Five Ways You Know We’re Lambing

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Lambing has started and we are all excited (for now) about it.
There is a period of about two weeks before it begins when we are all on high alert. Sometimes worrying about it. Sometimes excited about it but it is just nervousness, waiting for it to happen.

Here are my five ways you know we are lambing.

1.The first thing the farmer and I say to each other in the morning is not good morning but how many. The farmer gets out first to go and see what has happened over night. There are no pleasantries at that time of the morning.

2.When we open a window or stick our head out of the back door, the overwhelming sound heard is sheep and lambs calling to each other. It is one of the most lovely sounds ever.

3.One of the children will develop bottle envy. We usually just buy cheap baby bottles from the supermarket but, at the beginning, we usually scramble round to find an old one which belonged to the children. We are currently using a Dr Brown’s bottle my mum found at her house which belonged to Boo. These lambs will not be getting colic.

4.At least one of us will have to strip at the back door. I was unprepared this year. I usually have ‘lambing clothes.’ Yesterday I was caught unawares by some early pet lambs and got covered in lamb poo. It ended up in me stripping down at the back door.

5.We all end up having a milky smell about us. It is not dissimilar from a newborn baby smell but, after a while, the smell of powdered lamb colostrum can get a bit sickly.

The lambing has only just started. I am sure this list will get longer as the weeks go on.