the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Spring "lambs"

The ewes and ewe lambs have been confined to quite a small paddock, albeit with adlib hay and a lick. It was a lovely day today, cold but sunny, so I let them through into the river paddock. What excitement! The three ewe lambs were leaping and skipping; even the pregnant ewes had a little skip, but not too much. Amazing what a mouthful of fresh grass does for the sheep spirit!

"Spring" Lambs from asmallholder on Vimeo.

They are back in the small paddock overnight but will be released again tomorrow. Lucy Lamb is big girl - I hope she has some high energy lick tonight or she won't be able to throw her weight around with the same abandon as she did today.

The girls are back!

Well, it's been a sheep day today. Our ewes were scanned and came home, and Carol's ewe lambs left by return. Our ewes and ewe lambs are now in the top of the orchard and will be there until lambing; the tups are now in the big field with the horse. The horse chases the sheep and I couldn't have him chasing the ewes.

Before moving, the tups got the once over - feet trimmed, wormed / fluked and bums tidied up. Dickie also got the wool trimmed round his eyes - I'm sure he couldn't see properly. They look a bit lost in a 6 acre field.

The ewes have scanned exactly the same as last year - Juno has twins and Jinx and Jura have one lamb each. I'm a wee bit disappointed but I didn't flush them. I hope to do better next year, when the small paddocks will come into their own for restricting the ewes intake. They've also had their feet done and had wormer / flukicide; the ewe lambs just have to have their feet trimmed. That's tomorrow's job.

Actually must go and do my medicine book while I remember. It's nice to have them back, though.

My best Christmas present

Actually, it's not really a Christmas present, but I thought I'd keep it topical.

I bought a wheeled and covered hay rack for the sheep a few weeks ago; it was delivered last week and yesterday, we finally wheeled it into the field. I have a corner fenced off with a single strand of electric fence to keep the horse out of the trough and the lick - the sheep just limbo under it.

Andy (the horse) was so spooked by this new "monster" in his field, that he wouldn't come within 100 yards of it; he was snorting like a dragon and doing a fabulous extended trot with his tail straight up in the air. The sheep were totally unconcerned.

Wow, it's great! They were wasting so much hay when it was put on the ground - it was more bed than breakfast. Now, most gets eaten and there is hardly any waste.

The boys have a hay rack that hooks over the fence - it's new too, and weighs a ton. It's certainly built to last - I'm more worried about the fence falling down under the weight. When the ewes come home (when the thaw comes), the boys are going out in the field with Andy and the six females are coming into the orchard. Andy "plays" with the sheep and I don't really want him chasing my expectant mums around.

It's thawing a bit now - soon we'll be complaining about the mud!

Tupping time

I always think of this as the start of the sheep year, since what happens now influences all else. Last year, our three ewes were tupped for the first time - we had two single lambs and one set of twins, although one was born dead. All three ewes were fine, which was my main priority.

The ewes are now at the tup again. A flock of three ewes doesn't justify keeping a tup and borrowing one isn't that easy, so they have gone back to their breeder and her tup, which just happens to be the same one as last year. He must have been a bit of a hit last year, because all three were covered within 10 days, two within 48 hours. We're just waiting to see if they come back into season. If they have held to first service, that will be great as I'll get a nice compact lambing. Last year, the first lamb was born on 30th March and the last on 18th May - which meant a lot of wasted broken nights.

I will get them scanned again this year, but they have to be at least 30 days pregnant before the scanner can detect the foetus. It would be good to have all twins this year - the ewes were all good milky mums last year, so should be able to cope with two. And the more there are, the less attached I'm likely to get to them. We can't afford any more Dickies!

Lucy

I'm pleased to report that Lucy has recovered from fly strike. She's now clean, dry and maggot free.

Sheep wormer 2

Well, as planned (unusually), we sorted out the sheep at the weekend. Wormed, fluked, dagged and feet trimmed. Unfortunately, Lucy had a wee bit of fly strike - fortunately, we caught it really early and gave her a spray of Crovect. It's just like Chanel No5 but blue! Dan checked her last night and she's clean, so we'll keep an eye on her. It didn't affect her appetite at all - she is VERY like her auntie Juno, in that respect.

Dickie was completely relaxed about the dosing and the dagging - since he was castrated, his attitude seems to be "bring it on, I'll cope"! He's such a wee sweetie.

