Live Show 2 Lambing Live

Welcome to the Dykes' farm here in the Scottish Borders south of

Edinburgh. We are here at the busiest and the most exciting time

in the sheep farming calendar. This is Lambing Live.

Isn't that just the most glorious sight? Lots of content,

heavily-pregnant ewes altogether in the shed, all looking very relaxed,

some munching, lots lying down. But come with me because there is some

action going on in this corner. Hamish Dykes runs this farm with his

wife Susie. And his Dad, John. We will be meeting Susie and John

later. Good evening. Hi. I was saying it is a real scene of

tranquillity? Yes. It is blissful when they are all lying down

sleeping. But you have got your eye on a ewe just in the back here. If

you were watching yesterday, we did give you some hints to what to look

for when a ewe is in labour. What's telling you that this ewe is close

to giving birth? Well, that one lying down there, you can see her

tail wagging. She is almost going into contractions. She is quite well

on. In fact, the water bag has popped out so the lamb must be

close. She's scanned for three. She'll have to be lambed one way or

another within the next hour. Just in the last few minutes, this one

here is starting to show signs. The one closest to us with the white

face and the speckles around her eye? Yes. This one here is also

thinking about it. I have another one in the corner. We have four

sheep in this corner all look like they could lamb. You mentioned

scanning. We will be finding out more about that process later. Now,

you have a mixture of experienced mums and newer mums in this shed?

Yes, that's right. And I suppose in an ideal world, you want them to

lamb without any intervention? Well, that's right. You don't want to

interfere unless it is necessary. Yeah. Well, we have somebody called

Alastair who comes in during the night and he takes over from you,

doesn't he, to check the lambs? You do need to check on the ewes

throughout the night as well? If you bring them into the shed like this,

yes, you do have to be monitoring them. Alastair witnessed this, which

is a textbook natural birth? Yes, perfect. She spat that out all by

herself. Shortly, she will come round and look after it. So, he knew

that that was all going well, there was nothing that he needed to do to

go in and interfere? Experience tells you, if you are looking at the

sheep in the shed, you know when they are going into labour and you

know how long they need and you see the feet and the nose appear. I

think the most remarkable thing of all is so quickly - immediately

after the birth, this happens, this amazing - it is bonding behaviour,

is it? Yes, it's just the natural mothering instincts of the ewe. She

immediately turns round and starts licking the lamb. Is the licking,

does it serve more of a purpose than cleaning the lamb up? Absolutely.

The licking is a very important stimulus for the newborn lamb. As

soon as it feels the rough tongue, that promotes the lamb to start

moving itself and coughing and clearing its lungs. I don't think I

will ever be - I will stop being amazed at how quick they get to

their feet? They get to their feet within minutes and they are looking

for the teat. Now, there was another birth last night that Alastair did

need to intervene in. Do we know why this one he felt that he needed to

help? Well, I have no idea. I wasn't there. I was in The Land of Nod! He

must have felt she was lambing for too long. It is a big lamb. It looks

completely lifeless. Is he trying to get the heart going? Yeah,

basically. It is a bit more stimulation than maybe a tongue

would give. Not much success. So he is giving it a wee swing. That looks

brutal? It gets the fluid moving out of the lungs and it helps to get the

lamb to cough. Now, what is he doing? A bit of straw up the nose.

There you go, the lamb sneezes and we have life. That is incredible.

So, that looked pretty rough. But is that sometimes what is required,

just to get them going? Yeah, absolutely. Well, did that little

lamb survive that rough treatment? Adam and Susie can reveal all.

Here it is. Still alive. Doing well. And its twin sister is over there.

