Photo of the Week: Spring smiles brighten March weather
After one of the wettest beginning to the year on record, the sun is beginning to break through in many places across the country.
And what better way to tempt that sun out than a spring lamb with a smile.
This lovely little Cheviot Mule lamb was snapped by Sonita Matthew in Aberdeenshire.
See also: Photo of the Week: New Greyface Dartmoor lamb gets piggyback
© Sonita Matthew
Flock beginnings
Sonita and partner Drew started the sheep flock in 2023 as a sideline, as they both work full time.
Drew, who works on a 486ha (1,200 acre) mixed arable and pig farm, got a grazing opportunity from his bosses, which set them on their way.
They started off with a flock of 40 older Scottish Mules and, over the past two years, introduced Cheviots.
Cheviots
The couple now have about 70 breeding Cheviot ewes and 30 home-bred ewes to join the flock this year.
They also have four tups, including a Beltex cross Charollais, two pure North Country Cheviots and a Bluefaced Leicester.
They aim to breed pure for their own replacements and breed Cheviot Mules for selling as breeding stock.
Sonita says: “Cheviots work for us, as we have a lot of rougher/species-rich grazing and we find the Cheviots do quite well on this grazing; [they] are relatively low-maintenance sheep – and as illustrated produce a very cute lamb.”
“Although we haven’t had our own flock overly long, we put so much time and effort into doing it right and every year is a chance for us to learn, grow and improve for the year ahead.”
Lambing
So far, lambing has gone fairly smoothly, Sonita says: “Our teaser worked wonders this year and we have lambed 50-plus ewes in just over a week – we can’t complain!”
We wish them all the luck with the flock. It’s great to see a young couple getting a helping hand when starting out.
Have you got lambing photos you’d like to share? You can upload them to our Lambing 2026 gallery. You can also upload your everyday farming photos to our Farmlife Framed gallery.
