Sarah,Teacher, Shepherd & General Superstar

Every year Sarah spends her Easter holidays helping us with lambing ( see our previous post) and when she goes back to school takes some of our orphan lambs into the primary school where she teaches. This year she took it one step further and took her reception class to visit Whitehouse Farm in Oxborough (see #OFS14 blog for more about owners Nick & Susie Emmett). Below she has jotted some thoughts about how she has used her shepherding experience to teach her class this spring.

'And now on to children …

Who was it said that, no one should ever work with children or animals? …  well I’ve done both.  And the best recipe is to mix them up together! 

Oh, this sounds like my great grandfather who mixed baking and farming. 

I’ve always taken lambs into school, yet I don’t think I’ve ever had a reception class so captivated as this year's have been.

The lamb visit to school motivated the children to write, paint, role-play, sing and be very curious.  One boy went to the shops and bought a book about sheep, another girl scraped the bark outside our classroom with her feet saying  “I’m digging the ground like the sheep”.  I was really surprised by this, we’d not talked about this behaviour and her reaction was entirely based on her observations at Whitehouse Farm. For this particular girl it represented some significant language development. 

One day we made a sheep pen in the classroom.  It was full of noisy children pretending to be sheep trying to find their muddled up lambs.  It was a lot of fun and pretty amazing when you think that a lot of the children in my class, live in challenging social conditions, and rarely go anywhere. A trip to the farm was a big deal for them.

Another day we visited a pop-up art gallery in our classroom created with pictures borrowed from my walls at home.  We’ve looked at what crooks are made of, made lamb shaped biscuits and are shortly to explore meat and wool.  The children were so enthralled with all their newly gained language that they told Nick & Susie on a subsequent visit to Whitehouse Farm that the big sheep are called ewes, not mummy sheep! 

A huge belated thanks to Rob and Sarah for allowing me to spend an idyllic Easter holidays helping out; even entrusting me to the care of the orphans – all hand picked to be of special interest so that the children could discuss a variety of sizes and colours, and mixed parentage.

My Head Teacher couldn’t believe I was brave enough to back my van up to the gates and just let 6 lambs go across the playground and through a funnel made up of lines of children into a temporary pen.  Each child had to weigh and make up their own milk powder to feed a lamb.  An exercise in logistics enabling 30 children to do this.  Normally noisy children learned to be gentle and careful. '

The logistics of getting photos to accompany this amazing story have proven a little too difficult to do. I am sure however that you can get the gist  without them. I hope that the children at Sarah's school in future years will look back at these few weeks and realise how privileged they were to have her as a teacher.

Lambing 2014 - Guest post by Sarah Francis

Sarah in the lambing field one very wet morning

We said it would be weekly - but we were lying! A broken computer has extended the wait but this is well worth it! Sarah's impressions of Lambing 2014.

Sarah has been a good mate for many years and has taken over from Nick Emmett as our mentor, helping us to build our flock of sheep here in The Brecks.

 

How long have you lived in The Brecks and what brought you here?

I have lived in the Brecks since 1987 when work with a national pig breeding company brought me here. I remember complaining to my Aunt that I thought it would be flat and boring, but I loved it from the start.

What made you stay? 

I stayed as my farming career evolved and as my experience widened from indoor pigs to outdoor pigs; I ended up being the second female in the UK to manage a large outdoor breeding herd. Over time I grew to love the Brecklands for its wildlife and landscape.

Your day job is as a teacher in Kings Lynn – so where did you gain your shepherding experience? 

My shepherding experience began as a child when I yearned and dreamt of working on farms:  my father taught agriculture and I would accompany him on visits to farmers at every opportunity I could. As a teenager I learnt to lamb by working on large flock ,at Penshurst Place Kent, in my holidays.  About 15 years ago I spent a period being self-employed and worked largely as a shepherd in East Anglia, expanding my experience. In addition I worked in Yorkshire, Northumberland and Devon, lambing large flocks.

What made you give up working with livestock? 

I always enjoyed teaching others livestock husbandry whilst I worked on the farms and I was seeking new challenges where I could inspire the next generation of farmers. I remember talking about the lambing yard and the classroom, at my teaching interview, where the similarities of rapidly changing priorities are present in both situations.

How have you enjoyed working with a small flock?

Yes certainly a change for me and not one I would have thought I would have enjoyed. However there is nothing small about your flock and the outlook you have for local food production. It’s a pleasure being involved in a small family business where animal welfare is of the highest standards and where sensible commercial decisions are made.  It’s been great to know every sheep and remember the origin of all the lambs…oh yes that’s the, ‘fir tree lamb’…(who was born next to the fir tree.) .... something that when you are working on large flocks just doesn't happen.

