Devonshire May and June 18

The diary of lady farmer, Janet East
Bruised, Trampled, Pecked... "Enjoy a Lambing Weekend"... Really?
My name is Sonia and I am a sprightly
72 year old widow. I hate the blinking
term “bucket list”, but since being widowed,
I have got off my backside and started to
do a few out of the ordinary activities. This
is one of them, which started when I read
the following blog from the Yellingham
Farm website:
“Want to be a Shepherd for a weekend? Ever
enjoyed the wonders of lambing in the
Spring? Well now you can - no experience
needed, just come and be a real part of a
busy lambing yard. Witness the amazing
feeling of watching beautiful lambs born,
Age, sex, nationality, allergies,
mobility, none of these factors
worry me when I accept a
booking for someone to
come and join us during my
favourite time of year - lambing.
Everybody who comes finds
something they can do, enjoy
and feel they’ve helped and
of course hopefully learnt
something. But for me too, it
must be enjoyable as lambing
is a tough time with the
unexpected always around the
corner and at times, it is not for
the faint hearted.
Sonia arrived one very wet,
windy Friday afternoon and as
she clambered out of her car, I
could tell she was advancing
in age, was a well “covered”
lass, but so cheerful, definitely
school mistress material and
already made me smile - that
bodes well for a good weekend.
bottle feed lambs, work Nell and Ralph the
sheepdogs in the fields bordered by the
meandering River Tale and for a weekend
be a real part of a farming family. You will
enjoy superb home cooked food, sat around
a big Oak table with Janet and her family
in their traditional farmhouse kitchen. Up
for it? The experience will stay with you for
the rest of your life.”
Never was a truer word written than that
last sentence of the blog. I’ll let Janet tell
you about my weekend as a Shepherd as I
am still in the process of recuperation and
rehabilitation!
I showed her to her room, and
made sure she had suitable
clothing before we headed
off for the first job of the late
afternoon. In a small field near
the farmhouse are 25 hoggets
(last of last years’ lambs) which
were being fattened for market.
Due to the atrocious weather it
was a bit of a mission feeding
them as the constant rain
we have had, made the going
underfoot pretty treacherous
to say the least. Sonia was
very keen and followed me
everywhere I went... question
after question, I just hoped
she remembered the answers
otherwise I could see myself
being exhausted mentally by
the end of the weekend. Bless
her. With the task of feeding
the sheep becoming pressing
before the daylight started to
disappear, we hurried to the
barn, weighed out the sheep
feed into a large bucket and off
we went. Ralph, my beautiful
brown young Collie, was at
my feet ready to join us and
to be my eyes and ears and
truly faithful work mate, come
rain or shine. We trudged
through the gate leading to
the field where the 25 sheep
waited for us expectantly - they
have a food clock and soon
let you know if you’re late, the
bleating was deafening as we
approached. We have long
10ft metal troughs to feed the
sheep which are about 8” deep
and 8” wide - the idea being
that only their noses get in the
trough, not all of them! After
each feed I always turn the
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