Let's give it back to its mum. Good old, Alastair. Now, Susie, it seems

to be going quite smoothly. They seem content. Lots of our viewers

have been e-mailing in, [email protected] - remember

that one - and lots of people have been asking do sheep have umbilical

cords. Of course they do. Yes, they need an umbilical cord like a human

baby does. It carries oxygen and blood supply, everything the foetus

needs to grow. We have a bit of footage of a ewe giving birth. We

can see the umbilical cord breaking. You can understand why people were

confused. There it is, hanging from the ewe. As she walks away, it

stretches and severs? Yes. We can slow that right down and there it

is. You can see the umbilical cord. Yes. Of course, once they are a few

days old - do you want to grab a lamb - here we are. Now, there is

the little umbilical cord. We put iodine on it - mainly, it is quite

fleshy and it is an open route for infection to get in. There we are,

it dries up into a tiny twig. That breaks off and leaves its

bellybutton. Yes. That is where we were attached to our mothers when we

were inside her! We have been very busy following the Dykes family for

the last six months. And as well as sheep, the Dykes also breed and sell

pedigree cattle. October was a particularly important month for

them. Soon it will be time to bring our

cattle in for the winter but, for now, our pedigree Simmental herd

graze alongside our sheep. In just a few days, John and Hamish will be

taking three of our bulls to the sales at Stirling. This is Dazzler

and Del Boy in the middle and Dandy is the dark-coloured bull who's the

youngest one. John takes great pride in getting the bulls to look their

best. I'm giving him a good comb, trying to make them as wide and as

level as possible. The boys have set up a bull barber shop. If you take

too much off, you can't put it back on again. Everybody tries to make

their animals look as well as they possibly can. If you took these in

their working clothes, they wouldn't look as well as the rest. It is like

selling cars. You know what it's like when you've had a haircut you

can't wait to get home and wash all the wee cut bits out. Attaboy, good

lad. He'll never admit it, but John has high hopes for his next customer

- Del Boy. This is the best one, but it really boils down to the price

you can get for him at the end of the day. So until the money's in the

bank you never know. But looks aren't everything. The bulls also

need to be well behaved. This one's just a wee bit more nervous than the

other two, so we've got to lasso him so we can get closer to him. That

makes it a bit safer now to get the halter on him now and just remind

him who the boss is. Getting ready for the sales is a family affair -

it's always Kate's job to polish the show harnesses. What I can never

understand is how one bull can make 30,000, another bull can just make

3,000 and to me they all just look a lot the same.

Stirling Bull Sale - one of the biggest days in our year. Well done

Brian, g'day. For John, the sales are the moment of truth. Cattle are

a big part of our income and, no matter how good you think they are,

you never know how well they'll do. Sometimes I wonder why they put

themselves through it because it's the same every time. Believe you me

I've lived with him for 45 years. The bulls are shown before they are

sold. Hamish is tasked with parading John's favourite - Del Boy. We've

higher hopes for this one than we have for some of our previous bulls

so there's probably more anxiety in that situation than there would be

with a straightforward average bull. There's a lot of good bulls in this

class so we'll see how it finishes up. It's a nervous wait but Del Boy

wins his class. Wooh, first prize, fantastic, couldn't ask for better.

He was first. He was very good. When you win it gives you that wee boost,

gives you a bit of enthusiasm to keep going a bit longer. But John's

years of experience have taught him that a rosette will mean nothing if

the bulls don't sell at auction. There is always something you can

make better. It helps to calm the nerves if you are doing something.

First in the ring is Dazzler, who achieves a good price of 3,000

guineas. Dykes sale, 3,000, 3,000... But there is disappointment as young

Dandy fails to meet his reserve. 28, 28, we'll leave it unsold at 28...

All hopes rest on prize-winning Del Boy. Now from the Dykes family, Del

Boy. Mother is the best cow in the herd, a real meat machine there. The

auctioneer is working the crowd. 44, 45... Scoring a record result for

John of 10,500 guineas - just over ?11,000. At 10,500, 10,500... I was

very pleased. I was waiting for John to smile actually but it didn't

come. Quite happy with the prices we got for the two bulls we sold. It

would have been nice to have sold all three of them but that's the

luck of the draw. We are better off than a lot of people. Highest priced

bull to date so we are happy. You must have been very proud that

day at the cattle sale? It was fantastic to get a good price like

that. It was very nice. Magnificent animals. Now, what Hamish and I have

been watching is really - it is like a school demonstration of lambing

signs, isn't it, really? Do you think she is close? I think they are

both close, in fact. There's three that are quite close - and four -

this one here. If you are ready to take bets on who shall drop first?

Will you shout if I need to... I will shout. I will have a quick scan

of the shed. I want to catch up with John Dykes, Hamish's father. Again,

I mean, Hamish said it was a proud day at the bull sale. You looked

delighted and rightly so? I was very pleased, yes, the best price we have

had to date. That's always a step in the right direction. Did Del Boy, he

was born here, did he always show promise, did he always - did you

always think he might be a champion? He was always a good calf and he

kept thriving all his life. What is it about - when you look at a calf,

what is it that tells you it is going to be a good one? Just the

size and the width, just the general shape of them. It's something you

pick up if you breed livestock. The day they are born, you can often see

when a good one is going to turn out the right way. I mean, you obviously

love your blue-faced Leicesters that we met on the programme yesterday.

Just seeing you with the cattle, I don't know, are you a sheep man or a

cattle man? Well, I think I was - I have probably always been both.

