Diary

November 2013RSS feed

Our first Shetland beef

Monday 4 November, 2013

by Rosemary at 9:08am in Cattle 3 comments Comments closed

Our freezer is now stocked up with our first Shetland beef.

Kunekune pigs for meat

Wednesday 6 November, 2013

by Rosemary at 8:12pm in Pigs 18 comments Comments closed

This is a topic that crops up from time to time on the TAS forums so it might be helpful to relate our experience this year.

Lambs away too!

Wednesday 6 November, 2013

by Rosemary at 8:17pm in Sheep 2 comments Comments closed

We had a good lambing in 2013 – we didn’t see the vet at all and all 15 lambs that appeared on the scans made it safely into the world. We had seven ewe lambs and eight tups, born between 30th March and 11th April.

Pony blog 1

Wednesday 20 November, 2013

by Rosemary Champion at 12:49pm in Equines 1 comment Comments closed

Smokey (or Munro of Millfield, to give him his posh name) is my Highland gelding. I’ve owned him for 10 years – we were happy hackers, then my chum, Claire, and I broke him to drive. Then we had an accident and since then he’s pretty much been a pet / grass cutter / manure maker. I’ve always wanted to work him round the holding and we’ve had a few false starts but I thought if I kept a blog of our doings, we (I) would benefit from the support of our on-line friends and that I’d be able to record our experiences and our progress.

Pony blog 2

Thursday 21 November, 2013

by Rosemary Champion at 12:34pm in Equines 1 comment Comments closed

Well, today we did two circuits of the track - one anticlockwise and one clockwise. When a Highland pony walks well, its tail should be reminiscent of the swing of a Highlander's kilt - and today, Smokey was striding out. He had a wee wobble when I asked him to go away from the gate the second time but soon got back into his stride. I was watching his head carriage, ears and tail and he seemed more relaxed today.

We did two "stop and stand" on each circuit - each for 10 seconds. He found this hard and did a bit of reversing, but we'll keep working on it.

Pony blog 3

Monday 25 November, 2013

by Rosemary Champion at 8:50pm in Equines Comments closed

Very quick tonight - didn't manage out with Smokey on Friday and I was away Saturday and Sunday.

However, we managed to get out for two circuits this morning; two spooks (and a little one) but just jumped and stood still, which is progress.

The halts were better; standing for a count of 10 fairly reliably today.

The plan is same again tomorrow with longer halts; if the ground is a bit softer later in the week, I might put up a round pen and try a bit of lungeing. Or I might put outs some "scary things" like tarpaulin and cones to start building his confidence.

Pony blog 4

Wednesday 27 November, 2013

by Rosemary Champion at 3:19pm in Equines Comments closed

Didn't have time to get out yesterday but managed four circuits of Sheepfold today. Smokey's halts and stands were much better - managing a count of 15 today - and he was happy to go right into the corner of the field between two posts. He did express his surprise at being asked to go round twice in each direction :-)

I was debating with myself today whether we go on the road next or set up some obstacles and I've decided on the latter. I hope that working through the obstacles will increase his confidence when we restart road work.

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