Mother Love

What do you think about our New Zealand Romneys?

I must admit I have always worked with clean faced sheep so originally I thought they were ugly! I am now a convert watching their amazing mothering ability, their huge characters, ease of lambing/milking ability. I can see why they fit your system so very well and with the imported NZ genes believe they are the perfect choice for a low input/ outdoor lambing system to fit in with the pigs and the clothes business!

These quads were scanned as a single - delivered by Sarah they prove she hasn't lost her touch 

What has been the highlight this spring?

Realising I had not forgotten my instincts as a stockman and a shepherd. Passing on my experiences to others, including my class at school. Seeing a difficult lamb survive after a few days support in the field. 

And the lowest point? 

Going back to school when I wanted to carry on in the field! However this soon changed when my class were inspired to learn all about sheep following a visit to school by the orphan lambs.

What is special about keeping sheep in the Brecks? Why does it differ from other parts of the UK? 

Traditionally sheep were grazed the heathland of The Brecks with very hardy breeds like The Norfolk Horn. With the advent of irrigation things changed. A ready water supply meant that now high value crops could be grown so sheep were replaced by carrots & spuds. A change of government policy which encourages farmers to ensure that at least some of their farm reverts to grass means that there is currently a bit of a stock renaissance here in The Brecks. We still need hardy native breeds though!

Vic Francis feeding orphan lambs

I understand that shepherding is a new skill for your husband Vic – how has he taken to it?  

Actually not bad! I was impressed when walking through the field when he decided to walk around a bunch so he didn’t disturb them. He has adored rearing the orphans and the opportunity to watch them grow and develop. And he has been spotted galloping in the garden with the lambs…oh how embarrassing!

Will we see you in 2015?  

You would have to lock me up to prevent this! I have farming in my blood and you have given me a wonderful opportunity to indulge one of my lifelong passions.

Rob & Vic

Sarah will definitely be back with us in the lambing field in 2015. She is however returning to the blogisphere slightly sooner as she has done a follow up blog which talks about using lambing as a way to teach and inspire her class.

.... And a little bit more from #OFS14

Black is back at The Royal Norfolk Show

With only two weeks to go until The Royal Norfolk Show takes place on Wednesday & Thursday 25th & 26th June things are hotting up at Scotts Field Pork.

Because of the need to maintain a high health status we do not show our pigs as unfortunately at the moment we don't have space for a quarantine area once they return home - there is also the issue of time as well!

The Large Black Pig will however be well represented at the show by other breeders and it is well worth getting to the ring early to watch judging on the first day.

Our big news about this years show is that Vanessa Scott is very kindly showcasing our pork in her cookery demonstration which takes place in The Cookery Theatre at 3.30 pm on the Wednesday.

'Mrs Pigman' will be on stage with her talking about our herd of Large Black Pigs and why it is so important that the gene pool from these fabulous animals survives.

Please come along to the cookery theatre and support Sarah & Vanessa - lets see if two Norfolk gels can get more bums on seats than a celebrity chef!

(If by any chance  you would like to see James Martin Cooking as well pop along an hour or so earlier)

#OFS14

Open Farm Sunday was hosted yet again by The Emmett Family at their family farm in Oxborough. This year however it was Nick & Susie’s daughter Liza who took charge of organizing the event.  A young woman of many talents – when she is not helping her father with lambing or teaching tourists in The Med how to sail she can be found at local boutique hotel Strattons in Swffham where she is a member of the front of house team.

As always we took one of our sows, this year it was Gloria’s turn, with her piglets for children to guess the name of her piglets.

There were also lots of sheep related activities such as Joe Emmett shearing the families flock of mules

and local shepherd Emma weighing lambs with the help of her son, James.

Team Cake as always did a a cracking job.

The sun shone and fun was had by all.

There is however a more serious side to all this and that is Education, Education, Education.

As well as the expected chorus of how they could never eat anything so cute as our piglets this afternoon I spent time with a local lady who thought I was joking when I told her that the majority of pigs in this country are born and live indoors then are slaughtered having never been outside. It is a system of farming that although I chose not to follow does not horrify me as much as it did her, which once again proves the huge disconnect in this country between the food that people consume and where it comes from.

We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to not only to The Emmett Family but also to the 400+ other famers here in The UK today who have tried today to help consumers make that connection with the food that they eat – whether it be on a Brookfield or Mega Dairy scale farm.