Hamish is keener on the sheep than the cattle. So I take more

responsibility for the cattle in the last wee while. Right. You certainly

do a fantastic job. It's not just the sheep that are

bred here on the farm as John said. Adam joined Gillian this morning to

see if the heifers are in calf. We are scanning these cows to see

whether they are in calf or not. For John and the Dykes family, this is

very important. You don't want to feed a cow all through the spring

and summer months if she is not pregnant. These will go for beef if

they are empty. When you are scanning sheep, you use

a scanner outside the body on the belly of the animal. Cattle, being

so huge, the easiest way to scan them is through the rectal passage.

17 weeks. 17 weeks in calf. What Gillian is doing here is putting her

arm into the rectum of the cow with a scanner in her hand and she is

putting it right over so she can see into the uterus of the cow and an

image comes up on her goggles. What Gillian is looking at is coming on

to this screen here. There is a mixture of greys and blacks and

stripes and lumps and bumps. Gillian is skilful at determining what that

is and occasionally I can make out a skull or a few ribs. It's a skilled

job and she can tell exactly how many weeks in calf this cow is. 16

weeks. To me, it is all a bit gobbledegook, really.

They had some great results this morning. All the heifers, apart from

one, proved to be in calf. So there will be lots of young bulls and

calves running around the farm hopefully in the autumn. Let's go

back and check on how our lambing is going. What news, Hamish? Well,

there's nothing popped out just yet. They are certainly giving it a lot

of action. Yeah, I still wouldn't like to put money as to which one

will go first! Let's cast our minds back to one of the toughest winters

in living memory. A winter is always a difficult time for farmers and

this winter has been one of extremes for farmers up-and-down the country

including the Dykes. The familiar call of geese overhead

heralds the start of winter. They have come to roost on the reservoir

above the farm. Like the geese, Hamish is up before dawn, but it is

not always easy when the days get shorter. There is a big part of you

that does want to stay in bed. When you have the cattle in the sheds,

you get up, turn the lights on and get the work done. We have brought

the cattle in for the winter. It is quite nice coming into the warm

cattle sheds and you can get on with your work and you are protected from

the elements. The cattle need to be fed twice a day. This is what the

cows eat. It is dried grass and it smells quite nice when you get used

to it! Most of our flock stays outside in

all weathers. Our blue-faced Leicesters aren't built for a long,

Scottish winter. They are not as hardy as the hill breeds. They do

need a bit more attention. You would winter them outside. You have to be

very good to them. They would eat just as much outside. If they are

not inside, they are not subject to the vagaries of the weather. It is

time for John to bring them into the shed. Get on. These will stay in

from now until probably late February. The winter has been mild

so far, but it carries a sting in its tail. Like the rest of the

country, we are battered by the December storms. Tonight on

Reporting Scotland... We wake up to find the gales have left a trail of

destruction. When I went to let the dog out the house this morning, the

first thing I saw was a ferret bouncing around. The lid lifted off

the ferret hut and it smashed through the fence. I think the

ferrets have paid a visit to the hens as well, so we are not going to

get anymore eggs from them now. The damage doesn't stop there. I heard

this mighty crack and this tree had come down. One of our older trees

has come down near the house, smashing through Jess' kennel. She

was inside at the time. If she had been sat outside, she would have got

squashed. Just sort of missed the diesel tank a bit as well. So we are

probably quite fortunate that it has not done more damage. It could have

been a different story. If Hamish had been letting the dogs out, or

the children had gone to let the dogs out, it doesn't bear thinking

about. It happens, you hear of these horrible things that do happen and

how lucky we were. Good boy! This tree is going to keep us warm

for a winter or so I would hope. The clean-up is one more job to add to

the list of chores and it doesn't help when the power goes out -

something we have to deal with quite often in winter. We can use the

shed, but we can't see what we are doing because there is no power. The

next job is to go through these lambs, but it is getting a bit dark

now. It's gone 4.00pm. So I could do with power back on so I can get on

with the job. Hamish is sorting the lambs for market in total darkness.

She brings light! I have to get on with it. This isn't the end of the

world working by torch light. It is not a lot of fun sitting in a cold

house in the dark. If we can light the fire and boil a kettle or

something, it makes it more bearable. Get these to the children

and make my housewarm! -- my house warm! OK? Thank you, Sir. You are

welcome! LAUGHTER

That will keep you warmer. A tough winter? It was a tough

winter, yeah. It was wet. It was wet. Wet was the word. Spring is now

here. And as if to reiterate that, look what happened just moments ago.