I will take a worm count in two weeks just to make sure the wormer is working. L'il' Bud and Dickie will be going off to do their stuff mid October, so I want Bud in particular, since he'll be doing the work, to be in good condition. He'll only have about 4 or 5 ewes, so he shouldn't find it too onerous.

Sheep wormer

Until now, I've used a herbal wormer for the sheep. However, since a couple have dirty bums and I want to dose them for liver fluke anyway, I've decided to use a combination wormer and flukicide. But which to use? So many decisions!

After reading the data sheets on NOAH, I decided to run it past our vet, who has been really helpful with advice. In the end, I've decided to use Fasimec Duo S, which seems to kill all known germs dead.

I want to make sure that the ewes are in tip top condition for tupping this year, so I want to get a bit of weight of them (particularly Juno; actually, only Juno) and then flush them.

But first the worming and the dagging - I bought a pair of dagging shears today. I so love shopping at the agricultural merchants. Scissors are no good for the job and it's first on the list for Saturday morning, along with foot trimming.

If we have time, I'll put a halter on Bud. He's developed a taste for Polo mints, so I might be able to bribe him to co-operate. Might be worth a video, though.

New lambs

We brought our new Ryeland lambs home today. They are half sisters to our own three and are called Lucy and Luna. They seem to have settled in OK.

Lucy is a triplet, but she's huge, with a great back end. If I ever get round to getting them halter trained, I might show her next year.

Last lamb

I thought I had put this up - wrote it ages ago, well, mid May given the content!

Jura lambed last night - a ewe lamb that has been named Lyra. Both mother and daughter seem to be doing fine. I'll tail her in the morning, then she can get out in the afternoon if it's fine. I hope Li'l' Bud and Dickie don't bully her, as she's very small in comparison to those two thugs.

It looks like Li'l' Bud has a future as a breeding ram; Lyra will be retained in our flock; Dickie, however, has a less long-term future i.e. the freezer. I was concerned about him being the only one going to the abattoir so I've arranged with my chum, who also has Ryelands, that when we wean them, Dickie will go and run with her ram lambs until they all go for slaughter. It's not a happy thought, as I'm quite attached to them, but it's most humane solution I can come up with in the circumstances.

I've ordered ear tags, so I'll get that done shortly and then I'll register them, all things being equal. The first Rosedean lambs!

New grazing

Today we rigged up barriers at either end of our track and let the sheep in there to graze and browse. We have to meake best use of our limited grazing and since Dan was preparing to cut the roadsides, it seemed daft to expend the effort doing something the sheep do willingly. Roadside grass is so much nicer than field grass!

Both lambs are doing well, as far as I can tell. They are growing like weeds and full of nonsense. Herbert's better able to stand up for himself now, although Jura knocked him over the back of the trough yesterday and he was stuck - on his back with his legs in the air. He was soon rescued though and seems none the worse.

The same Jura managed to rip her ear tag out yesterday too. Jinx did this ages ago on a hay net; don't know what method Jura used - a hurdle, I think. We've got the tag. Her ear was bleeding freely, so we took the opportunity to give her Heptavac P Plus, trim the wool round her eyes and trim her feet while we had her caught to spray antibiotic on her ear. She seems fine the morning and it's cold and windy so no flies. I also checked her udder but no sign of bagging up yet. I would have been surprised if there had been as we don't think she's due until late May.

Off to fill in my medecine book now.

Juno's lambs

Juno lambed yesterday. She was scanned as carrying twins, so I was a bit worried. In the end, she lambed herself - two tup lambs. Unfortunately, the second one was born dead. It seemed perfectly formed, too. Hey ho, just one of these sad things.

Juno and surviving lamb seem fine. She's got loads of milk and seems to like him well enough, so I'm happy with that.

Newborn Ryeland Lamb from asmallholder on Vimeo.

Just Jura to go now. I wonder if she'll stop running long enough to drop the lamb or if she'll just pause for a moment mid-stride.

Li'l' Bud's buddies

After the trauma of a couple of weeks ago, you'd think the hens deserve a quiet life. Li'l' Bud doesn't think so. In the absence of other playmates, he's amusing himself hen chasing. He also spent a happy ten minutes yesterday headbutting a clothes pole. He was also very interested in Juno's bum - sniffing and displaying the Flehmann response! Jura hunts him if he hangs about her, though. His mum, Jinx, is very indulgent, even when he's jumping on and off her back. I'll be glad when he has a proper playmate.

