Lancashire farmer revives freezing lambs in Aga

Keeping lambs warm in the Aga is a long tradition on Ian O'Reilly's farm

A farmer is helping his lambs survive the Beast from the East by popping them into his oven.

Ian O'Reilly, from Rimington, Lancashire, said 10 minutes in his farmhouse Aga can be a life-saver.

But he warned: "Any more than that and you will be needing the mint sauce with them."

"I thought one was going to need it yesterday but once we got him inside he was OK. We have a lambing shed to keep the vulnerable ones warm."

Mr O'Reilly, currently in the middle of lambing season, said the sharp fall in temperature presents a real danger to his flock.

"You usually tell a lamb whose core temperature has dropped as they appear listless and weak.

"Once we warm them up they are able to eat and that sustains their increased body temperature."

He said the biggest problem he faces in the current cold snap is not the volume of snow but the large drifts caused by the strong winds which have virtually cut his farm off.

Mr O'Reilly said keeping lambs using the cast-iron heat-storing cooker has been a regular practice on the farm since the 1940s.