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September 2026
Posted Tuesday 1st September, 2026
It’s been super dry across the whole country for months, but the first drops of rain are falling as we write this so we’re all really happy. Seeing those rain drops on the window after nothing but dust throughout the summer, is like seeing liquid gold fall from the sky! We remember having the same feeling last summer and we know it’s not just farmers who are excited to see the rain!
It might seem odd given how hot the weather has been, but we’re starting to plan for winter months across the farm. James and the farm shop team have been busy looking at everything relating to your Christmas dinner and festive plans, planning for this starts a lot earlier than most think! Ben and Shawn on the farm have also started thinking about next years lambs, early in October we will introduce the rams in a field with the ewes ready for breeding. The gestation period for sheep is around 5 months, meaning any new lambs would be due in March.
This is quite early in the year compared to what you may think a ‘traditional’ spring time looks like, we do it like this and prefer this for lots of reasons:
Being born earlier in the year means the lambs are at a slightly older age when the late spring grass and pasture on the farm is at its peak. This is usually when the flora across the farm is at its most nutritious and at its fastest growing stage and means that any lambs and ewes can really reap the benefits across the summer.
February is also a quieter time for us at Fordhall, which makes it easier for us to give the lambs and pregnant ewes our undivided attention during lambing season to hopefully benefit from a more successful lambing season.
As we progress throughout the autumn and winter we’ll keep you updated with the process and progress of everything across the farm relating to everything but particularly sheep. We’ll no doubt start guessing how many lambs we’re expecting once we get the ball rolling, this year we had 336 which was a great number for us.
The two litters of piglets born during the hottest part of August are quickly growing up. We’ve had to pay particular attention to keeping them cool on the warmest days. The team have created bathing ponds for them to wallow in, helping the pigs to regulate their body temperature better. As soon as the mud baths had been created the mother sows were particularly quick on jumping in and getting covered from head to tail!