Ryeland lamb chasing hens from asmallholder on Vimeo.

Lamb

This lamb is so funny.

2 day old Ryeland lamb from asmallholder on Vimeo.

Firstly, he looks funny. He's got really long legs and clumpy feet; his ears dangle a bit and his grey and black face make him look like a wee, old man. Secondly, he's really laid back - I've only heard him bleat once. To be fair, he's been shut in with Jinx, so he's never been "abandoned" and his belly is always full, so he's never asking for a feed. He doesn't seem to be a very enthusiastic feeder either but he always seems full. I wondered if he was brain damaged - he's just a bit slow.

However, he was out in the field for the first time tonight and he seemed fine. I suspect I'm worrying unnecessarily.

It's been such a lovely day and evening, so Dan and I have been out sowing grass seed where the hump used to be and any bare patches. We had to wait until the hens went to bed, but the sheep "helped" by following us round. Actually, they follow the bucket. Dan watered the area so hopefully the seed will start to grow quite quickly.

Juno's personal groomer

Juno muscles in on the hens' corn - last year she grew some wheat on her back, as a result of catching it in her fleece. This year, she's decided to have a personal groomer. She is, in fact, large enough to accommodate several dozen hens but only the Light Sussex is brave enough so far.

A hen riding a sheep from asmallholder on Vimeo.

I think she may lamb this weekend. She's bagged up and has milk, so anytime now. Hopefully, the weather will stay good and give them a good start.

First ever TAS lamb!

Jinx produced her lamb today at about 5pm. I must have missed it by a few minutes. It's a tup lamb; grey and black at the moment. He seems quite healthy - he's been up and had a feed. I helped Jinx with the rubbing down (don't think she really needed help, but I had to do something). She's had a feed and a drink and the lamb was sleeping when I went out at 8pm. His tummy felt quite full and he was nice and warm. I'll leave them in peace until morning. I'm planning to leave them in for three or four days, to be sure all is well.

My worry now is that Jinx cleansed properly. I couldn't see anything but they sometimes eat it, so now I've got that to worry about.

First Ryeland Lamb from asmallholder on Vimeo.

The racket on the video is Juno and Jura, who are hugely (literally, in Juno's case - she resembles a brown wooly elephant) excited by the new arrival. When I got home this afternoon, Jura was sniffing him all over then she had a hop, skip and a jump to celebrate. I've told her she'll curdle her lamb if she carries on like that!

I'm just glad it went OK but I know things can go wrong yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I hope Juno goes soon, because it's a good weather forecast for this week.

New sheep shelter

Our new sheep shelter is almost finished. I think it looks great - it certainly won't blow away, for sure.

I'll bring my stable mats back this week and we'll get some straw for the pens. We also need to put up some tie rings, to secure the hurdles that we're using to make pens. No curtains, though.

The hens think it's great. The sheep, so far, have boycotted it and actually run past the entrance. However, if I put the trough in there, I'm sure they'll like it better!

From next week, I'm going to shut them in the shed at night so they'll be easier to keep an eye on. I don't really want to be scouring the field in the middle of the night for a lambing sheep!

Lame Jinx

Jinx is lame again. She has a slightly deformed right hind hoof and it occasionally gets infected. I trimmed it on Friday, but we'll give her a week of intensive attention and wash it with disinfectant every day. If there's still heat in it tomorrow, I'll ask the vet for a general antibiotic, which will be handy with lambing just around the corner.

The Hay Path

Our sheep are getting ad lib hay at the moment. We're feeding it from an old brazier, being too tight to buy, and too incompetent to make, a hay rack. They do waste a bit - helped by the hens who pull the hay out of the brazier / hay rack as well. So what to do with the wasted hay?

Well, you can't put it back in the brazier - the girls just look at you as if to say "we've walked on that. You can't expect us to EAT it."

So we're putting it in the currently- vacant pig pen. The sheep are using the pig pen as a through-way from teh lawn to the field, so the hay will protect the soil and help to reseed it. It will either disappear into the soil OR the pigs will rootle around in it when they come alng in April / May.

Meantime, the sheep are happy to nibble a strand or two as they pass throughand the hens just love scratching it, so it seems like an alround win.

