Our Very Own Lambing Live - 17th April

The first lambs arrived just in time for the visit from Year 6 children of Wychall school on the 15th of February, (see last blog).  So far we have had a slow start to the lambing with 6 ewes giving birth since the predicted start date of Valentines day.

The first group of ewes to lamb are our  North of England Mules  These have been mated with Texel rams to produce crossbred lambs, the females of which we will be keeping for breeding from, when they are about two years old, or 'shearling ewes'.  We have about 200 to lamb now so fingers crossed the weather doesn't get too cold and wet for the lambs when they are out in the fields.

We will be hosting our very own Lambing Live at Overbury on Sunday 17th April where you can come and experience the excitement and drama of the lambing pens first hand.  There will be orphans to cuddle, feed and play with; hopefully our ewes will still be performing, if not there is a great video of the process showing in the village hall (taken at Overbury).  Our Game Keepering Team will have displays giving you a feel for what they do and some of the interesting sides of the countryside and wildlife issues they come across.  There will be refreshments in the village hall and some static displays there as well.  For the latest information on our lambing day become a Facebook Fan keep following this blog, or go the Farm Website here

We always warn Pregnant Women not to accompany your children on this trip for the health and safety of you and your baby.

Wychall School Visit For The Day

Today was the first visit of the year to Overbury by Wychall Primary School from Birmingham.  The first visit had to be cancelled due to the bad weather in November so it was a very excited group of year 6's that arrived just after 10 this morning.  After a quick visit to the loos in the village hall, we headed to the park to look at our LEAF boards and then on to our Elm Tree, (see blog on the 8th Feb).

After that we walked through a small area of woodland, discussing different habitats and how we manage trees for conservation even after they have died.  We then met the Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds by the Estate Office, where we all met 'Goldie' the Golden Eagle, with a 7' wingspan, very impressive, and lots of foxhounds.

We loaded up into the coach and headed for Park Farm to see our own Lambing Live.  We saw 3 ewes that had 5 lambs between them and we met Tod our shepherd, up in the sheds making hurdles in preparation for lambing.  Our lambing pens will be open to everyone on Sunday 17th April.  Keep an eye on this blog, farm website or twitter for more details.  A brisk run up to the hill fort on the the top of Bredon Hill followed and a look around at the scenery and to discover direction Wychall School and home is in.

A hearty lunch followed accompanied with some fabulous homemade tomato 'Billy Soup'! After we had warmed up we headed to the fields once again, this time looking at wheat and oilseed rape fields.

Here is everyone with their scarecrows, made at school and brought down for us to judge.  There were some very good efforts with CD's, ribbons and faces all tied or glued onto canes, mops and sticks.  The winner was hard to choose but eventually after a close contest Penelope and I choose this one which will be keeping the pigeons well and truly scared from Bean Hill.  Thank you to everyone for being so well behaved, we had a great day taking you round the farm.