Happy early baaarthday to ewe
A farmer has unexpectedly found himself with twin lambs on his hands months earlier than usual.
‘‘All the kids were lining up to see them this morning, it was really cool,’’ said John Burling.
He looked out his window at dawn on Monday and was amazed to discover a set of newborn twins.
‘‘There were definitely no lambs when I moved them into this paddock on Sunday. I normally have early lambs, usually they’re born just before Fieldays [in June] and last year people laughed because we had some at the end of May, but the end of April is way out of whack.’’
He wondered if the long hot summer had helped the sheep turn to romance weeks earlier
"Maybe it was the streetlights, or too much spare time on their hands." John Burling
than normal, as several other ewes were also showing signs of being close to lambing.
‘‘Maybe it was the streetlights, or too much spare time on their hands,’’ he quipped.
The new lambs were in good health and full of beans, and their mother was looking after them well.
The ram lived with the flock of 45 Suffolk ewes all the time.
The twins were darker in colour than most of their fellow Suffolk lambs but would end up a similar colouring to their mum, he said.
He kept his stocking rate on the farmlet quite low so there was always plenty of grass to keep the sheep and their lambs well fed, he said.