So, as you predicted, Hamish, our first lamb of the night. You

wouldn't put any money on when it would happen. There it is. This ewe

- how many is she expecting? She has no mark on her back, so she's

scanned for two. So, she will be giving birth to another one? I would

think so. Going by the speed of the first, I think the second one will

come out quite quickly. Now, we have got a situation developing here. The

other ewe that was also displaying signs of labour seems to be coming

up and licking at the water bag? Yes, I think if she was at the other

end of the ewe, she would be licking the lamb. So, this is a classic

situation whereby you would want to try and keep things from getting

muddled up by monitoring it. We will be talking a bit about that

situation, that pinching a bit later. We will be keeping an eye on

her. That is our first Lambing Live lamb.

It is all kicking off. We have four over there. They are altogether in

the corner! We have had lots of people writing in asking about these

pink cards. What are they? These are BBC pink cards. They are nothing to

do with us at all. The researchers need to know where the lambs that

have been born through the night are, where they are destined to go,

what their names are and how they were born, if there were any issues,

so they write it down. Like notes at the end of a hospital bed. Is this

something you might adopt when we have gone? No. They move through the

pens so quickly. We have what is looking like a bit of mismothering

over there? Yes. Last night, we had some of the same problems, so let's

take a look at what went on. When the ewes are lambing altogether in

the corner of a pen, this ewe is licking the lamb, her own lamb, and

then the mule has gone in to lick it as well. So, she doesn't want to get

on with it? She's - the mule is - she is probably going to come into

labour herself fairly soon. The hormones are kicking in. She's got

to get down and push? Yes, she has to get on with it. Too posh to push!

In this situation, when you have lots of ewes all in the corner,

that's when you need to step in? Definitely. That is why we have

somebody up through the night with them. There's so many in there, that

is bound to happen. Hamish is over there now and he's trying to sort

out those ewes with Kate. They are moving the ewe into the pen so that

she is safe to lie down. She's scanned for trip lets? Twins. There

she is. She's gone into the pen now. Now she can lie down in the peace

and comfort without being troubled by the other sheep. The Dykes also

ultrasound their sheep so they know how many lambs to expect from each

ewe. Early in the New Year, Kate joined Susie and Hamish to see how

many lambs were on their way. A cold, dark January morning and the

shed has been transformed into a waiting room for what Hamish hopes

are some very expectant mothers. Some of them look like they're about

to pop now. Today the Dykes are scanning 619 of

their 1,000 ewes and everyone has to muck in. Blue for one lamb, twins

get no mark, triplets have a red mark and god forbid there's four,

they'll get two red dots on the shoulders.

Scanner Stuart Wright uses ultrasound to find out exactly how

many lambs each ewe is carrying. Three. So that's the red mark, isn't

it? Yes. One. Every sheep is then marked with a thick oily paint so

everyone knows what to expect. One. It's a big day because this is when

the Dykes find out if their rams have been up to the job. These ewes

have been out with the tup that was bought at Kelso tup sales. Oh right,

OK. Three. Well, he's done quite a good job by the looks of things.

Yes, he has. Almost too good a job. Three. For most farmers, two is the

magic number. They'd like every ewe to be carrying twins because that's

all they can suckle. We're having a few triplets here just now. Three. I

can see a lot of bottle-feeding. No, no, no, we have a machine, we don't

do bottle-feeding. Being a professional scanner is about speed

and accuracy and it takes Stuart just five seconds to scan each ewe.

He's foolishly offered me a go. Where do you actually put it?

There's a bit of skin just to the side of the teats on the yow. Right.

You need to get a good contact on the skin and then the picture should

come up. Ah, it's not easy, is it? I don't even know if I'm in the right

place. I might be up a leg or something. Well you know where the

udder is, if you go to the far side... Roll away to your right. Oh

we've lost picture. See the lambs are down here... Have you done this,

Susie? No. I don't recommend it. Hang on. I think I've found

something. Goodness knows whether they're a lamb or not. I'd say is

that one there? No. No? There's one to the right and there's one to the

left. That's the head. Oh there! And then as we go to the right you can

see another body and head to the right. Right, now the lambs are no

bigger than plums - it's no wonder that I'm struggling to make head or

tail of what I'm seeing. It could be anything at all? It really could be.

Impossible. Absolutely impossible. That's the thanks I get. You've been

pooed on. That's why I have the glove on. Yeah, I know. Thanks for

lending me that glove. My skills as a scanner may be

dubious but I'm more worried about my badger-face rams. It's time to

scan the 150 "hogs" or young first-time mums that they've been

mating with. So we'll fire them up and see how they go. Eek. I feel

very, very, responsible for the outcome of these. I may have to slip

Stuart a tenner just to up the percentage a little bit. With these

younger sheep, Hamish wants just one lamb each, something to give them a

gentle introduction to motherhood. Empty. Empty. Empty. Oh, this isn't

good, we've have three empties in a row. But much to my relief the

numbers start to pick up. Two. Twins? Yes. He shoots, he scores!

