Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Students have a spring in their step thanks to lambing season
LAMBING season is one of the eternal signs that spring is here. Warmer days, more daylight and the sight of tiny animals on lush West Country grass have many of us thinking of new beginnings.
The slow emergence from lockdown may also be adding impetus to those contemplating major lifestyle or career changes.
And one woman from Bath who has made a radical career change is thoroughly enjoying her first lambing season as an agricultural student.
Two years ago Verity Cawood was stuck in an office job working Monday to Friday, from 9-5.
However, she said a life realisation made her understand that she didn’t want to do that anymore.
So she left her role in supply for a toy and gift company, and went to work on a dairy farm in Norway.
That might be a step too far for most – and as any farmer will attest, the hours in agriculture are hardly friendly – but it was just the change she needed.
Once she returned from Norway the 29-year-old enrolled on the Level 2 agriculture course at Lackham College in Wiltshire and has been working towards her dream of working with animals.
Verity said: “I love every day here. “I grew up in Yorkshire, where sheep are out all year round. And then I went to Norway, where there is a very free-range, organic way of farming. It’s very relaxing.
“What inspired me was that the farmers I was with there were in their 60s and had also quit their jobs to run farms. It showed me that it’s never too late.”
Most of her classmates are a little younger than Verity and some, like Arthur Baker, are certainly getting little rest as it is lambing season at the family farm in Somerset as well as at the Wiltshire college, where nearly 1,000 ewes are lambing.
Arthur is a Level 3 student from Frome and as a second year student he is supporting students who have not experienced lambing before.
“I grew up on a farm with cows and sheep, so I am quite experienced at lambing. However, I’ve learned lots of things at college,” he said.
“I want to be an agricultural engineer but you also have to know how to look after the animals, so I decided to study the Level 3 first and then I’ll be looking for an engineering apprenticeship once I finish this course in the summer.
“This is my favourite time of the year, helping deliver all the lambs and then seeing them all out in the fields.”
For the past 25 years the college at Lackham, between Lacock and Chippenham in West Wiltshire, has been opening its doors to thousands of visiting families to see the lambs.
The current lockdown restrictions
mean that Lackham, which is Wiltshire College & University Centre’s land-based campus, is not able to open its gates to the public at the moment.
At the last count 982 ewes are lambing, and so far there have already been several singles, twins, 56 sets of triplets and even five sets of quads.
Phil Steans, Lackham farm manager, said: “We’re delighted that the students were able to to return to the college in time to gain experience with lambing.
“This is one of the best practical learning experiences for the students during the year.
“We very much hope that we will be able to host our lambing weekends again next year and visitors will be able to see a few changes to the campus including our new robotic dairy, which milks half of the herd.”