December 2016

Diary

Bugsy / New Tup / Tractor In / Bull prep

Tuesday 6 December, 2016

by Rosemary at 11:38am in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 28^th November

Bit milder today but damp and grey.

Went to let the hens out this morning and found the ponies in the poultry. Thankfully, they hadn’t damaged any trees but both Smokey and Bug had eaten a bellyful of poultry pellets. I guessed what was coming so turned the field shelter into a sick bay and stuck Bug in it with water and a bit of hay.

Bugsy's sick bay.

Cattle housing / Conference / Ace of Spades home

Monday 12 December, 2016

by Rosemary at 5:44pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 5^th December

Cold here today – frosty in the morning but eased as the day went on.

Bug is sound, which is great.

Bit worried about whether the cows have enough room. Rosie gets bullied and there was a bit of a rammy tonight. I don’t know whether to take out the bull’s pen and reconstruct it elsewhere in the barn; problem with that is that there’s no buffer – if he gets out, he’s loose. With the pen where it is, if he gets out, he’s only in a bigger pen.

Weeding / Ace / Bird flu / Xmas / Solstice

Monday 19 December, 2016

by Rosemary at 6:08pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 12^th December

Still mild and dry so got on with more weeding.

Veg garden weeds Veg garden before weeding.

There are only one and a half beds left to do (apart from the bed with the brassicas in).

Weeding in progress.

Culling hens / Cattle dosed / Farm Management Handbook

Saturday 31 December, 2016

by Rosemary at 4:17pm in Smallholding 2 comments Comments closed

Monday 19^th December

I’ve started feeding a bit of sugar beet to the four steers at Astwood; they need to get a pour-on internal / external parasite treatment applied, so I need them to stand still for a few minutes while is do it – and sugar beet is the bribe.

Steers The steers - Robbie, Fraser, Paulo, Pedro.