What would you like to see? We probably want just over 100%. We

want one lamb per hog. So somewhere just over the 100% would be lovely.

Stuart, can you reveal the percentage? 116%. Yes! Oh, I'm

really relieved. Are you proud? I am. I want to go out and have a

little word with them. Pat them on the back. All together we've scanned

619 of the Dykes' sheep. There are 134 with one lamb. 332 sets of

twins. 112 expecting triplets. And four ewes with quads inside. That's

1,150 lambs total. So, come end of March, we'll hopefully have some

nice lambs as well. Nature's done her bit - it's down to us now. We

get lots with lovely black eyebrows and I know my boys have done their

job well. We'll go round painting mascara on them when no-one's

looking. Exactly. It is oftenly lovely to know that

your ewes are in lamb, but is scanning more useful than that? How

do you use that information? The scan is very important. Right from

the point that you know what's in them, if they are empty, you can get

rid of them. If they have got one, you don't feed them too hard. If

they have got three, you need to look after them a lot better. Let's

give our viewers a bit of a test now. We are going to go to our

sheep-cam. There you are. You are seeing a lovely shot there. Let's

remind everybody, red spot was for? Red spot for three. And blue spot?

One. If they have no spot? Two lambs. That is a fantastic shot. So,

when they go into labour, as this - we have got a plethora of births

happening around us this evening. And, again, that helps you know what

to expect so our first Lambing Live lamb, she is expecting another lamb,

she has no other dots on her back? I think she is going to squeeze it out

pretty shortly. OK. It is imminent. We have a camera on her. Hopefully,

we will catch the moment. We have been having some questions from our

audience. They have been e-mailing in to [email protected] - you

can do the same thing. Lots of people are fascinated by the idea of

adoption. Scanning really helps with the idea of adopting. Can you

explain that? Yes, ideally, we get two lambs on to every ewe. If we see

one with a blue dot, which is a single having a lamb, we take a

spare lamb which would be a triplet and rub it into the fluids, the

lambing fluids and make that ewe think she's got two lambs. We can

show you that process. Gillian did exactly that with Susie this

morning, so we can see that there is a lamb emerging now and this is the

lamb that Gillian's brought in, that was a triplet that was born earlier?

That's right. It oo es a big single. It's a big lamb. So, she is making

the lamb all wet -- it's a big single. It's a big lamb. So, she is

making the lamb all wet. Does that mean it will smell the same as the

ewe's own lamb? The smell is very important. The fact that it is wet

is important as well. If it was a dry lamb, she wouldn't believe it.

If you walk this way, we can do two things at once. We can see how our

ewe is doing. But in here, this is the adopted lamb and the natural

lamb. That's correct. So, that giant one I'm assuming is the natural

lamb? You would be right there. The big single is the big one. The

little triplet would be the twin... Looking completely comfortable?

Absolutely. No problem at all. That helps you out because you are not

having to feed that triplet, a mum is doing it for you? Exactly. That

triplet would be sold to somebody else who is needing it if we didn't

do that. James has e-mailed us to see if there was any other way of

adopting. We can show you - I think this is a fascinating way of doing

it. Can you explain what Gillian is doing here? We had a hog, which is a

first-time lamber and she didn't manage to have the lamb safely and

the lamb was hung and dead. So one hog with a dead lamb, you skin the

dead lamb and put the skin like a jacket over the spare lamb and the

skin is on there for 12 hours, 24 hours and she thinks it is her lamb.

Again, it is the skin, the scent of her lamb that allows her to think

that a lamb that isn't hers, allows her to accept a lamb that isn't

hers? Exactly. We can go down to this next pen and that's the adopted

lamb there? That's the adopted lamb there. This is one-year-old sheep.

She's very happy and calm. No skin on it now? No, the skin doesn't have

to stay on for much more than 12 hours, 24 hours maximum. That is

brilliant. Well, as you can see, if we look at our ewe here, what do you

think, do you think she needs a bit of help? I don't think so. There is

a water bag there. The lamb will pop out fairly soon. OK. We will leave

her in peace for the time being. Tim Webster e-mailed us and asked why

farmers ha different breeds of sheep on their farms. Adam explains. This

is what sheep farming is all about. This one, although it looks lovely

and cute, is destined for the table, for eating. In 14 to 16 weeks, it

will be known as a prime lamb, it will be about 40 kilos and it will

get there partly because of the wonderful milk that it gets from its

mother and the grass that it eats so the nurture, but mainly it is down

to nature. It is down to the genetics, the parentage. Its mum and

dad. Come on, little one! To get this prime lamb, farmers carefully

select the different traits they want from different breeds of sheep.

