Lambing network going from strength to strength

Webinar to celebrate women in farming who have shown resilience during pandemic

A “lambing buddies” network of farming women which was set up to provide practical local support during the Covid lockdown has attracted 600 volunteers – and is still growing.

The movement was the inspiration of Debs Roberts from Farmton in Perthshire who will share her story with other enterprising farmers at a Women in Agriculture Scotland (WIA) webinar next week.

Debs set up the Ladies who Lamb closed Facebook page 18 months ago for women involved in shepherding, sheep farming, shearing and contracting businesses. It rapidly amassed 6,500 members across the UK and internationally, and when the pandemic hit during lambing this year she identified the need for solo farmers to have back-up help they could trust if they became ill.

“I started the buddy network so people in need could look at a Google map and see volunteers nearby and get support from the community,” she said.

“It’s not a formal arrangement and we don’t ask for feedback so I don’t know how much it has been used in an emergency , but it has grown organically and now extends to people sharing shearers and contract work or labour.”

Debs says the original Ladies who Lamb page is a closed group to ensure a safe place for members who range across all sectors of the industry.

“Some members have thousands of sheep on a hill, others have just a few pets, and the ethos is that people should be kind, and no question is a stupid question. Every day I’m surprised by how much support there is within the industry. ”

Another local story of resilience to feature in next week’s webinar will be told by June Geyer who is a founding member of the WIA group and the current chair.

She said: “As well as the beef and arable unit, we run an agricultural engineering business near Dunfermline, and when the gyms closed during lockdown we were asked by a customer to produce a set of steel weights as they were almost impossible to come by.

“He shared our work on Facebook and by next day we had two orders and now we’ve made 200 sets – and orders are still trickling in – which meant we didn’t need to furlough any staff.

“Farmers have to think out of the box every single day, we’re all used to it, so it maybe helps make us more resilient.”

A third speaker, Elspeth Goldie from Craighead Nurseries in Ayrshire, will describe how she had to close her day care nursery during lockdown but set up a parents’ support group to ensure help was available.

Tickets for Tuesday’s free WIA webinar, which starts at 10am, are available at eventbrite.co.uk

Debs Roberts, who set up a support group for women farmers, with her daughter Jess at Farmton.

Picture: Steve Brown. June Geyer with son Hamish and one of the weights.