Over the last couple of days Deefa has somehow managed to damage the dew claw on his front left leg. It's extremely sore. When I was taking his harness off him this morning, I caught it. He yelped and snapped at me, and then snuggled in for a cuddle.
He's not limping and we are trying to stop him from licking it all the time, but if it gets worse I'm afraid Deefa will have to have a trip to the V.E.T by the end of the week
Monday, 17 January 2011
Being mean with the hay
We are fast running out of hay, as is everyone, so in order to preserve our diminishing stock we are being quite mean with who has and doesn't have hay.
Our original plan was to give all the sheep Barley straw through November and December, whilst there was still grass for the sheep to eat. We'd bought in 130 bales of straw just for that reason. But with the sudden arrival of the snow, the sheep went straight onto the hay. But over the last few weeks we've been cutting down the hay the gimmers have, and giving them the straw instead. They had a bit on a whinge about it. But now they are quite used to the straw. We've also started to give the ewes straw, every other day, and on fine mild days, shut them out of the barn so that they go out and eat the grass.
It seems to be working, we are not going through the hay as fast as we were and we've been able to source another 100 bales of hay, which should at least last us through to lambing!
In many ways it is cheaper for us to feed the sheep a concentrate feed, but as the ewes are in lamb we have to be careful how much concentrate we given them, as over the last 2 - 3 weeks of pregnancy, all excess feed goes into the lambs, so we have a delicate balancing act of giving the ewes enough feed so they don't loose condition, but not too much that the ewes have BIG lambs.
Our original plan was to give all the sheep Barley straw through November and December, whilst there was still grass for the sheep to eat. We'd bought in 130 bales of straw just for that reason. But with the sudden arrival of the snow, the sheep went straight onto the hay. But over the last few weeks we've been cutting down the hay the gimmers have, and giving them the straw instead. They had a bit on a whinge about it. But now they are quite used to the straw. We've also started to give the ewes straw, every other day, and on fine mild days, shut them out of the barn so that they go out and eat the grass.
It seems to be working, we are not going through the hay as fast as we were and we've been able to source another 100 bales of hay, which should at least last us through to lambing!
In many ways it is cheaper for us to feed the sheep a concentrate feed, but as the ewes are in lamb we have to be careful how much concentrate we given them, as over the last 2 - 3 weeks of pregnancy, all excess feed goes into the lambs, so we have a delicate balancing act of giving the ewes enough feed so they don't loose condition, but not too much that the ewes have BIG lambs.
Clearing away the fallen barn roof
Tim has spent quite a bit of this week taking down the corrugated sheets, that were once the barn roof, off the broken wood roof trusses. He's putting the sheets that are mangled and twisted into the trailer so that he can take them to the scrap metal merchants. There are one or two sheets that are worth saving, but where to put them is going to be another headache!
We thought that one of the reasons why the roof collapsed under the weight of the snow, was that the roof trusses and perlins were rotten. But as Tim is cutting them up to put them into the trailer he's finding that the wood is not rotten at all, it's just shattered under the weight of the snow!
Some part of the collapsed roof Tim is leaving in place at the moment, as it's supporting part of the back wall, and it's not causing us any problems at the moment. The thing that is, and does stop Tim taking the roof down are the high winds that have a tendency to blow around here quite a lot!!!!
We thought that one of the reasons why the roof collapsed under the weight of the snow, was that the roof trusses and perlins were rotten. But as Tim is cutting them up to put them into the trailer he's finding that the wood is not rotten at all, it's just shattered under the weight of the snow!
Some part of the collapsed roof Tim is leaving in place at the moment, as it's supporting part of the back wall, and it's not causing us any problems at the moment. The thing that is, and does stop Tim taking the roof down are the high winds that have a tendency to blow around here quite a lot!!!!
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Good bye to my Ashford Traveller....
My Ashford Traveller Spinning Wheel was the first wheel I ever bought, some 20+ years ago and it has stood me in good stead for many years, that was until I bought my Lendrum Spinning Wheel about 10 years ago. Since then my Ashford has been languishing in the spare bedroom, protected from dust in it's case.
