“Chase your dreams” says 12-year-old shepherdess

Darcey, 12, has been helping her dad with lambing since she was six, and got her first sheep age nine. “My dad taught me how to successfully help with the lambing,” she says. “I started by feeding lambs, then I carried them to their pens and the sheep followed me. “The proudest I have ever been was when my sheep first came over to me when I called her name, and when my sheep lambed for the first time, it was very exciting for me.” Darcey had ambitions to expand to a flock of 20 Dutch spotted sheep, so in 2024, she put a ram to her three sheep and some of her dad’s Texels. “This year’s lambing went well,” she said. “I lambed three sheep this year, in total I had five lambs – three ewe lambs and two ram lambs. My plan is to keep the ram lambs and sell them next year at a ram sale.” She adds: “My favourite sheep is called Monument. I like her the best because she looks like a really strong sheep and she is very friendly.” Darcey wants to be a beef and sheep farmer when she grows up, ...