That means a complicated family tree. Granddad is the blue-faced

Leicester. This breed produces lots of twins and triplets each year.

Both attributes that farmers are keen on because more lambs equal

more profit. The blue-faced Leicester is delicate and usually

has to lamb indoors, so to get that ideal combination of lots of lambs,

but with a bit more hardiness, farmers breed the blue-faced

Leicester with something else. Here on the Dykes' farm, they use the

Scottish black-face. So this is grandma, she is the grandmother of

that prime lamb that is going to go for eating. She is tough, she is a

survivor. She can live in the Scottish mountains all year-round.

She's a wonderful mother, so when the lambs are born, they are up on

their feet and they get up like a gazelle, she is at the top of the

tree. Very important. The genes combine to create the perfect sheep

mum. The mum is so important and here she is. She's known as a mule,

she is the most popular lowland ewe there is. With amazing attributes.

You can hear her calling to her lambs, wonderful maternal instincts.

And her physique is great. Just perfect for carrying two really

good-sized lambs in her womb. She can give birth to them with ease and

then mother them well. Underneath is important, too. I will sit her down.

Look at that. A good-size udder. Brilliant with rich, good quality

milk. A wonderful girl. The ultimate mum. She needs a good dad for her

lambs. Farmers use big meaty breeds to ensure their offspring are

chunky. This complex system of breeding has proven results. Perfect

prime lambs. Some sheep farmers only produce lambs for eating. Others

specialise in pedigree animals for breeding and some do a mix of

everything. What is great here on the Dykes' farm is they have the

whole system. The hill breeds, the Scottish black-face on the top, then

you come down on to the lowlands, you have the blue-faced Leicester

that they cross with the Scottish black-face to produce the mule and

they keep the mule as well, that ultimate ewe, that they then cross

with a meat ram to produce the perfect lamb for the table. They

have the lot! There we have it. That is the

stratification of the sheep industry. With over 60 breeds in the

country, there's lots to choose from. Those sheep in the hills are

the beginning and it keeps the men up there farming them and it works

all the way down. It is fascinating and it works for

all parts of the country. It is good business for everyone?

That's right. The black-face at the top of the hill, they are the key to

the flock. If we don't get them right, everything else suffers.

As we stand, surrounded by ewes, on the cusp of giving birth, we have a

couple of questions.ly ask both of you. Johnny -- I will ask both of

you. Johnny wants to know how many lambs can a ewe have at any one

time? You scanned four for quads this year. Is that normal? It is not

normal. It depends on the breed. The blue-faced Leicester breed have

more. We had one with five, which is a lot. But, generally, you are

looking for two or three. There is a breed which will have a lot of

lambs. The record is nine live lambs. Ridiculous! We are getting a

few quads. We had one with six this year, which is far more than you

need! Absolutely. There is an adoption challenge for you. Are we

alright? All quiet? Yes, nothing just yet. We have a whole load of

breeds in this country. They have an ancient ancestor and I went off in

search of that sheep a few months ago. I've come to Cyprus in the hope

of tracking down the elusive Mouflon. This ancient mountain sheep

is one of the ancestors of all domestic breeds today. It's found

only in the north west of the island - and the Mouflon is one rare breed

I've never seen before. So I'm hoping that Nikos Kassinis, from the

Cyprus Game and Wildlife Service, will help me track one down.

Goodness me, I mean to me it just looks like a big empty landscape.

Yes, it's a prime habitat for them, hilly, open, good pastures, not many

trees. But there are sheep out there somewhere is there? Yes, yes. You

assure me? I've got to see one, I've come a long way!

Unlike the sheep I'm used to, the Mouflon are completely wild. They

roam free, high up in the hills, hidden from view. Crikey, it's steep

isn't it - you need to be a mountain sheep to be able to get about out

here. These little tracks here look like sheep tracks, are they made by

the Mouflon? Yeah, they usually have the same path that they follow. You

can see their pellets. Mouflon droppings. Ah, well we've found the

poo, we've just got to find the sheep! There's something moving down

there, what's that? Is that them? Yes, definitely. Yes that's a big

herd. Wow, amazing. We've spotted them! They're so camouflaged aren't

they? Yeah, yeah. Taller than I imagined they would be. Incredible

looking creatures. Very primitive. Like a cross between a goat and an

antelope and a sheep. I'm a bit of a sheep geek really - getting excited!