I hadn't intended to sell my Ashford wheel, but a chance conversation with a friend, who is learning to spin and her desire to buy a wheel. I decided to sell my wheel. So this summer we agreed a price and for her birthday and Christmas, family contributed towards her Spinning Wheel Fund.
Today she and her partner came for lunch and to collect her wheel. Whilst waiting for them to arrive, I decided to check out/spin the Ashford Traveller for one last time. I had forgotten what a dream this little wheel is to spin, and in some ways I'm sorry to see it go, but I know that it is going to a good home and it will be used and loved, in the same way I did when I first bought it all those years ago. Silly I know to be attached to a spinning wheel, but I learnt so much about spinning using this little versatile wheel.
I hadn't intended to sell my Ashford wheel, but a chance conversation with a friend, who is learning to spin and her desire to buy a wheel. I decided to sell my wheel. So this summer we agreed a price and for her birthday and Christmas, family contributed towards her Spinning Wheel Fund.
Today she and her partner came for lunch and to collect her wheel. Whilst waiting for them to arrive, I decided to check out/spin the Ashford Traveller for one last time. I had forgotten what a dream this little wheel is to spin, and in some ways I'm sorry to see it go, but I know that it is going to a good home and it will be used and loved, in the same way I did when I first bought it all those years ago. Silly I know to be attached to a spinning wheel, but I learnt so much about spinning using this little versatile wheel.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Holly's new look
Holly has the type of coat that has a mind of it's own and despite my best efforts I can't keep it well groomed. So she (and Deefa) visit Ann their Doggy hair dresser on a regular basis, only with the bad weather Holly has gone a month longer than she should have done.
with a stick for a tail.
Shaggy dog 
Somewhere there are a pair of eyes on that face
One clean shaven dog
with a stick for a tail.It may look a bit severe, but Holly is not bothered at all and she comes back from her visit to Ann a happy dog. Unlike Deefa, who, when I took him out of the car to pass him over to Ann, tried to hide behind me! (Holly nearly ran into the Salon) and had to be dragged into the salon, and I could hear him crying as I got into the car. When I went to pick them both up at lunch time, Deefa was still crying and he ran headlong into the car, on the other hand Holly allowed Ann to carry her to the car!
Today both dogs are back to normal, though Holly didn't seem to dawdle on her morning walk and Deefa is a little quiet as he's not got much of a voice. He is such a softie!
More wool dyeing
I've had the dyes out again
Salmon Pink - this time dyed for myself
Blue and Green
Not a brilliant photo, but this should be a golden yellow
Brown, yellow and green
My favourite, grey, pink & yellow
My favourite, grey, pink & yellowSunday, 2 January 2011
Now the clean up begins......
Up until this morning, the snow and ice had virtually disappeared, but we've had more snow today. But thankfully, over the last couple of days Tim has been able to make a start on removing some of the metal sheets that were once the barn roof.
The insurance loss adjuster came to see us on Wednesday, so now we can at least move on with the barn. We've started to look for companies that build steel barns and think about how much, or how little we want them to do. So far we're going to ask for companies to quote for (a) to supply barn only, (b)to supply and build, and (c) to erect barn only. It's going to a busy January ringing round.
It looks like some of our hedges have succumb to the weight of the snow, and yesterday I spent some part of the afternoon with loppers, cutting out the broken branches I could see. I'm sure more will appear over the coming months when we notice that there are no new buds appearing.
The animals are coping really well with the weather, the gimmers bouncing around and the ewes are starting to look slightly "round", especially the 2 Teeswaters that are due at the end of February.
The insurance loss adjuster came to see us on Wednesday, so now we can at least move on with the barn. We've started to look for companies that build steel barns and think about how much, or how little we want them to do. So far we're going to ask for companies to quote for (a) to supply barn only, (b)to supply and build, and (c) to erect barn only. It's going to a busy January ringing round.
It looks like some of our hedges have succumb to the weight of the snow, and yesterday I spent some part of the afternoon with loppers, cutting out the broken branches I could see. I'm sure more will appear over the coming months when we notice that there are no new buds appearing.
The animals are coping really well with the weather, the gimmers bouncing around and the ewes are starting to look slightly "round", especially the 2 Teeswaters that are due at the end of February.
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