We’ve had a bumpy start to calving time - Jill Thorp

A collective sigh of relief was heard up and down the country as farmers were starting to worry about their land drying out! All jokes aside, the dreaded weather forecast is always watched in our house with an impending sense of doom.

As our ewes start bagging up and gateways to our lambing fields remain impassable, the stress of the situation is beginning to weigh heavily on Paul’s shoulders.

Despite cutting back our ewe numbers last autumn we still have a huge flock of heavily pregnant sheep to tend to.

After what feels like the wettest most miserable February on record, winter finally seems to have hit us following a week of snow flurries and icy roads.

It turned out that Mrs Tiggywinkle’s owner was a toddler of nearly three years old - Julian NortonI wasn’t born when the contractors tore through the silence at Stott Hall, changing life forever - Jill ThorpOur local council seem to have forgotten about the little road that connects us and a couple of neighbouring farms with the outside world.

Huge car wrecking potholes stretch across the width of the single lane road making it impassable for a car like mine.

Our own land is now akin to a giant swamp but thankfully we’re not short on grazing. Fields of sugar beet are now on the menu as machinery can’t get in to lift it.

It’s a desperate situation for those farmers but as the feed can’t be brought to the sheep, we’re taking the sheep to the feed!

We’ve had a bumpy start to calving time with our first cow sadly producing a still-born calf. It’s a terrible sight to see, a seemingly perfectly formed calf laying lifeless at your feet with a mother frantically licking, nudging and urging it to life.

Luckily, we were able to find her a calf at a neighbouring farm, in need of a mother.

She took to her adopted baby with no hesitation, just glad to have a calf to nurture.

A couple of days later and we had another cow showing signs of an imminent birthing. We watched her closely as she paced, laid down, got up and back down again.

This continued for a couple of days until finally she got on with it. The calf was ready to come out but had no intention of leaving it’s safe and warm cocoon and had managed to get itself in a truly awkward position.

We tried to assist her but quickly realised that the possibility of a C-section was on the cards and the vet was called. However, by the time he arrived both mother and calf had reshuffled and a lovely strong heifer calf was born naturally.

We’ve made some good friends across our great county through the winter keep that we take on for our sheep. Farmers that go above what is expected of them and tend to our sheep as if they were their own.

One such character who Paul is particularly fond of is heading into hospital soon and we wish him well, with fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.