ON THE FARM WITH ADAM
While lambing season is rewarding, new export paperwork is tough on farmers.
Does anything signal the start of spring more delightfully than the sight of a newborn lamb gambolling through a daffodil-dotted meadow? It’s a scene that can warm even the coldest of hearts.
I first witnessed the miracle of birth in a lambing shed when I was barely old enough to pull on a pair of little wellies by myself, and in the 50-odd years since, I must have helped thousands of new arrivals into the world. It’s easy to spot a sheep farmer at this time of year; we’re the ones looking particularly stressed, dishevelled and sleep-deprived.
Lambs have a habit of appearing at the most inconvenient time of night, occasionally needing a helping hand to avert a tragedy and almost always at the same time as other ewes go into labour. But despite the tears and tiredness, it’s an experience I wouldn’t swap for anything and the recent Covid lockdown means I’ve been able to be an even more ‘handson’ shepherd than usual.
AUTUMN LAMBS
Of course, there’s much more to the lambing season than most people realise. For a start, not all lambs are born in spring. A handful of sheep breeds around the world can give birth in autumn and among them are the Dorsets. As their name suggests, they originally hail from the mellow pastures of southern England. Our flock of 26 Poll (or hornless) Dorset ewes gave birth in November, and their newborns ventured outside for the first time just as we were introducing the rams to our other commercial and rare-breed ewes.
Which brings me to the most common misunderstanding about sheep rearing: the lamb that’s currently on sale in butcher’s shops and on meat counters, marketed as the perfect joint for Easter Sunday, isn’t the same lamb that’s enjoying the lush grass out in the fields right now. In the trade, ‘lamb’ refers to sheep meat from animals up to a year old, so it’s those Poll Dorsets born towards the end of 2020 that will be ready for the table later this month.
TRADE HEADACHES
Despite good prices, the last 12 months have been a worrying time for Britain’s sheep farmers. When rams went to the ewes last autumn, trade negotiations with the EU were still in deadlock. As one livestock haulier said: “Preparing for Brexit is like taking an exam without knowing what to revise because you don’t know the syllabus”!
In recent years, about half the lamb produced in the UK has been exported to the EU, so the threat of a 40% tariff was a make-or-break issue for many livestock breeders. No wonder there were sighs of relief when the trade deal agreed on Christmas Eve confirmed that exports of British meat, and other goods, would be tariff-free. But with it comes a raft of new checks and paperwork; from carcass inspections and export health certificates (signed by a vet) to customs clearances and advance invoicing.
The result has been long delays for some shipments at Calais, questions about the cost of the extra admin and anger from exporters frustrated by ‘red tape’. I’m certain that European shoppers love British lamb, but quite how much they’ll be able to buy this time next year, I’m less sure of.
Meanwhile, by the time lambing is complete here at Bemborough Farm, we’ll have welcomed more than 1,000 new little lives into the world. A feat that might qualify me for a part in a Sunday night TV show – Call the Midwife!