High Fives at Wick Care Farm

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks over at Wick Care Farm, with brainstorming, wordplay, voting and discussions all taking place towards a singular goal… deciding on the names of our newly arrived cade lambs!

As some of you will know, each year Wick Care Farm ascends the alphabet one letter at a time for our lamb-naming protocol. Just as 2023 brought Ethel, Edie, Edwin and the ever-popular Elvis, 2024 marks the arrival of 5 ‘F’ lambs, 3 of whom have been named.

With all 5 lambs being girls, among the pool of suggestions are those of Norse origin like ‘Freya’, and ‘Frida’, as well as popular Latin names such as ‘Florence’ and ‘Fleur’. Of course, it wouldn’t be Wick Care Farm without a couple of hotly contested names of bespoke origin thrown into the mix…  ‘Forklift’ and ‘Foot’ are both promising outsiders!

As many of you will know, the term ‘cades’ refers to orphaned lambs who are fed by the bottle. This occurs because ewes have only two teats – yet may give birth to triplets or quads. To ensure that all lambs are able to feed properly, farmers may separate and hand-rear, sell, or give away these excess lambs.

At Wick Care Farm, we have been adopting a small number of cade lambs every spring for the past few years from local farmers. In the commercial sector, raising cades can often be time-consuming and minimally profitable, but at Wick Care Farm we are fortunate to be able to enjoy and share in their immense therapeutic value. Being entirely dependent on humans, cades can become comfortable, curious and affectionate in our presence in ways that a typical lamb may not. From bottle-feeding to mucking-out, to the playful prancing or the falling asleep on our laps (with a necessary towel underneath!), our 5 cade lambs are already providing special moments of laughter, nurture and joy for clients, staff and volunteers alike.

Much like the new lambs, good things apparently arrive in 5s, and in January we celebrated being awarded a 5/5 Food Hygiene Rating by the Food Standards Agency! Preparation for our inspection was the culmination of a real team effort – and the score reflects our commitment to safe food practice in both the lunches we prepare with clients and the foodstuffs we produce.

From the Food Hygiene Rating to our Green Care Mark, we’re starting 2024 – our 10th anniversary year – in style!

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