Hedge Laying Weekend and the tups are raddled up and ready to do

The mild weather continues and for this weekend it was greatly appreciated. The Hedge Laying Hollands and Stone Walling Marshalls arrived on Saturday morning to lay the hedge that boarders our land and the Common Land.
The hedge laying went well as the stems of the hedge are still very supple and forgiving when they are laid. This enabled us to bring the hedge back into line and create a hedge of approx 3ft high. At one point there was a large gap and we thought that we might have to under plant it with blackthorn saplings, but as the rest of the stems were laid, the gap gradually filled in. By the end of the day we had laid 15 metres, it may not seem far but we had a lot of stems/trunks to remove that were not in line with original hedge, and as the hedge had got so high, the top had grown together, looking like a rather large amount of spaghetti and just as difficult to untangle. Another day hedge laying is to be arrange before the end of the year and Tim and I in the mean time will attempt to remove all the stems that are outside the hedge line to save time later on.
To add a bit of interest to the day, the local farmers that have shooting rights over the common land, decided to have a day shooting. They did let us know, but was a little bit disconcerting having guns going off around us. They also came and stood in our back field to shoot over a small coppice. Deefa decided to become all brave and barked at the shooters!!!!! A duck is now hanging up in our garage as a thank you from the shooters. So that's tomorrow's tea sorted out.
The stonewalling Marshalls stayed over to help sort out the sheep for tupping. The first lot of sheep to be given the once over were the Wiltshire Horn Ewe lambs along with Lucy, Lottie, Damelza and Davina. There were all weighed, given Heptovac and Decotmax injections and Selco. But poor Lottie is not well and we shall be calling the vet tomorrow to come and have a look at her, she is so thin and it looks like the abscess she had earlier this year is back again.
It was interesting weighing all the ewes to see the difference between the Shetlands and the Corridales. When we put the "big" lad through, we realised how heavy they are, ranging from 140 to 160kgs. No wonder they hurt when they stand on your foot!!!!!
Hector and Charlie have had raddles fitted and are now happily residing the their respective harem of ladies. Bum watch starts again!!!!
Tomorrow is our 30th Wedding anniversary not too sure what we will be doing, Holly is booked in to have a haircut, and as said earlier Lotty needs a visit from the vet. Such is life..........
More next week and hopefully Charlie and Hector will have wooed a few ladies and we will know when lambing starts next year.