Mum will be the word over and over again at Woodside Farm, part of the College of West Anglia’s Cambridge campus, in April. For the first time in some five years the farm will see the birth of lambs. Twenty ewes have been brought to the farm by Fran Cook, a teaching support officer, and they are currently sharing a field with the campus’s two alpacas, which have been moved from the main centre. The newborn lambs are expected to be a big attraction with both staff and students, and attract more visitors to the farm, where they will be able to be seen at Farmer Tom’s visitor centre, named after former head stock person Tom Herring who has retired. Five different breeds of sheep-in-ewe have been acquired, which are expected to give birth in April. There is a mixture of: Cheviot, Texel, Vendeen, Suffolk and Easy Care (The Easy Care breed of sheep are self-shedding and thus do not need shearing). These are all fairly mainstream breeds which make up the majority of the national flock. They came from a farmer in Bedford and Fran picked them from a flock of 100. They range in age – some are lambing for the second time, some the third time and some the fourth. They are all in-lamb to a Texel ram. There is an enormous benefit to all students on campus. There is a number of routine tasks that are required and as with any new-borns they need very careful stockmanship, something which is really important to learn about. We hope that this is something we can build on in the future, said Fran. They will play a part in Woodside’s open days and while it is hoped that each ewe will be capable of rearing the lambs which she produces there may be the odd one which requires hand rearing so Farmer Toms could soon be home to some friendly little characters!