UNDER the watchful eye of the viewing public Sparsholt College agriculture students spent a busy weekend supporting shepherd John Garrett as the college’s 400 ewes deliver their lambs.

Now in its ninth year, the annual Lambing Weekend attracted thousands of visitors all keen to witness a live birth and meet the new arrivals.

The majority of the 766 lambs due were either triplets (84 sets), twins (21 sets) with just 78 singles expected.

Training John Garrett talked visitors through the lambing process, pointing out the various signs of delivery whilst taking many questions from the audience.

John Garrett said: “We are here to train farmers of the future and prepare our students for a successful career in agriculture.

“Our Lambing Weekend enables us to share the lambing experience which is something many people would otherwise never get to see.

“We hope that some of the younger members of audience may one day look to train and pursue a career in agriculture.”

The Lambing Weekend enables the college to showcase its learning facilities located at the campus farm.

Younger visitors explored the college’s tractors and farm machinery, met the horses stabled at the Equine Centre, watched a farrier at work and enjoyed the milking of the college herd.

The college deliberately times the lambs to arrive early in the year to give agricultural students hands- on experience before the traditional lambing season in March-April.

See all the pictures in this week's paper.