We have had a hectic week here on the farm. We started off this week artificially inseminating the ewes for Sheep Ireland.

This was followed by the rams being introduced to the ewes that have been selected for single-sire mating for Teagasc. The remaining rams will be introduced to the rest of the mature ewes early next week. The last of the slurry has also been spread on fields that have been grazed out this week and these will be used first in the spring for ewes and lambs.

Having all these separate breeding groups (about nine in total) at this time of year also presents me with challenges. The challenge of keeping track of the various different groups and of managing my grass.

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Ideally, I need to start grazing out and closing off fields now near the farm yard so as to build up grass covers for early spring when the ewes are lambing.

To help with this I have decided to let the smaller groups into fields first for a couple of days followed by one of the larger groups of breeding ewes.

While we were working with the ewe lambs we came across another first here – a hermaphrodite hiding in plain sight. We weighed what I had marked as a potential ewe lamb and noted a soiled tail end.

Well, on further inspection the dirty tail end turned out to be just urine. Hmmm ... There’s a funny bit of tissue sticking out of her vulva so maybe it’s a causing her to wet herself, then I see two large growths under the skin where the teats should be and on further inspection they appear to be two small testicles.

Dumbfounded, I decided to turn her over only to find there to be no sheath on the belly, but those were testicles. I let her off into a separate pen and continued working with the other lambs in the yard and later saw her urinating, but with apparent effort to squat or lift the tail (exactly like a male lamb). No wonder her tail dock area was wet. Well, unfortunately this lamb has to head off in a different direction to my original plan of retaining her for breeding.

I had the pleasure of supplying a budding young farmer with a few ewe lambs as he starts his career as a shepherd. At 10 years of age, investing his birthday money in livestock that he has selected himself is an encouraging sign of the future of our industry. It is heartening to see the next generation taking an interest in livestock farming and not just the shiny new tractors and machines that were on display at the ploughing recently.