LAMBING COURSE DATES FOR 2017 ANNOUNCED

Greyface dartmoor lamb - so cute!!The girls were all scanned earlier this week and we have lots of singles, twins and also three sets of triplets due from our gorgeous ryelands, coloured ryelands and greyfaced dartmoors.

Exciting times ahead as we have used some new rams this year.  Our latest purchase from Ann Rickson of Sunnyside Greyface Dartmoors with Seb is going to be a first time Dad with all the girls in lamb to him. 

Woody our new Coloured Ryeland ram lamb has three girls in lamb and one of these is having triplets.

On the Ryeland front we used four rams - Untouchable whom we used last year and was Best Stock Ram in the Flock competition.  Oakberrow Tornado had four girls.  Our ram lamb Winston who won best retained ram lamb in the flock competition and son of Untouchable has three girls in lamb to him and our latest ram to the flock Uncle Colin had the majority of the girls and is going to be father to two sets of triplets.

COURSES WILL RUN FROM 7 FEBRUARY FOR THE MONTH. 

Please get in touch to book your place.  Courses run from approx 10am - 4pm, or later depending on what is happening in the lambing shed.  Lots of theory and hands-on.  Cost £95 per person and includes lunch. NEW 24 hour lambing running 10am-10am - limited numbers and includes bed and all meals. £200 per person.

email dsg.oakberrow@gmail.com - tel 01531 640102 or 07971675162

If you want further information, please do not hesitate to contact either Steve or Doreen.

If you or your partner are pregnant please read the advice from the NHS about lambing before booking your course

CHAMPION RYELAND FLOCK 2016

Girls in the autumn sunThe Herefordshire and Marches Regional Ryeland group hold an annual Flock competition for members of this group.

Steve and I were really pleased last year when we won this prestigious award and even more delighted to win again - Overall Champion Flock, Best flock of ewes, Best Stock Ram and Best Retained Ram lamb.

The Judge for 2016 was Jonathan Long who has recently moved to this area from Kent.  Jonathan is Chairman of the Southdown Sheep Society and also owns Blue Texels and Beltex breeds.  He was most impressed with the quality, eveness, type of the Oakberrow flock.

What a great end to the year with our newest addition to our coloured flock Woody ( Derwent Woodlark) winning champion male coloured ryeland lamb and Reserve Champion overall at the recent National Lamb Championships held at Malvern end of September.  Woody and Lucy also won champion coloured pair of ryelands under the judge Richard Dorrell.

Rams with ewes and all going well, so bookings already coming in for lambing courses - please keep an eye on the web for dates.  Contact either on info@oakberrow.co.uk or dsg.oakberrow@gmail.com.

Lambing courses 2016 - one more week

first time lambing!Lambing is going well (touch wood) and all those that have attended the courses have really enjoyed them and learnt lots.

Next week sees the end of lambing this year with the last few left to lamb.

If you are interested in attending Oakberrow on a lambing course, please get in touch oakberrow.dsg@gmail.com to arrange a suitable date.

After lambing sheep husbandry courses and show preparation courses are available, again get in touch with e-mail above. 

The show scene is upon us with schedules flooding in, so if you want any help, advice tuition to get the best out of your sheep in the show ring, get in touch.

Lambing Live - last night was very busy

Ewes feeding in lambing barnOn the lambing list we had 14 on the list to lamb within a couple of days.  Obviously to a commercial farmer small numbers but for our set-up it means quite a lot of work.  This year the ewes who are in lamb to one of our new Ryeland Rams are all running about 4 to 5 days late to their lambing date, so you get all prepared for this and then the Grey face Dartmoors and Texels are lambing near enough on their lambing date.

Steve is glad to say that we are just over half way so he can catch up with his sleep after 6 of our girls lambed last night.

We have caught up with the lambing list which gives a slight breather.

The puppies will be leaving and going to their new homes over the weekend - apart from Bentley who is here while his new mum and dad are on holiday.

Lambing courses are going well and the girls will only  be lambing for the next couple of weeks so if interested please get in touch.  The people who have been on courses this year have been great and given great testimonials - 'Amanda - had a wonderful day, really enjoyed doing the practical things and learned lots - feel ready for my own lambing now!'.  'Jeanie - A really good day - a serious introduction to hands on sheep farming. Brilliant. Thank you.'

LAMBING COURSE DATES FOR 2016

Ceres one of our Greyfaced Dartmoors with lambsThe ewes were scanned on Monday by the expert Steve Lloyd and we are very pleased with the results with 22 twins due, 17 singles and 1 set of triplets.

The first ewe is due to lamb at the end of January but the majority will be in February.  Lambing course dates will run from 4 February 2016 either weekdays or weekends.

Bookings already coming in so if interested in attending please do get in touch.

Lambing Ryelands, Greyfaced Dartmoors and Texels and new this year Coloured Ryelands. 

It is always really exciting the anticipation of lambing and there is nothing better than seeing happy mums and babies.