6:00pm Friday 19th March 2010
By Rachel Allen
Families from across the county flocked to Wiltshire College Lackham for the first of two lambing weekends.
Hundreds of visitors filled the grounds of Lackham House to see sheep, cows and deer at Home Farm and Notton Farm.
Youngsters were able to see lambs and calves, as well as different breeds of sheep and cows, while some families were lucky enough to see lambs being born.
Jo Lawton, from Devizes, went along on Sunday with her two daughters, grandson Alfie, two, and granddaughter Maddison, one.
She said: “We have been to the lambing events before. It’s a really nice day out for families and we try and come every year.
“When we arrived we saw a lamb being born and then we took the tractor down to the other farm and went on the steam railway.”
Resident shepherd of 20 years John Scott was in charge of lambing and said that 20 lambs had been born on Saturday, while just eight were born on Sunday.
He said: “The weekend has gone very well, the weather has been ideal.
“We have got quite a lot of ewes giving birth this year. We lambed 95 in the early flock, which finished the first week of February, this flock will have about 330 and we start the Whitehall flock on April 1.”
Lambs were not the only attraction, with tractor and trailer rides between the two farms proving to be a huge hit as well as the miniature steam engine rides.
Mark and George Richards, from Malmesbury, took their three-year-old daughter Amber and two-month-old baby India along.
Although Amber was a bit scared of the sheep she was introduced to, she said: “I gave her a little stroke.”
Asked what her favourite part of the day was, she said: “I liked going on the tractor.”
There is another lambing weekend tomorrow and Sunday, from 10am-5pm on both days with last entry at 4pm. Pregnant women are advised to keep out of the lambing areas. Entrance is £20 per car or £6 per adult and £4 per child.
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