[in the hills]

Sending you lots of hugs MGW.

I know that it breaks your heart but slowly you'll remember all the happy days.
What a lovely age to reach.

[Herdygirl]

So sorry MGW.....
 it is so very hard to say goodbye

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Moving sheep with her newborns outside, at last. Put her in a field where there is plenty of shelter, more so than the other fields , food and water. Organising jobs to e done on farm, whilst weather is pretty clear. Hopefully, once dad comes back from the dr's from his checkup, we can move the ewes which are closest to lambing nearer to the house and also put the ewe with her single in with the one who has had twins.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Spending quality time with friends of mine, having a good ol chinwag, plus time with my niece and her brother and my brother and my grandparents.... Yes you guessed it a full house this weekend. Sadly this evening turned out badly, my grandfather has had to go into hospital with high blood pressure Grandma is very worried as are we all, but he seems a little better now, they're about to take him now in a car ambulance to give him a checkup, so pretty worried, just glad they were staying with us this weekend....

[Rupert the bear]

paying the price of a holiday away, catching up on jobs ,dodging the raindrops   

[waterbuffalofarmer]

paying the price of a holiday away, catching up on jobs ,dodging the raindrops 

Always the way am afraid. Back to the grind it is I fed calves early today, milked and cleaned up and fed and checked sheep. Managed to check young heifers, all well. What a horrid day for weather though ughhh!!!

[ellied]

Spent the weekend pruning, pruning and more pruning, about the only time of year I can try and get on top of things here!  Had a big bonfire 2 weeks ago and have enough to need another already. 

I am trying to motivate myself to start barrowing the old manure across to the raised veg beds next, but I have a tennis elbow kind of thing going on and the barrow is old and wobbles due to fixings rusting away to leave holes instead of secure connections to the wheel arch.

[Rupert the bear]

Giving the horse trailer a check over prior to selling it ( no longer have horse  )  and taking pictures for the advert.
Washed it to make it rain, (sorry Aberdeenshire )

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Feeling under a lot of pressure. Trying to catch up with friends after a morning of work, ended up calling out vet to a heifer that calved this morning, she prolapsed her uterus, although not as bad as last one, she lost a lot of blood and went into shock when it was being put back in. Thankfully she is ok now though and is sitting up and drinking warm water. She has had some metacam and AB's, I think, we are going to admisnister more for her tomorrow morn. She is the last of the imported heifers to calve, she calved fine and no tares at all so no idea why this has happened.... she shed her placenta fine and we took some colostrum off her as calf wasn't suckling, that was a few hrs after.  Bull calf is suckling well off the bottle and is very strong. Managed to clean out a quarter of a building, then down the field to feed the pregnant ewes, 1/2 a dozen going to be lambing this week am sure Its all go here atm, just going to feed calves their hay and water for the second time today, then I am inside for a well earned rest!

[Lesley Silvester]

Cheese making for me today. Havarti in the press and ricotta waiting to be strained.

[ellied]

The muck heap is half the size and there is a huge heap now on the veg beds tho I've not finished levelling it yet.  Also got some onto the berry bed and around rhubarb, tops of pots etc but my back's gone so been tree climbing in the orchard with my wee pruning saw for a change.  Only able to do up to 6" branches with the 8" blade but this is year 4 of a 5 year plan and I'm a wee bit behind so am thinking it's now a 7 year plan as long as I get some of it done!  Of course now I've got lots of branches and twigs under the apple trees to be cleared and chopped or stacked for summer, have barely finished last year's off the patio a couple of weeks back.

I'm also having to cart water drums from the bathroom through the hall and kitchen and out to the 3 ponies in the front paddock as the water pipe has now gone in a second place that means the nearest outdoor supply is in the orchard..  So there has to be a bit of floor mopping twice a day and that's way more housework than I would usually contemplate!  The guilty pipe has been identified as a connection between an underground round thingy connecting 2 pipes with a twirly thing for the water key to turn on/off.  It's dug out but I haven't anything to grip well enough to take it apart and either fix or take to an agristore for a replacement.  Tried the other bit by describing and measuring all bits concerned (a reducing connection) but still got sent the wrong size part so would rather take it/them in when I get tool and hand strength enough to achieve the separations..  Another few days I think at this rate before trying that one again.

[Buttermilk]

Four rams all clagged and dagged.  The very expensive trimming stand is going to be worth its weight in some precious metal.

[devonlady]

Cuddling a grandson's 9 week old puppy (Shitzu X Pug!!) What breed was the mother? I don't know, I didn't see her, just two puppies. Did the "breeder" show you anything that suggested any health checks done? X-rays for hemivertabrae, PRA etc? No! I just saw her and was lost!! He's !7 and if that pup is 9 weeks old then I'm 19! 6 weeks at most.
Still, she's family now and we'll do our best by her.

[ellied]

Found my tangled heap of hoses yesterday that get used for the end field whenever ponies are in it without access to the back field where the closest water trough is.  Spent a fun hour untangling it and laying out mix and match pieces til I found the perfect length to go from the orchard across the back of the house to the bath in the front field that has no water. 

Tada, no more carting drums from the bath through the house and out to hold in outstretched arms over an electric fence 6x a day!  Result!  Still want to get the parts sorted to let the taps work again but meantime the ponies can drink what they want and I don't have to be in torment for it.  Still need to sort the rest and tidy the shed I dragged them all out of, spilling plant pots and dragging tools across the floor..

[Alex_]

I have been increasing the enclosure for the Muscovy ducks in preparation of getting a male for breeding.

The 2 ladies have started laying. I don't know what it is about muscovies but I swear they are the biggest A**holes of the duck world. When I go into their enclosure they bit the hems of my trousers and hang on like a angry dog. Even when  I  lift my leg in the air they are almost dangling of me