[waterbuffalofarmer]

Trying to chase a sheep who had a really hard birth and a dead lamb still no luck catching her... she looks ok though so will try and catch her tomoz, all being well. Had a lamb rejected today by a first time mother, lamb is 3 days old was trying to drink off another ewe, pulled it and it is on the bottle, so will be selling it tomoz to a lady ik, what an ordeal!

[Lesley Silvester]

Making the most of having our daughter and grandchildren here for the weekend. Grandson is busy preparing fleece for spinning.

[Buttermilk]

Making the most of having our daughter and grandchildren here for the weekend. Grandson is busy preparing fleece for spinning.

I love the child labour

[landroverroy]

Making the most of having our daughter and grandchildren here for the weekend. Grandson is busy preparing fleece for spinning.

I love the child labour

Me too! Have been a great fan of it ever since my 2 lads reached the age of about 6! You have to take advantage of it while you can for as soon as they get to about 17 and get mobile - they have better things to do.

[ellied]

Final practical exams for my Remedial and Sports Massage course - all day from 830 this morning..  Last day of the course tomorrow so fingers firmly crossed that I enjoy the freedom, get on with other things and don't sign up for any more exam based training EVER again, I can't take the stress levels!

Fingers crossed for you 

Thanks I passed!

[Dans]

Demonstrating peg looming at our smallholding club's wool day, then off to a fellow smallholder's place to shovel 3 ton bags of goat muck (we don't seem to generate much muck here and our soil needs improving) then dinner and a sick toddler. Quite shattered now!

Dans

[Lesley Silvester]

Making the most of having our daughter and grandchildren here for the weekend. Grandson is busy preparing fleece for spinning.

I love the child labour

Oh it cost me!

[ellied]

Well after a busy day at the gym and doing a massage, feeding, general chores and selling a couple of hens, I discovered my broodmare had waxed up at 530pm so I spent 3 hours moving ponies around, dragging and fitting/fixing/kicking/untangling hoses and walking back and forward to see whether water was running to the furthest field yet..  Got the barn ready just in case of need, more water to fill by hand with buckets, bedding etc, and settled in for an interrupted night.

At the 1130 check it was blowing a hard north wind and started to snow while I was up the field so duly dragged the mare into the barn pen and the stallion and other mare just outside.  Mare wanted to wander off back to grass, stallion frantic herding her back so in the end I put the two into a pen beside a barn and filled more water buckets for them.  Tried to sleep but was back out at 140, 330, 440, no sign of a foal tho so have it all to look forward to again tonight.  Tho I expect she'll foal in daylight up the field and I'll have to fetch in all 4 by devious means to protect the foal and not upset the others.

Got to be out a few hours today so that is my best bet for her timing it, about half an hour after the car drives off..

[SallyintNorth]

I've only experienced one mare foaling, and it turned out we thought we were doing the nighttime checks, which we were taking in turns, but the other owner was also coming up at odd times through the night.  Of course poor Bell never felt settled enough to get on with the job .  Eventually she worked out that if I'd just been in, and Dick had just been in, she could rely on a couple of hours peace.  So she foaled, we think, a few minutes after mine and Dick's bedtime checks.   

Good luck for your mare, ellied.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Well Had a ewe who had a difficult birth, first timer, and abandoned her lamb. He was struggling to breath, so had to give mouth to mouth and swing him, spent the last hr or so massaging his lungs, he drank his bottle very well. looking quite lively   Was going to put on my running shoes to catch his mom, but after digging through the freezer came across some buffalo first day colostrum, only taken a few weeks back, so defrosted that for him.  Caught his mom a bit earlier and am adopting him back onto her.....

[ellied]

She foaled at 230am the second night, by which time I was a wee bit tired, but it's a healthy filly foal so can't complain.  Mare had to be cleansed so there's a vet bill coming and I'm jagging ABs into her neck every morning which is delightful (not).  They also had to stay in another 24 hours in case of toxic shock but were turned out for 12 hours today.  They're all getting used to the new routine but the mare is too busy shadowing the foal to come to the trough so being indoors at night is her time out, will do another couple of days but that has brought back the joys of mucking out a barn pen 15' square in the morning.  Did my back no good at all.

We also had a water crisis yesterday as there was some problem with supply from mid afternoon til 8pm and the hose-fed paddock had nothing in reserve (the rest have troughs) so that was fun (not).  Water back on was discoloured which I didn't spot til after drinking coffee this morning (tho it was boiled so probably safe).  Washing fruit for breakfast however means I have swallowed whatever dirt or was in there and now I have a sore throat, which could be a bug but I am wondering if it's the water.

On a good note the chicks are growing well, the foal is a wee sweetheart and I get to stay in bed all night so can't really complain! 

[Rupert the bear]

Sweeping the chimney, with the aid of a Rottweiler "Puppy",

Let me explain, I'm a bit of a biff when it comes to the mobility stakes, and the monthly sweeping of the lumb with its various doglegs and bends requires a certain degree of agility. Rod and stiff brush brush up first and with a bit of a wiggle and and some careful maneuvering the ensemble goes skyward. So far so good, now the brush and rod emerges from the pot and with extra rods come down to earth so I can fit the softer sweeper brush for the return trip , plain sailing so far... Indoors I go to pull through the soft brush , after a couple of tugs it seems to be jammed , strange , of course you cant pull too hard in case the rods separate or damage is done to the lumb .
Oh bugger, outside I go to find said Rottweiler puppy (about 5stone ) is hanging on to the brush and is unwilling to let it go. There now ensues a tug of war where the  low centered of gravity 4 legged "puppy" is winning against the high gravitational centered biped with  wobbly legs...... 
And then the bigger dog arrived.
The job is done eventually, tomorrow I will strip the wood burner, alone.

[Rupert the bear]

bottling homemade mead, strange occupation for a non drinker

[Lesley Silvester]

Visiting a Grow Local event and seeing bees, chickens, various homebakes and how to compost/recycle type stalls as well as having a yummy lunch (houmus, salad leaves, cucumber and carrot sandwiches) and buying more plants for my already overcrowded veggie beds. A happy afternoon.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Trying to recover from agonising back pain. Got it from shearing a maggoty ewe yesterday, silly thing kept trying to escape thinking I will not be able to do much work this week