the day before we are at 6:00 again but it's the evening now… have we got all the rounds done? Is everything fed? Do any pens need to be cleaned out? Are the pet's milk buckets clean and full? Do we need more vet supplies tomorrow? Or anything from Greenmount Country Stores?

Back into the house (if I’m lucky) at 7:00 pm get some dinner, sit down on the sofa promptly pass out, I know Dad does the 9 pm check so I can relax for a few hours… wakened by the beeping sound of the alarm at 10 pm and it all goes round again… check at midnight and depending on what's happening alarm set for 2, or 3 if I didn’t get back into the house again until 1.

The lambing shed is such a cosy and comfortable place, if it’s raining, I’m thinking of farmers who lamb outside, hoping the rain stops soon.

Lambing time is difficult to explain, it’s the most manic, exhausting and rewarding time, but it’s the same for all sheep farmers across the country, a labour of love.