Long before there was holiday accommodation at Ilderton Dod Barns, our Scottish Blackface sheep roamed the hills and with 650 ewes, plus their lambs in the spring and summer, you can’t miss them!
We’ve been busy weaning (or ‘speaning’ as we call it in Northumberland) our lambs over the last few weeks. This involves shedding the lambs off from the ewes then taking the lambs to better pasture on our farm in Wooler. The ewes are checked (teeth, body condition, udders etc.) to decide which ones to breed again and which to send to Wooler for an easier life, or which we need to sell. Depending on the time of year you visit, you may see us doing this, or shearing the ewes in July, or pregnancy scanning them in February, or lambing in April/ May. Hill sheep are generally low input compared to those lower down, but they still occupy a lot of our time!
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