Mouflon were the first sheep to be domesticated over 10,000 years ago.

As they spread from Asia, they were bred with other primitive sheep to

create new breeds the world over. But when they were brought to Cyprus

8,000 years ago, they quickly ran feral. So it's a primitive Mouflon

that still roams here to this day. These animals have been around for

thousands of years and domestication and selective breeding has created

the big white woolly lumps that we now farm today that are, you know,

way removed from these ancient creatures. The Mouflon are like no

sheep I've seen before. They're wild and extremely nervy. Even from our

position 800m away, they are easily spooked. Where have they gone now?

I've lost them again- they're so difficult to see, aren't they, they

just blend into the environment. There's a big male next to the red

bush. Oh yeah, their horns are huge. Yes, they're massive compared to

their bodies. Really big sweeping back horns. Yes, it's like a heart

shape. Only the boys have the sickle-shaped horns. And each year

these grow bigger and more spectacular. And the males, that

amazing saddle they've got on their back it's really distinctive. Yeah,

during the breeding season its really obvious there's a really

white patch there, now as the season moves on this will fade away, yeah,

it won't be visible in the next couple of months. I'm here at the

end of the breeding season, so the Mouflon are still gathered on the

lower, more open ground. The pregnant ewes usually carry a single

lamb. And once they're born around April, the flocks will spread out

and head higher into the forests. And where will the Mouflon go to

give birth? In steep areas like this and even steeper actually, like

little cliffs. And are they quick up the cliff faces, up the mountain?

Very, very quick yeah, because that's how they get away from danger

really fast. It's interesting in domesticated, sort of modern breeds

of sheep, when you're building a pen to work with them, you always build

it on a bit of a slope because sheep like to run up hill, so even our big

fat bodily things still think, "I need to run uphill".

The ewes will hide their newborns on steep slopes, out of danger from

predators. Only when they are old enough will they bring their lambs

down to join other females in small flocks. For the males, life is a

little more solitary. So you've got those few rams together, do they

stay separate from the females at this time of year? Yeah, they're not

interested anymore in the females, they will create their own bachelor

groups, they might feed on the same pasture but then they will move on

and create the little groups. The Mouflon once roamed wild all over

Cyprus. But after centuries of hunting they were almost extinct by

the 1930s. Today they are confined to the Paphos Forest Reserve where

3,000 Mouflon are now legally protected. And how long will a

Mouflon live for? 12-15 years old maximum. That's pretty old isn't it

for a sheep, really. Yes. It's incredible to think that we've got

over 60 British breeds of sheep and here I am looking at the granddaddy

- the ancestor of the whole lot. Ah, it's just, what a great moment.

I am jealous of Adam. We are having our own little sheep miracle

happening in front of our eyes. This is the twin lamb of our first

Lambing Live lamb and, as you can see, a lovely natural birth. It's

just happening now. These are live pictures and Adam is going in so you

can get a better view of it. Well done. This ewe is slipping this lamb

out. Two front feet and nose. She's having a further contraction as it

slides out the umbilical cord breaking naturally. There is the

umbilical cord. And there's another lovely little lamb. So I will bring

it round to her head and there's her other twin lamb. Two good twins

there. Aren't you a lovely lady? Often when a ewe has given birth, it

is nice to get them on their feet so they don't get pins and needles.

Thanks, Hamish. Lovely. Ah. Two good lambs. That is fantastic news.

