Lambing is over at Highfield House

Second sheep-based post this week!

We pop to our favourite Highfield House Farm Shop pretty much every weekend now (and generally buy them out of the lovely Ann Forshaw's yogurts - which the person behind the counter always finds very funny), and this weekend we were amused to see farmer David Prince looking particularly chipper.

The wind has been really blowing, and he told us gleefully that it would be clocking up the pennies for him with his wind turbines which help to power the farm.

The Prince family keep flocks of several different breeds of prize-winning sheep so have had a busy few months lambing. We know from the recent headlines that the unseasonally late snow two weeks ago caused havoc for sheep farmers so we asked David if his flock had been affected.

He told us that his sheep are all born indoors so thankfully were unharmed by the snow. And with lambing now finished, David is getting a much-needed extra few hours sleep (which might account for his cheeriness!). He's also been able to turn the sheep out onto his fields this week, now the weather has turned warmer.

But he also told us of a farmer friend nearby who had lost nearly 200 lambs to the bad weather - representing almost 20% of his annual production of sheep. With the average lamb netting about £100 for the farmer that's a loss of nearly £2,000, which David pointed out would have covered the farmer's grain bill.

It's a sobering thought and just goes to show how much farmers are still at the mercy of the elements.