More than 900 lambs were born this Spring, at the University’s Ness Heath Farm in South Wirral.
The new arrivals were helped by the unseasonably warm weather at the end of March, allowing them to head into the great outdoors without fear of picking up a chill.
Nigel Jones is Farm Manager at Ness Heath, he said: “The exceptionally warm weather was a real bonus and a big help when the lambs are very young. They go out into the fields with their mothers at a day and a half or two days old so the warmth and the dry was good for them. We’re just desperate for rain now to get the grass growing to feed the ewes.”
Ness Heath, part of the University’s Leahurst campus, provides 100 acres of pasture and, as well as the sheep and their offspring, is home to 15 Gloucester Old Spot pigs and a small pedigree herd of 20 Hereford cows, many of whom are now calving.
Nigel entrusts the nocturnal care of his new arrivals to final year veterinary science students.
He said: “The final year students come down and take over at night for me, from around 6pm every evening. They look after the night sessions for three weeks and then we use the flock throughout the rest of the year with the first years and fourth years.”
All of the births this year were successful, with only one caesarean performed. Nigel said the little lamb born of that procedure is “absolutely fine”.
Just been reading about all your lovely animals. Are you open to the public?