Absolutely fantastic news. Well done, Adam. Now, I wanted to show

you something because not all lambings go entirely according to

plan. This box can perform miracles as Gillian demonstrated just

yesterday. She came in with a lamb that looks dead. It had hypothermia,

it was incredibly cold, it was stiff and she put it into this box and you

can see it lying there, looking basically lifeless. Now, this is

what's called a hot box. Some farmers will put hypothermic lambs

into the bottom of their range ovens. This blows heat through and

sometimes that warmth can really perform miracles. Have a look at

what happened to that little lamb when Gillian checked on it a few

hours later. This is the lamb that came in this morning and now look at

it, standing up, not out of the woods yet. It is a lot better, it is

warm, it is going back with its mother. So, a fantastic result and I

can tell you that that little lamb is now in the nursery and doing

really well. It is out with all the other ewes and lambs and yes, isn't

it fantastic that a simple contraption like this can make such

a difference? And if we open it up - have we got another lamb? We are

going to go to Adam. We have another lamb being born as we speak. She

slipped that out naturally. And you can see instantly the way this young

ewe has just turned round and is now licking that lamb dry. They are born

wet and sloppy and that instinct is to talk to it, lick it dry,

encourage it to its feet. It is seconds old and it's got its head up

and breathing. That lamb is desperately wanting to get to the

first milk. I will let them settle. Surrounded by lambs. Now, there are

times, hard though it may be, that farmers do like to relax a little

bit. You may remember that curling became the sport of the moment when

the British Olympic team won the gold medal in 2002. In this part of

the world, curling has always been really popular. The Dykes' family

are demon players, as I discovered. With the ewes safely tucked up at

home, it's time to take a well earned break from farming. And for

the Dykes, this means curling. In this part of the world the ancient

winter sport of curling is a tradition amongst Scottish farmers.

I'm joining the Dykes, and a few of their neighbours, for a friendly

game of four against four. Good game, good game. Good luck! Once

I've found my ice legs that is! You'll get the feel of it. So

elegant, Mrs Humble. You can stand up, but just move that with you

brush. I don't think I can stand up, Hamish, it's terribly slippery, I am

just going to fall over. The aim of the game is to launch the

solid granite stones down the ice and into the target known as the

"house". To win you need to get your stones closest to the centre. What

could possibly be simpler? Keep it straight, and the closer you can get

your middle to the ice the more balanced you'll be. Stone out, bum

up. Yay! It wasn't going very straight either. It's quite fun down

there. A bit chilly. They take pity on me. And I'm given curling's

equivalent of stabilisers, called "kippers". Stone out. Very good,

well done. A rather undignified start, and sadly not enough power.

It's not gone anywhere at all. Go on, brush! It got halfway down the

rink. Maybe I'll be better at sweeping. If we're going to beat

Susie and John, I need some advice from my skipper, Kate. Is there a

proper technique, or do you just sweep like mad? No, you wait until

the skip calls and then you sweep back and forward, as hard as you

can. Like that, in front of the stone. Stay with the stone. Sweeping

melts the ice slightly - encouraging the stone to travel further and

straighter. You're doing it a totally different technique that I

was told. I'm not doing it at all right. Am I doing it right, Colin?

No, I think that's not going to make it. Yes, yes, yes, come on.

Fortunately, curling is a team sport. So I enlist a bit more help.

Well swept, Well swept! See the difference. It's amazing, isn't it,

the difference sweeping makes? Oh, yeah. Especially your contribution.

Very good, that's it. I start to find my legs. But, sadly,

not my aim. Go on, go on! It's now down to my team-mate,

Hamish, to get us back into the game. If I can hit that on the nose,

without disturbing any of the rest of the blues, all these come into

play as well so that's a pressure shot. Can you be that accurate? Some

days, yes. Some days, no. I'll give it a go.

Whoo! Look at that, that was text book. That was spot on. It was good.

It's easy to see why days like this are so important in strengthening

family bonds, but bigger workloads mean farmers have less spare time.

Used to be the winter sport of the farming community because there used

to be these outside lochs and things because every winter they would have

days on end when all they had to do was feed their stock and go and curl

and drink whisky, and hopefully be fit to work the next day! Yes, come

on, quick, come on! Come on! Despite our frantic last efforts...

Ah! You had that to go to as well! ...John and Susie's team is

victorious, beating us five points to four. Good game, Kate. Thank you,

John, very much. If nothing else, it's been a good workout ready for

life back on the farm. How about that? She got a bit better

towards the end. I was hopeless! You were very

patient with me. Great to have some family time? That is what it is all

about. Now, look over here. Hamish is with the ewe that was in labour

at the beginning of the show. He decided that it needed some help.

Can you explain, Adam why? He had a thing called ring worm, so he

stimulates the inside of the cervix, that opens up, and he is pulling the

lamb, he is squeezing behind the cranium of the lamb. It is a great

big lamb, quite difficult to get and so he is slowly easing it out. My

goodness. If you wanted Lambing Live, this is it. Keep your

questions coming in - [email protected]. Now, of

course, our cameras will be here throughout the night, so expect

plenty more excitement tomorrow. Not sure I can cope with anymore! Also

tomorrow, we have got Adam, he goes out and investigates the science of

sheep. And Kate joins the Dykes' family up on the hill to get their

flocks down. We met Rosy and Murdo who tell us what it is like to grow

up on a farm. Let's come back now to our ewe and our magnificent new

lamb. Wow, Susie, this is the most exciting time of year. Isn't my

husband wonderful? He is brilliant. See you tomorrow. Good night. Night.