Jura's pregnant! And their feet are fine!

Gillian came back at the weekend to scan Jura - and she's in lamb with a single. Mind you, she's going to lamb about the end of May. She must have been caught the day we brought them home, just about. I'm really pleased - I didn't want her to feel left out, with no lamb. Now all I have to do is get them safely through the lambing. Oh, the responsibility! I'll have to get my lambing kit ready.

Gillian also had a look at their feet and they're fine. No scald, no footrot and my trimming is OK.

And while she was here, she took our order for our Christmas turkey - her Mum raises free range Kelly bronze, so we put our name down for one. Nothing like being prepared, you know.

Sheeps' feet

My sheeps' feet do stress me. I'm not very confident trimming them. So I've asked Gillian, who scanned the girls, to give me a lesson on Sunday. Jinx has had a problem with a back foot before and she's a wee bit lame again. I trimmed them at the weekend, but it's so wet and muddy that the antiseptic spray just washed off. We've made a pen on the patio and we'll clean her feet and spray them tomorrow and leave them shut in for a wee while. I hate to see her in pain, but hopefully Gillian will be able to put us on a firm footing (deliberate pun!) on Sunday.

Lambs and weather forecasts

We had our three sheep scanned today. We were lucky to get Gillian - most scanners wouldn't come for such a small flock. Dan held the sheep (one at a time!), I held the equipment and Gillian did her stuff.

Jinx is carrying a single, Juno (who was a single lamb and is a bit "chunky" so I thought might not be in lamb) is carrying twins and Jura, who's the nice slim one, isn't pregnant. At least Gillian didn't think she was but it's only two weeks since we bought them out from the tup and they have to be 30 days pregnant for the lamb to show on the scanner. So she COULD be. Gillian said she woudl try and swing by and have another look in three weeks or so. If she's not pregnant, she can be "Auntie", keep on with the lawnmowing and try again next year.

The lambs looked like a weather forecast - but we could see Jinx's lamb waving.

I'm terribly excited and totally terrified. This morning I was reconciled to none of them being in lamb - hey, ho just lawnmowers. Now, I'm trying not to count lambs before they're born. I know things can go wrong still - there's just so much to know.

Still, I've got my lambing course on Saturday, so hopefully I'll be more relaxed after that.

Now I'm off to make them coal, anchovy and banana pizza...

Are they or aren't they?

I don't like surprises very much, so I was quite keen to get our sheep scanned to see if they are pregnant. However, I didn't hold out much hope of getting someone to come for three sheep. My luck was intoday - the Scottish Farmer had an advert for sheep scanning and it was a local address.

So Monday 19th January is the big day. If they aren't pregnant, that's OK - I'll be terribly disappointed but they can be lawnmowers this year. If they are, then I'll know how many lambs are likely (not counting before they are born, of course) and I can feed and plan accordingly.

I'm quite anxious about the whole thing - it's different when it's your own. Wait till April - I'll be eating coal and having labour pains in sympathy.

Welcome home, girls

We welcomed our sheep home yesterday. They have been back at their breeder for 8 weeks, running with one of her tups. Hopefully, all three are now pregnant.

They weren't all that keen to get in the trailer. When we let the ramp down, the tup got straight on and stood looking at us - I take it he's used to being moved around! While our three recognised us (and the feed bucket), to Jane's sheep, we were strangers and they didn't want to play ball at all. Once Jane appeared, they followed her into the corner of the field while we caught ours and put them in the trailer.

As soon as we got home, they knew where they were and followed me through the garden and into the field. It's like they've never been away.

We'll do their feet tomorrow and take a faecal sample, then it's a waiting game. Fingers crossed.

Baloo, the great lover!

Because we only have three sheep, it's not worth keeping a tup, so today our girls went back to the holding where they were born to run with an unrelated tup for a few weeks. We loaded them up and took them the six miles or so back to Sheriffyards. When we left, they were moving tentatively towards the other five ewes, while the tup made his way over to the fence. He'll be out there now - I do hope he's gentle with them!

