Terrence with Head Ranger Murray Sharpe
Arlington Court in North Devon has a rather cute new member of staff in the shape of a Jacob Sheep lamb who is being hand reared by the Head Ranger Murray.
Terrence, who was part of a twin born to one of the historic herd of 65 Jacob sheep at the property, was very small when he was born and not expected to live and struggling to walk and so was taken away from his mum and he is now being are now being looked after Murray Sharpe, Arlington’s Head Ranger.
As this is a very busy time for the property with hundreds of visitors flocking to the property as well as caring for the sheep who have been farmed at the property for over 100 years, Terrance is having to spend all of his time with Murray, not only being bottle fed every four hours but also travelling out and about in Murray’s land rover, attending meetings or helping to greet visitors at this popular property near Barnstaple.
Murray Sharpe, Arlington Court National Trust Ranger said: ‘Easter is always a really busy time at Arlington and this year is no exception with record numbers of sheep in lamb. Fortunately Terrence has really fitted into the team and seems quite happy to accompany me on the wide range of tasks I have each day, he certainly adds a certain sparkle to our team meetings it must be said! Our visitors at this time of year are able to meet all our lambs and sheep in their natural environment and learn about the role they play here at Arlington.’
Terrence with Verity and Flora Sharpe
So far this spring, Arlington has had 31 lambs from 17 ewes, most of which have been ‘doubles’ with one ‘triple’. The sheep at Arlington are part of the Arlington estate; they are a traditional way of grazing the land and, alongside the Red Devon cattle, allow for a variety of grasses and wild flowers to grow through their varied grazing habits.
Sixty-five is the highest number of ewes they have had lambing for many years. They put 45 of the ewes to Dirk their Dorset ram and 20 to Usain the pedigree Jacob ram. The cross with a Dorset gives a better quality lamb for meat, so all Dirks offspring will be sold come October. They will keep the best of Usain’s female offspring and register them as pedigree and they will form the basis of the breeding flock for the years to come.
Visitors are able to meet the new born lambs during the Easter holidays through a talk by the Trust’s knowledgeable Rangers. This gives visitors a chance to find out how the herd is managed and also any entertaining stories around the births of some of the lambs and their characters.
