Not much rest for PMP catchment officer Mary McAndrew this time of year, it being the lambing season. As Mary says “Farming can be a difficult occupation but one of the things I love is that every day is so varied ... you end up doing so many different things each day”.
“I went home for Easter to ‘rest’ ... or at least that was the plan! My dad and brothers sheep and suckler farm is on Belmullet. We have a mixture of sheep breeds on the farm, from my brothers pure bred Suffolk flock, purebred Texels, crossbred ewes, and my favourites the Cheviots. We were down to our final 10 ewes to lamb”.
“On Saturday evening, my final ewe lambed, unfortunately the lambs internal organs started coming out through a hole in the navel, so we rang the vet who didn’t give us much hope, but we felt we had to try. So myself, dad and the lamb headed for the vets to get stitched up. The lamb sucked on the ewe when we got back and we thought we had a fighter. But sadly the lamb died on Sunday evening… the joys of sheep farming”.
Mary and her dad bought a cheviot ram each at the sales in Blessington last October so now the competition is on to see who has the better lambs, a couple of hers flock are pictured (the ones marked with the blue M’s).
The rest of Mary’s weekend was the usual round of feeding, getting sheep and lambs out to grass and checking on stock. "I love the time I get to spend at home, even though it’s always busy” says Mary.
#pearlmusselproject #RuralNetwork #farmlife #wicklowcheviotsheep #lambing2019 #sheep365