We picked up another Ryeland tup from Sheriffyards to take to our chum, Carol's. She's using the Ryeland on her Shetland ewes, as she did last year. The tup's called Baloo, short for Hullabaloo. Jane, his owner, was just finishing trimming his feet when we arrived. After we turned out our girls, we loaded Baloo. I lead him on to the trailer using a dog collar and lead - I couldn't believe how tame he was! I wish my horse loaded that easily. We repeated the exercise at the other end, and turned him out with the ewes. He was certainly in the mood for love - but they were playing a bit hard to get. Still, he's such a nice tup, I'm sure he'll wear them down before long!

Sheep worm count

I'm trying to use a few chemicals as possible with all animals. We don't have a huge amount of land so clean grazing is difficult. I started off using Verm- X herbal wormer for the sheep, then decided to have a regular worm egg count done instead.

The first one I had done in July showed no eggs at all. When I sent one off last week, I was a bit concerned as the sheep from next door come round and they look a bit wormy - at least they have really dirty bums, which I think is a sign of worms. However, I'm glad to say that the count has come back with no eggs visible.

We're having some additional fencing done to keep the two lots of sheep apart; it will also allow me to more easily subdivide the small space we have and rotate pasture to keep it clean.

Wool

We got our wool back from Diane yesterday. It really is lovely; it's so soft and not at all scratchy. I'm really looking forward to getting it knitted up. I think there will be enough for a jumper for Dan and a gilet for me.

I think I'm going to try making a rug with the other two fleeces using a peg loom. There's no market for the fleece, and while I've just treated shearing as a welfare issue rather than "for profit" (break even would be nice), it would be good to do something useful with the fleeces, especially as they are such lovely colours. And it will keep me busy throught the long dark nights!

Sheepish spending spree!

A colleague at work was telling me recently about how much she loves shopping for shoes. I didn't feel able to share with her my excitement when my wee box arrived through the post from Mole Valley Farmers.

In it was my ram harness and crayons. Now, you might think this is a bit of overkill since I've only got three sheep, but I'm not around to supervise and I want to be sure that there is at least "activity", when the time comes. The time to find out the boy has spent the winter eating his head off is not April!

I also indulged in a wee spend for my lambing "bottom drawer". Also packed in the box was iodine, lubricant ( Dan's eyebrows were raised at this - he really hopes we won't have to use it!), castrator (that made Dan's eyebrows go even higher) and rubber rings, two lambing ropes, two feed bottles, a tin of marker spray and a colostrum feeder. Now, I hope I won't have to use most of them, but best to be prepared, I think. Now I need to get a handy box to keep it all in!

Jinx's sore foot

We noticed this week that Jinx was a bit lame on her near hind leg. We sprayed the foot with a "kill everything" footspray and waited. By Wednesday, she was a bit better but not fully recovered so I got the vet out. I wanted to be sure I was trimming their feet properly anyway. The vet said it wasn't anything specific - like footrot - but her foot had an infection brought on by the wet weather. He trimmed off the damaged bit, gave her an antibiotic injection and sprayed on the same "kill everything" stuff that we had. That was Wednesday; Thursday morning I trimmed a bit more off her foot, washed it with antiseptic disinfectant and sprayed on the spray. Today, we did the same and I think she's a bit better. The foot certainly was less hot today. We'll keep this up for a few more days and see how she gets on.

On a similar note, Dan and I took Meg for a walk tonight through the fields of the farm where I keep Smokey. The yard owner doesn't keep any livestock but rents the fields as grazing. The fields we were walking through were full of ewes and lambs. In the field of ewes, 50% of those I saw move were lame. Two were crippled and falling over. I was in tears. I spoke to our YO who told me he had already reported it to the SSPCA. We did the same when we came home.

A while back, a senior officer in the NFU suggested that hobby farmers and smallholders were putting livestock welfare at risk. Really?

When our YO returned from holiday, he took nine dead sheep out of the fields and reported it to the SSPCA. Another local farmer has a number of the ewes at her farm, where they are recovering from fly strike. She has also reported this. A local dog walker has reported the cases after his wife spent days feeding and watering a sheep that was unable to move, until it was humanely destroyed. The SSPCA are, apparently, trying to build a case...

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!

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!

Shearing

Our three sheep were sheared for the first time today. I was a bit anxious - not by the shearing itaself, but in getting someone to come for three. It's been quite hot and they were obviously feeling it. Anyway, we managed to get an awful nice man called Robert Bell, who has been shearing fro 50 years (sure keeps you young!).

