Lambing season survival

With the lambing season well under way, fox shooters up and down the country will no doubt be out as much as possible keeping fox numbers under control in a bid to minimise losses. With cubs being born, the parents will be put under pressure to provide food not just for themselves but for their growing young too, and this is likely to be when lamb losses peak.

Foxes will be drawn into the lambing areas by smell and any afterbirth left in the fields. Once the foxes begin to hang around the flock, they will be quick to take advantage of a lamb separated from its mother. As twins are common, the first-born lamb is particularly vulnerable while its mother gives birth to its sibling, and unless the ewes