This is the sign that should be put on the rear of quite a few of the ewes at the moment. They are certainly very wide. Missy is the first ewe due on the 14th March (which is 2 weeks on Wednesday), isn't looking too wide, so I suspect she is just having a single lamb, where as Frea (due 19th March) is very wide. I'm hoping it's because of the way the lamb(s) are laying, and not more than twins. Next week we will have to start and set up the lambing pens as the following week Missy, one of the Scotties and Frea will be penned up in readiness for them to lamb.
On Friday we finally collected our Mazda Bongo Camper van. It's everything we hoped for, the conversion is so professional and the 7 hour ride home was very comfortable. I can't wait to try it out.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Snow, flooding, cocktail party and a walk on the beech
It's been quite a week. We have had some snow, but nothing like what we had last winter and what some parts of the country have had this week. We've had about an inch of snow, if that, and the coldest we've been is -3.5, though the wind chill has made it feel a lot cooler.
On Saturday our friends Frayalyn and Mark, along with their dogs Lunil & Bill, came for the weekend. We had just sat down to Freyalyn's amazing currys, and I had popped back into the kitchen to retrieve some more naan breads, when I heard running water, and was faced with water running from the shower room into the passage and quickly spreading in the direction of the office and utility room. The tap connector to the sink had blown apart, hence all the water. Thankfully Tim has fitted all the sinks, bath and loos with water shut off valves, so he was able to turn off the water to this sink and we all left our curry's and armed with mops and towels, spent the next 15 minutes or so mopping up the water. Once most of the water had been mopped up we returned to the dining room to our curry's. Tim was first into the dining room and all we heard was him shout HOLLY!!!!!
She was helping herself to 3 plates of lamb curry!!!! Thankfully Freyalyn had made plenty so there was still plenty for the rest of us to eat. In our haste, and panic, we forgot that Holly is a rescue dog and despite being with us for the last 8 years, any unguarded food is fair game as far as Holly is concerned.
After the excitement of the flooding and curry eating dog, Freyalyn and I were invited to a Cocktail Party, one of my knitting club friends, Carol's birthday party, and of course we all had to take our knitting! It was a pleasant evening in good company and not too much alcohol was consumed, though it transpired that we were not the only ones who had, had to deal with a flooding, Carol too had to deal with a flood that morning.
This morning we woke up to a thaw, what ever snow we had, had gone, though where the snow had been walked on and had formed ice, the melting snow had made some of the yard into a skating ring, with Lunil & Deefa doing very good impersonations of Bambi on ice.
After our usual hearty breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, black pudding and toast, we went for a walk on the beech at Runswick Bay, low tide being mid-day, so we were able to have a good long walk. After the snow and ice we have had it was interesting to see how many new boulders there were on the beech, you could see where they had hit the sand and bounced down the beech.
Here are a couple of photos of a recent cliff fall, the seaweed, debris from the recent high tide. The dogs all seemed to enjoy their time on the beech, though Deefa did disgrace himself by having a go at Lunil. He really doesn't like the idea of any dog not walking close to their owners. He's a typical sheepdog, we should all be rounded up and walking nicely!!!!!
It's been a good week and hopefully next week we should be picking up the Camper Van.
On Saturday our friends Frayalyn and Mark, along with their dogs Lunil & Bill, came for the weekend. We had just sat down to Freyalyn's amazing currys, and I had popped back into the kitchen to retrieve some more naan breads, when I heard running water, and was faced with water running from the shower room into the passage and quickly spreading in the direction of the office and utility room. The tap connector to the sink had blown apart, hence all the water. Thankfully Tim has fitted all the sinks, bath and loos with water shut off valves, so he was able to turn off the water to this sink and we all left our curry's and armed with mops and towels, spent the next 15 minutes or so mopping up the water. Once most of the water had been mopped up we returned to the dining room to our curry's. Tim was first into the dining room and all we heard was him shout HOLLY!!!!!
She was helping herself to 3 plates of lamb curry!!!! Thankfully Freyalyn had made plenty so there was still plenty for the rest of us to eat. In our haste, and panic, we forgot that Holly is a rescue dog and despite being with us for the last 8 years, any unguarded food is fair game as far as Holly is concerned.
After the excitement of the flooding and curry eating dog, Freyalyn and I were invited to a Cocktail Party, one of my knitting club friends, Carol's birthday party, and of course we all had to take our knitting! It was a pleasant evening in good company and not too much alcohol was consumed, though it transpired that we were not the only ones who had, had to deal with a flooding, Carol too had to deal with a flood that morning.
This morning we woke up to a thaw, what ever snow we had, had gone, though where the snow had been walked on and had formed ice, the melting snow had made some of the yard into a skating ring, with Lunil & Deefa doing very good impersonations of Bambi on ice.
After our usual hearty breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, black pudding and toast, we went for a walk on the beech at Runswick Bay, low tide being mid-day, so we were able to have a good long walk. After the snow and ice we have had it was interesting to see how many new boulders there were on the beech, you could see where they had hit the sand and bounced down the beech.
Here are a couple of photos of a recent cliff fall, the seaweed, debris from the recent high tide. The dogs all seemed to enjoy their time on the beech, though Deefa did disgrace himself by having a go at Lunil. He really doesn't like the idea of any dog not walking close to their owners. He's a typical sheepdog, we should all be rounded up and walking nicely!!!!!It's been a good week and hopefully next week we should be picking up the Camper Van.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Sheep pre-natal check up
As the first of our sheep is due to lamb on the 14th March, just over 5 weeks away. Now is the time we give the pregnant ewes their final pedicure, wormer and pre-natal check up. Thankfully, due to the mild weather we've been having recently, the ewes are in good condition, which considering their ages, ranging from 3 to 7+ years, is a good thing to see. Now is the time to start giving the ewes some feed concentrate, we give them one that is high is glucose to help against twin lamb disease, and by the time the majority of the ewes lamb at the end of March, they will be given a 1lb of feed each. We have been giving them some feed concentrate since we put the tup in. We always do, as it gives us a good chance to watch the ewes come to the feed troughs and we can quickly spot any problems as well as who's been covered by the tup. Now the feed troughs have been moved into the lambing barn to get the ewes used to being in the barn again as well as us moving amongst them, though as far as Allium is concerned, there is no way she is coming into the barn whilst we are there. She is like this every year, when she's in lamb!
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