There are sleepless nights ahead for the farm staff at Tatton Park as the much-loved farm in Cheshire East heads into lambing season. How do staff members wind down after a long night-watch? By counting sheep of course!
The first of 53 lambs arrived at 1pm on Tuesday witnessed by a crowd of easter Tuesday farm visitors. In total 31 farm ewes are due to lamb and thefarm staff are expecting – hooves crossed – 9 single lambs and 22 sets of twins between now and the middle of April.
Visitors to the farm during Lambing Fortnight (from Tuesday 7 to Friday 17 April) can expect to see many woolly new arrivals. During this special fortnightvisitors can meet the new spring lambs, listen to educational talks and take part in fun creative activities. Of course, there is also the possibility of our visitors being lucky enough to see lambs being born!
In addition to the farm’s mainly Suffolk cross flock, there are also two rare breed Leicester longwool ewes expecting 3 lambs between them. The Leicester longwools are considered ‘vulnerable’ on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s watch-list and so the addition of potentially more females to the Home Farm flock is very special.
Farm manager, Jayne Chapman said: “Lambing is a very special time of year, a real sign of spring. We all love to see the lambs skipping about enjoying the sunshine!.”
