the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Saddle Chariot - working ponies

A couple of years ago, my chum, Claire and I "broke" Smokey to drive. I put the word "broke" in inverted commas because I don't like the work and I certainly hope he wasn't "broken". To cut a long story short, all was going swimmingly until we had a freak accident and our respective confidences took a bit of a knock. Shortly after the accident, I was contacted by a chap called Simon Mulholland, who designs, builds and drives (with Henry) the Saddle Chariot www.naturaldriving.co.uk. At the time, we were going off on holiday (July 2007), and I kind of put it on the back burner. Anyway, I had another look at the website a couple of days ago and emailed Simon. He called today and we had a bit of a chat on the phone. I'm hoping we'll eb able to meet up soon.

Unfortunately, Simon seems to have upset some of the conventional driving / horsey fraternity. If you google "saddle chariot", there is a forum that is, in places, completely vitriolic about the saddle chariot and Simon. However, there are also some very supportive posts particularly from the owner of a horse called "American Dreamer".

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting this here is that Simon uses the saddle chariot as a forecart for agricultural equipment. According to Simon, with the addition of a towbar, it can pull anything an ATV can including a harrow, lawn slitter and other stuff I can't remember.

A few folk have posted on the Forums about working ponies, so they might be interested in this. If / when Simon gets up this way, we'll try Smokey in the saddle chariot, so there will be a report from that.

Any colour so long as it's red

Some of you mey recall from an earlier post that I am determined to keep better records of our poultry flock. At the beginning of August, I carried out a headcount and committed this to a spreadsheet. I also decided to leg ring different batches of hens - as opposed to marking individual hens. Our two RIR are Mrs Red and Mrs Green, and three of our Light Sussex are Misses Yellow, Pink and Purple respectively. This doesn't really work now that we've got bigger numbers and more Black Rocks - not enough colours, you see.

A couple of weeks ago, the three Copper Black Marans got yellow leg rings. Today, all the "grown up" Black Rocks got "red on right". The broody was given an additional yellow ring, as a mark of honour!

I also intended to ring the six Black Rock pullets we have - Chip's girls. Except there seems to be a world (or at least local) shortage of any leg rings that aren't red! However, eBay to the rescue - so I have ordered twenty of each of the available colours. I think Chip's girls will be purple.

Broody hen update 4

I think our RIR / LS broody has given up. When I came home this evening, the egg was out on the ground, all the food was eaten and she shot out for corn. She's gone to bed in the broody coop tonight, so we'll see what she's like in the morning.

I can't blame her - I know she can't count to 21 but she must know she's been there a long time.

Job profiles

I had lunch today with a friend and we were chatting about work - we both work for the local Council. His rerponsibilities include catering, building cleaning and public conveniences.

I know its really sad to laugh at your own funnies, but I summarised his job as "from plate to pan".

How would you describe yours?

Our fleece is now wool!

Well, a little bit of it is! It smells lovely, it's a glorious colour and I'm chuffed to bits with it. I'll be sending off more to be spun this week. Now that he's seen it spun, Dan's decided he'd like a sweater, too. So does his Dad! I can see I might get bed socks if I'm lucky!

Egg hatching

Our twelve Cream Legbar eggs, bought off eBay, were due to hatch last Thursday. One hatched and that was under Carol's broody hen. This time, I followed the incubator instructions to the letter.

I don't think I'm going to buy off eBay again. I'll either use my own eggs or try to buy fertilised eggs locally. The young Copper Black Maran cockerels are very active, but the CB pullets aren't laying yet.

Our RIR / LS, who was sitting on some of the Cream Legbar eggs, is still sitting. If she hasn't given up by 8th September, I'm going to slip some day-old Black Rocks under her.

Oh, and Chip is making party hooter noises, so I think he's definitely a boy!

Farming and IT

An unknown person at work left a magazine cutting on my desk. It was about folk changing career. It gave the example of Rob Hall of Northallerton Colloege, who gave up electronic engineering to run a smallholding and now works in IT. He's quoted as saying "Farming and running Windows products are very similar. Healthy things die in bizarre and horrible ways, while viruses and parasites are a constant threat. The only compensation is that the weather is better in our office".

Dan and I can identify with that!

Fleece

I have sent a sample of fleece to murmuringwheel to be spun. I should get it back in teh next couple of days. I'm quite excited! A colleague of mine has offered to knit it up for me - she's a beautiful knitter.

Roll on winter!

Backyard Poultry Keeping - dealing with dogs

I was running the second backyard poultry course on Saturday. One of the participants had asked a question about dogs and hens and I had explained that most dogs would naturally chase hens and would have to be trained to leave them alone.

A bit later, Dan stuck his head round the door, excused himself to the group, then told me that we had a mini-crisis; Buster, the Staffie belonging to the nearby taxi company, had killed one of our chickens. I excused myself and shot out, followed by Calum, who was on the course but is a friend of ours.

