In March 2009 I arrived for my first ever day of work experience at Chalk Farm full of excitement and eager to get started.
After about a week the ewes and lambs were kept in a holding pen, the reason for them being kept in a small group is to become accustomed to life in the flock and to ensure they don’t lose mum in the field!
During my time I was given all the menial jobs synonymous with experience on a farm, such as mucking out and watering. However, this gave me the time to closely observe the natural behaviour of the sheep, something which is obviously crucial in order to notice abnormal changes.
I was lucky enough to be given the responsibility of loading all of the sheep and lambs in the picture above into a trailer as they were ready to be taken to one of the fields. I quickly learnt that though they may look sedate and possibly simpleminded creatures, they can certainly elude you when they want to! There was definitely an element of satisfaction along with the aching arms and it was genuinely rewarding to see them all in the wide open field.
On top of this I was able to sit on the back of the farmer’s quad bike to look for any sheep possibly going into labour, and I learnt about the colours system that many farmers use to distinguish ewes pregnant with different numbers of lambs.
Amy
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