Here is the breeding flock, we usually try to lamb in late in February and find the Lincoln lambs easily, and the size of the ewes makes sorting out any problems pretty straightforward.

In the rolling Worcester countryside the Tardebigge flock has flourished. Our 25 to 30 ewes usually produce 35+ quality lambs.

Lambing in February means we do not have to keep the lambs in too long and they are reasonably competitive for the later shows. The Shadow flock usually produces a variety of shades, mostly grey bodies with dark edges, but recently we have produced some chocolate brown examples.

The winter of 2010 will go down in history as one of the worst ever. With water frozen for three weeks in November and two bouts of heavy snow in December conditions were very challenging.

We lost a couple of slipped lambs and had 6 barren ewes but, as usual, you just get on with it. The lambing period in February was, in contrast, very pleasant weather and the unseasonably warm March and April gave the lambs a really good start.

Fortunately the smaller number of lambs meant we got through a dry summer quite well, so we are all set for this years tupping.