The field seemed to be covered in white feathers; Buster was eyeing up the Black Rock broody and the Cuckoo Maran chick, who are in a run. Buster, who is basically a nice dog, came when I called him and was removed from the scene by his owner. Then Dan said "The hen's gone!". After some searching, Miss Yellow, the victim, was found in some long grass. By some miracle, she is unharmed, if a little balder although I don't expect any eggs for a bit!

Buster is now confined to barracks!

"Make a noise" campaign

Please take a look at www.makeanoise.co.uk and make a donation and / or sign the petition. The campaign, supported by World Horse Welfare (formerly ILPH), is trying to stop the end the long distance transportation of horses to slaughter in Europe.

If you care about animals, please help.

Horses intended for slaughter are often transported hundreds of miles in inhumane conditions to be slaughtered. Although I would not choose to eat horsemeat, I have no axe to grind with those who do, so long as the horses are raised and treated humanely. It's no different to pigs, sheep, cattle or poultry.

Pigs and Snak-a-ball

When we first got pigs we soon discovered that feeding time was over very quickly. Rosemary had the great idea of using a horse toy, a Snak-a-ball, to keep them interested after their trough was empty, and to give them some exercise. We've always introduced new pigs to the ball since then, and as you can see from the video they love it:

Pigs with Snak-a-ball from asmallholder on Vimeo.

The ball is made of very thick plastic, so it's pig-proof. The only problems are when the ground is very wet, and the ball gets clogged with mud, and the rare occasion that they get it wedged into a corner and can't get it out. If you've got pigs we'd recommend getting one, your pigs will thank you for it.

How it all started!

I was looking for a photograph to put on the forums - nothing too scary, you understand, when I came across an album of photographs of me (and my family) when I was VERY young. Some of them made me think - "so THAT'S how it all started."

I'm not from a farming background; both my parents worked in the local textile mills. Both liked the outdoors though - my Dad golfed and fished and we did a lot of walking. Almost every weekend, we'd go off somewhere in the bus (we didn't have a car), with a picnic, and walk for miles. I can't smell Heinz Tomato or Oxtail soup without it all flooding back, because in the winter, Mum would fill a flask of hot soup to take. I don't remember going very far in the bus but we got to the Wild West often and the African jungle occasionally!

My paternal grandfather had been a ploughman, so my Dad was born on a farm and he used to make up stories (at least, I think they were made up!) about the animals that were on the farm when he was a wee boy. My Dad's middle sister, Jen, married a shepherd, my Uncle Alec and lived on a number of farms - I think she was my Dad's favourite sister. She was certainly my favourite aunt. She wasn't all that keen on babies, but she was great with small children, although she had none of her own. I remember her living in two places - Milngavie (vaguely) and Campsie Glen, where she lived until I was in my twenties.

I remember Uncle Alec's vegetable garden and the hens, and him bringing a pail of milk down from the farm - they had a house cow for a while. They always had a cairn terrier called Delias, which is Gaelic for faithful, I think, and the inevitable Border Collies. In fact, my first dog, Kerry, was a pup of his. We always used to stay with Auntie Jenny and Uncle Alec at the May holiday and the October holiday - it took ages to get there (or at least it seemed like it to me) by bus, via Stirling and Kirkintilloch, then on to Campsie Glen. I must have dragged poor Delias all over the hills while my Dad fished the wee burn close by. My job was to take the newly caught fish, wrapped in dock leaves to keep it fresh (?) up to the house to be cooked for our tea. It was always trout and new potatoes, followed by home-made pancakes and jam.

Anyway, to get to the point, I found these photographs - if Dan had seen them years ago, he might have guessed what was coming!

Out to play

Our six Copper Black Marans, at 17 weeks or so, are pretty big so I decided yesterday to let them out to free range. Normally, I would keep them seperate until they come into lay, but I want to move Chip and the young Black Rocks into the smallark, so they can learn to use the ladders; I can then move the broody and her chick into the batchelor pad and give them more room.

I simply took the end off the run yesterday and waited. The first to emerge was the golden pullet, then the three cockerels then the two black pullets. The uber-confident cockerels weren't so bold once they were out in the world. I've been keeping an eye on them - all six stick together and away from the other hens. One of the old RIR whacked one of the cockerels this morning - he's not as macho as he thinks!

They all went back to bed last night in their own ark; today, they are more confident and ranging a wee bit further away, feasting on windfall apples and beech leaves. If one gets left behind, it's a big flurry to catch up!

We've brought round a spare run to extend the broody's area - the chick was very excited by all th new space and was racing round the boundary, much to his adoptive mother's chagrin. The run's kind of Heath Robinson but it will do meantime.

We'll move the Marans into the big ark on Sunday and Chip and the Black Rocks on Monday; as soon as they get the hang of the ladders, I think I'll let them out.