We brought the girls into the garage yesterday lunchtime so that they would be dry. The weather's been a bit unpredictable here for the last week with some heavy showers.

We could have predicted how it would go - Jinx first 'cos she's so nosy, then Juno, because Jura was hiding at the back, then Jura. I think it was quite hard work - they had huge fleeces (Dan saw Carol's Shetlands later and noted that ours are wooly all over, compared to the Shetlands who have wool-free heads, bellies and legs). I will weight them tomorrow.

They look SO strange - I don't think THEY recognised each other after their makeovers. Juna and Jura actually look quite alike, except Jura is a tad slimmer than her buddy.

Before:

After:

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the fleeces; I'd really like to have them spun and knitted up - Dan, Lorna and I could have matching sweaters!!

Worming sheep

Since we got the sheep, it has been our intention to use as few chemicals as possible. They were wormed immediately before we got them and were turned on to clean land that hadn't had sheep on it since about 2003, when we fenced our land. We started using Verm-X, a herbal wormer - we also use this for the hens.

However, I decided to get a worm test done by Westgate Laboratories. Essentially, it is an equine service but they are happy to do other species, too. Our sample came back as <50 eggs per gram and no eggs were seen. On that basis, I have decided to worm on a "need to" basis, based on worm egg counts. I'll have another test done before tupping, so that I can worm if required.

Looking at their condition, though, I think all the nutrients are going on their backs!

The big breakout!

Yesterday evening, I glanced through our (as always) open back door to see big brown wooly thing. Juno, accompanied by Jinx, had escaped from the top of the orchard! In true Ryeland form, they had stopped at the back door to check for any grub and were spotted. Jura, meantime, was going nuts in the orchard.

Encouraged by a small bowl of sheep mix, the two escapees were tempted back to the orchard and reunited with Jura.

I think a certain collie called Tess may have had a paw in "encouraging" the escape - she does tend to herd the hens into the kitchen, so maybe she thought we needed different company. Fortunately, there's no harm done, but all the intermadiate gates are now closed.

Fly strike

Since we got the sheep in September, I've been waiting for something to go wrong. And this week it did. I had been meaning to get some "Crovect" to treat ectoparasite - flies, ticks, lice etc. but just hadn't got round to it. On Wednesday, Jura was fine - in Thursday, she was obviously distressed, wet backend, not eating, kicking at herself. Even without examining her, I was pretty sure that it would be fly strike so Dan went off to get "Crovect" and four 6 foot sheep hurdles.

After work, we caught the three sheep. Jura's the least tame but they all get anxious if Dan and I go into the field - they're fine if we go alone! We trimmed Jinx and Juno's feet (Jinx's grow much faster than the other two) and sprayed them with "Crovect". Then it was Jura's turn. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I expected - the maggots were numerous but small (I had endured some remarks about "bush tucker" from my boss earlier in the day), so I cut away as much fleece as I could and sprayed the area with "Crovect". Fortunately, her skin seemed to be undamaged. When we let them out, she immediately started grazing and looked much easier. A check today showed that all the maggots were dead - so we applied "Maggot Oil" to sooth the skin and prevent further problems. She now looks fine and is eating and cudding normally.

Hopefully, they will be shorn next weekend - we've had a real problem getting anyone to do this. In fact, last week, even before the fly strike, I was wondering if we should sell them but no decsion has been taken meantime.

Farmrite - top service

Yesterday lunchtime I ordered a pair of hoof shears for the sheep from Farmrite. The website was easy to use, and it had a little box to fill in to say what to do if we weren't in to take the delivery (leave it in the greenhouse). This morning at 9am they dropped through the letterbox in a jiffy bag.

The price was extremely keen, the delivery charge reasonable, and they put a little sticker on the front with the instructions I'd put on the form. I'm quick enough to moan about bad service, so here's to Farmrite - they'll be getting my custom again.

First pedicure

We trimmed our sheeps' feet for the first time yesterday. It wasn't as traumatic as I expected - for anyone!

Ian, husband of Jane, who bred our shhep, came down to lend us the clippers and offer advice. He also brought the "purple spray" in case we got carried away. However, Jane and I had discussed this on the phone and agreed that we'd rather be cautious and trim more often than risk cutting too far.

Once we got the lambs caught and tipped over on their bottoms, they co-operated fully while I snipped away. I think I may have been a bit over-cautious but will have more confidence next time. I did two and Dan did one, so we both got a chance to try it.

