Farmer Focus: Accident sees me promoted to lambing shepherd

Two days before the start of lambing our shepherd got thrown from her horse; yes, I know, blimmin’ horses.

Once again it has been invaluable for Jayne and me to be trained first-responders. With fantastic help from the ambulance crew  – and a free ride in a big red helicopter – Laura was whisked away to be put back together again as good as new.

See also: Leicestershire arable farm begins first-of-kind drainage trial

About the author

David Clark

Farmer Focus writer

David Clark runs a 463ha fully irrigated mixed farm with his wife Jayne at Valetta, on the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand’s south island. He grows 400ha of cereals, pulses, forage and vegetable seed crops, runs 1,000 Romney breeding ewes and finishes 8,000 lambs annually.

Read more articles by David Clark

That left the topic of lambing and with everyone else around here shrugging their shoulders, it was decided that I would be promoted to lambing shepherd for what was already planned to be our last lambing.

It would appear that my farming career has gone full circle, and I have actually enjoyed it, but I am under enormous time pressure as we cope being one person down.

I decided that our Kawasaki Mule (farm buggy) and a bike trailer would be the “Lambulance” as it is quicker and more nimble than the Utes that shepherds have used previously.

They had the advantage of a Heading Dog (New Zealand breed of working dog). I no longer have a good lambing dog, so I purchased two new shepherd’s crooks and am regularly seen bailing out of the Mule and running after a ewe with a crook in each hand, resembling an agrarian Edward Scissorhands.

My fitness over the last month has improved significantly and I am quite chuffed at the results in the flock.

But our real problem has been that by the time I do a lambing beat in the morning and late afternoon, I get limited time for spraying, cultivating or other stock work.

Thankfully, we had a couple of weeks of school holidays and keen lads were put to task.

We are also in the midst of delivering wheat and fortunately we have a very good relationship with our feed mill customer who have allowed me to deliver at night.

So, I have dinner at home, then head away six nights a week and deliver a load.

Sometimes these things just come along and I reckon the trick is to just roll with it, but there is no doubt, our last lambing has been memorable.