Lambs have been born for the first time in five year at the Woodside Farm of the College of West Anglia at Cambridge. And their mums just could not wait as ewes began giving birth at the weekend – nearly five weeks early. Five ewes have now given birth to healthy lambs, with another 15 awaiting their big moment. At the Woodside Farm at MiltonLinda Kirby and Fran Cook reacted swiftly to the first arrivals at the weekend and plans are now full steam ahead for lambing Saturday on April 26. Students across the campus were thrilled to see the new arrivals. It is the first time in some five years the farm is enjoying the birth of lambs. Twenty ewes have been brought to the farm by Fran Cook, a teaching support officer. 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. 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! PICTURE One of the ewes with her newborn lambs at Woodside Farm, Milton.