So we're going to invest in our own clippers, since we'll have sheep for a long time (hopefully).

Shearing next...

Ear tags

Jinx has lost her ear tag - well, technically it's not lost - it's on top of the key cupboard in the scullery. But it's not in her ear, where it should be. And she now resembles some kind of punk sheep with her ear cut in two. It's a hell of a wound to have been made by a plastic tag. I think her show days are over before they even started!

We were checking them over today and immediately noticed that her ear was bleeding and the tag was gone. She must have caught it in the hay net - so no more hay nets. I've sprayed the wound with iodine and it stopped bleeding - fortunately, it's past the time for flies. Other than that, I'll leave well alone.

I spoke to her breeder, who's a friend of mine, and she told me that this had happened to one of her sheep, on a hay rack (dangerous business, this hay stuff). On Jane's advice, I'm not going to retag her just now but will keep the tag in case we sell her (not likely) or send her for slaughter (even less likely).

Jane's coming next week to deliver a masterclass on foot trimming, so that should be interesting.

Rosedean Flock of Pedigree Ryelands

Finally, the Ryeland Flock Book Society has sent me a form to upgrade my membership to "flock-owning". So Juno, Jura and Jinx are now the foundation stock of the Rosedean flock of pedigree Ryelands. I don't think they are awfully impressed, though.

It's funny how their personalities are showing through now they've settled in. Jinx was really shy and skittish when we got them but she's now the boldest and the most vocal. She also has a very distinctive voice - actually, I think I can recognise all three now.

Now that they are "official", I should start halter training them just in case I'm brave enough to show them next year! I've bought a halter so should make a start - they're only small so what can go wrong...

I wish I'd had my camera...

because yesterday, I saw something I'd never seen before and wished I could have recorded it. I popped out to collect eggs. As I went into the field, I looked left under the willow and saw the three sheep lying down. Nothing unsual in that, but one of the young cockerels was lying on Juno's back. Now, I've seen lambs lying on their mother's back, but a cockerel? By the time I got back with the camera, everyone was up and looking for food, but I definitely saw it...

Settling in

Well, our three Ryelands seem to have settled in fine. They like the grass covered mound of rubble in the field - gives them a good vantage pont to keep a lookout for anyone who looks like they MIGHT have a bucket with them.

The judicious use of small amounts of sheep mix means that we can now get hands on two of the three - Jinxy is proving a little shyer than Juno and Jura. A friend of mine thinks they look like Ewoks, which is pretty true.

I'm just glad we managed to move them between outbreaks of FMD. Our pigs are due to be slaughtered on 16th October, which should be OK if nothing else changes. If we can't move them to slaughter, it's a bit of a pain and we'll be paying for feed we don't need, but for commercial farmers it must be a nightmare.

Juno, Jura and Jinx

There was great excitement today as the foundation stock for our pedigree Ryeland sheep flock arrived.

Dan was out at the crack of dawn finishing setting up the new electric fence. To be honest, we've not had good reports about sheep and electric fencing, so we'll try it and see how it goes. At the moment, it's only used to keep them out of the orchard, so if they get through it, it's not a great disaster. The first to get zapped by the fence was a Black Rock hen - no eggs from her today! The second was Meg, who had been through the fence fine but on the return, she stopped half way with the middle strand on her back. What a yelp! I felt so sorry for her, but she's none the worse for it.

Jane and Ian, the breeders, kindly delivered the three ewe lambs this morning. To save them coming right along with the trailer, Dan lifted them over the stile. Two are quite small - the dark brown one is somewhat larger!

I want to spend the next week or so getting them tame - they already recognise a bucket, but don't recognise me yet. The dark brown one, Juno, is the boldest and also the greediest (or maybe the greediest and therefore the boldest). She's also about half as big again as the other two, although she is about a month older and was a single lamb whereas the other two were twins (not with each other - each had a male twin). They are all half-sisters.

These girls are well used to dogs - Tess tried to move them and they lined up and looked her her as if to say "Oh yeah, you and who else?". To be honest, our dogs aren't that interested in sheep any more.

My only concern is their ears. They've just been tagged, so I'll need to watch for flies.

They are terribly cute, as you will see from the photos. Naturally, we will keep the diary updated with progress.