Description

This volunteer project involves helping new born orphan lambs, local farmers, bottle feeding, research and complete care until weaning. This volunteering project will be combined with adventure activities such as climbing, surfing, coasteering, kayaking, abseiling and much more.

WildVenture's orphan lamb expedition in North Cornwall, UK is the ultimate in up close and personal lambing and animal husbandry. This expedition includes accommodation, all food, the experience of a lifetime and all extra activities while you are there. See our extra activities page for this destination.

WildVenture's Cornish Orphan Lamb Expedition helps the survival of lambs that would otherwise be certain to die. It also assists local farmers who inevitably experience livestock and financial loss during the lambing season.

This expedition involves the full time care of new born lambs, which you will get to know and love on a one-to-one basis. It is an intense but rewarding experience, including the feeding, medicating and handling of the lambs. Donate your time to a real animal, it beats adopting a panda you'll never see!

This is a rewarding and unforgettable experience. You'll come away looking at sheep in a whole new light!

Please visit WildVenture's website for availability, photos from previouse trips and more.

Highlights

Volunteers will receive a training and safety session at the beginning of their stay and will be taught how to care fully for the lambs and other livestock animals including horses, goats and alpacas. Volunteers will feed the lambs and medicate them either orally or by injection. You will also learn how to mix the appropriate lamb feed and colostrum. If volunteers are present during the castration and tail docking of lambs they may be able to observe and participate.

Orphan lambs are rarely, if ever, as healthy as their naturally nurtured counterparts. It is thought that this is due to a lack of natural colostrum from the mother and the near impossibility of ad lib. feeding. To carry out the care of orphan lambs to the best of our ability we will be varying the method of feeding and collecting the resultant weight and size measurements. The animals will need to be monitored carefully and weighed in order to properly care for them and gain important research data.

There are also lambing ewes at our Cornish base. Orphan lambs themselves, they sometimes have difficulty mothering their young. It is essential that volunteers are present at the birth of any on site lambs and that, if necessary, feeding is encouraged.

Qualifications

You don't need any qualifications to do this project as all training will be provided.

Languages

• English

Cost in US$:

USD 650 per week

Cost Includes:

• Excursions
• Food
• Housing
• In-country staff support
• Registration fees

Program Fees Include:

This cost includes all travel once on the project, all food, accommodation, scientific equipment and all adventure activities.

Experience Required

no

Volunteer Types

Typical Volunteer

This expedition is aimed at anyone who has an interest in British farming or who wants to do something a bit different. WildVenture's Orphan Lamb Expedition is also particularity useful for those looking at a career in veterinary science as many universities demand some experience in farming for their courses. This expedition requires low levels of fitness, however you may need higher fitness levels for some of the more adventurous extra activities. For these occasions however we do provide alternative excursions. You will be required to walk around farmland terrain which can often be hilly and difficult under foot. You may also be required to pick up heavy objects or lambs and stand up to very boisterous and friendly sheep. People with lower levels of fitness or a condition that prevents them from being able to do any tasks can take part in the other, less strenuous tasks required in this expedition. We aim to be as inclusive as possible, so do not feel like you are too old or too young, not fit enough or too inexperienced. We welcome anyone who has the enthusiasm for our cause and aim to provide an unusual and fulfilling experience. Have an adventure and be actively involved in something that really makes a difference, join a WildVenture expedition.

Age Range

Any age welcome

This Program is open to

American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals.

Typical Living Arrangements

• Group living
• Other

Participants Travel

Independently

Typically Participants Work

in Groups of 4 to 12

Application Process Involves

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Typically The Application Process Time is

3-5 working days

WildVenture Volunteering's Mission Statement

Our long list of conservation contacts, our commitment to making a change and our vast knowledge of the local area and people means we are in a perfect position to make your help go a long way. The valuable data we collect is passed on to our contacts who use it to further help the species population.

Year Founded

2009