The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Buffy the eggs layer on August 17, 2012, 05:20:37 pm
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does anyone have any experience of attending lambing courses? I want to get some experience before my girls give birth in early April.
My vet has suggested asking a local farmer who lambs early if I can spend some time helping during laming so I get some good experience.
Have any of you tried this?
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Yes, I did this. It's a must, you'll learn a lot. There was another post on here a few days ago about this....
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Buffy,
I was talking about lambing recently and the advice was to spend time with a local farmer. Most seem to lamb earlier than I will. Now I need to put the feelers out to see which local farmer is most receptive to the idea.
Sally
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I've done that - a lot of experience in a short time as a lot of lambs to deal with - probably higher tendency for intervention. They seemed glad to have some assistance though I felt more of a burden through extreme ignorance. But it was great to see all the processes and get hands on experience
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I did a one-day introduction course at a local college - well worth the money, loads of useful tips.
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My vet suggested that I try the large Agri vet practice to recomend local farmers with large flocks so I will give it a go.
What do the courses involve? Do they use a model or just talk you through the basics of it?.
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I worked for a friend with a big farm at lambing time, before we got our sheep. Learned so much - with time for it to sink in, ask questions and so on. Suited me better than a course.
Lambing's a busy time and if you can help, doing the time-consuming basics like refilling water buckets and mucking out lambing pens, you'll be welcome and learn tons.