Lambing season: Why do our farmers lamb outdoor instead of the barn?

April 2025

Lambing season is upon us! Our farmer Richard, who looks after our flock (some are ready to pop), has given us an insight on how we lamb at Tablehurst Farm, the challenges and what makes us unique. 

We are expecting our new arrivals from 21 April. This may seem later than other farms or even compared to lambing at Tablehurst Farm historically. Indeed, we are lambing later because we now allow the ewes to birth outdoors, which we recognise is the most natural environment for the sheep. In order to do so, we need to ensure there is enough grass for grazing, and everything seems to be growing later at the moment. 

When we lambed indoor in the past, grass was not an issue as there was supplementary feeding. However, the barn was not a natural environment for birth, as people - not just farmers but members of the public - could get very close to them, which was more stressful for the ewes and new borns. 

Since lambing outdoors, the births have needed fewer interventions. As farmers, we would not bother them until a good hour after the first light of the day. What the ewes tend to do, during the process of labour, is take themselves off to a quiet corner or under a hedge. They’d separate themselves out from the flock to give birth, and often stay there for about 12 hours to bond with their new lambs. Then within 24 hours, they'll re-join the flock with little ones in tow.   

However, there are challenges to lambing outdoors. Firstly there is predation, as there are many foxes in this area. Crows can also attack young lambs. Then we sometimes find ewes giving birth in “less  sensible” spots, like in ditches(!). On the whole, however, we are very fortunate. Our breed is an old heritage breed called the Wiltshire Horned, which are very hardy and mostly just get on with it! 

Occasionally intervention is needed, even when lambing outdoors. Usually we can tell labour is starting as we can see the amniotic sac coming out. From there we expect birth to happen within an hour or two, but if there is no progress after several hours, we will check if there is an issue. Sometimes the ewes experience prolapse and we need to support the birth. If the scan shows triplets or quadruplets, we will keep an eye on them as their births are deemed to have more risks. 

Our sheep are biodynamic because they graze on the grass that grows from our soil. All the pastures that they graze on have been sprayed with the biodynamic preparations and fertilised with compost containing the preparations. We only supplement their diet with fresh water, rock salt and natural, organic minerals. Our principle is they eat good-quality, nutritious grass and have good immune systems. That way we can be as non-invasive as possible in how we rear the sheep - if they are minding their own business and they look happy, we just let them do their thing!