Oh, Chris, where art thou?

There isn’t a much better image of spring than one of a field full of lambs gambolling and leaping in the bright sunshine between the showers. Their fleece is pristine and white, a real contrast to the grey and dirty white of their mothers, the green of the pasture and the blue of the sky.
To satisfy my increasing interest in all things ovine, we attended one of the lambing weekends at Reaseheath college. These are partly for their students to get some real hands-on experience and partly to raise money for the college. As well as lambs, they had pigs, rats and rabbits, along with some college-made cheese and a few plants, but it was the sheep and lambs that were the draw.
We arrived at 10am and, although not the first, were glad to be able to wander round and look at sheep in the relative peace. Almost the first thing we saw as we came into the shed was a sheep with its water bag showing but, deciding it would be a while before anything happened, we wandered off. Returning half an hour later, we found two lambs and a chuffed-looking ewe in a pen. After that we didn’t stray very far.
Our first birth was a breech, i.e. arse first. This we had to watch on the overhead monitor, the crush of people in front blocking our view, as the student, and then the shepherd, attempted to turn the lamb around and deliver it safely. Warnings were given, by the man on the mike, that sometimes this doesn’t always end in a live birth and we should be prepared for a disaster. His explanation of a prolapse was equally as informative, calling on any women present to understand his ‘weak muscle’ theory and, we can only imagine, get mums to explain to kids what he was on about.
Another wander, a return to the main shed and a better spot, so that for the second birth we were more fortunate. Again, there was a problem, this time presentation was head and one front leg. First try was a student and, quite worryingly, again they couldn’t get things right and it was up to the shepherd to step in (accompanied by more imminent warnings of death) and correct things before the lamb was born. Seeing it there, damp and white, on the straw, new life, brought a tear to my eye.
After twenty minutes of licking the first born, the ewe wandered over to the wall, lay down and moments later a second lamb appeared. Simple as that. We weren’t able to see it happen, but the speed and ease was amazing. By this time it was early afternoon as no more births appeared imminent we took our leave. An interesting day, but one where I hoped there were more people to talk to who would explain things in more detail. The students there didn’t seem interested and the shepherd was taciturn, so as a finding-out session it wasn’t so good but as a general day out it got top marks.