Diary

May 2016RSS feed

Done

Monday 2 May, 2016

by Rosemary Champion at 7:30pm in Smallholding Comments closed

And 2016 lambing is over. It didn’t exactly finish on a high though. Pixie had her triplets this afternoon – two ewes and a tup, all pretty tiny – but one of the ewe lambs was dead when I went out to the field. I don’t know if she was born dead or suffocated, but the caul was over her face, poor wee thing. Anyway, might be for the best because Pixie has no milk in one quarter and a smidgen in the other L The lambs seem perky enough, so I’ve given them both some colostrum and we’ll see how we go. I’ll certainly leave the lambs with the ewe but I’m pretty certain we’ll be at least topping up. She’s been a good ewe but this will be her last year.

Rosedean Ryeland Yarn

Monday 9 May, 2016

by Rosemary Champion at 5:34pm in Smallholding 3 comments Comments closed

Well, Pixie’s teenies are doing fine. They’re quite happy having a bottle and sleeping with their mum. We had a wee scare on the Tuesday or Wednesday after they were born – when we went out to do the 10pm feed, the ewe lambs was bleeding from her back end. Phoned the vet and he said it was probably a wee membrane that had ripped as she passed faeces. She has a Hibiscrub bath and was fine by the 2am feed. They’re in at night and out during the day – the weather has been pretty good; dry, sunny but windy. Good lamb growing weather J

Holiday time and beavers

Monday 16 May, 2016

by Rosemary Champion at 1:54pm in Smallholding 3 comments Comments closed

We've had two visits this week from our local Beaver group - one on Monday and one on Friday. The boys seemed to enjoy feeding the hens and picking up eggs, seeing the cattle (especially the pooping) and bottlefeeding the lambs.

Beaver feeding lambA beaver feeding a lamb.

We've got a school visit on Friday and I think we might have the Scouts visiting soon. We enjoy these visits but  we should get earplugs. Bryn was made a honorory Beaver - we have a photo of him in woggle and cap :-)

Tough decisions

Monday 23 May, 2016

by Rosemary Champion at 9:41am in Smallholding Comments closed

The weather this week has been pretty good. We’ve had some rain, which has been welcome, but the ground is dry and it disappears almost immediately. Dan’s topped the rushes in all the paddocks bar one – after that, the harrow will go back on. I need to source some grass seed to oversow the remaining bare patches.

The fruit trees are in magnificent full bloom – they are just beautiful. And the veg garden is starting to look better as the peas and brassicas are planted and the sown crops, like beetroot, start to sprout. Felling the big cedar last week has let an amazing amount of sunlight into both the veg garden, in the morning, and the back lawn, in the afternoon.

Calving approaches

Monday 30 May, 2016

by Rosemary Champion at 2:35pm in Smallholding Comments closed

It’s been another decent week, weather-wise – not hugely warm as we’ve had a northerly or easterly wind most days, but it’s been dry with a good deal on sunshine. When the wind has dropped it’s been rather nice indeed.

The grass is growing now – although not as fast as I’d like, but then that’s par for the course. However, all the stock looks well – so they must be eating something.

Tatties are through the soil; peas and beans are in; carrots, parsnips, beetroot and spring onions are sown. The veg garden is starting to look a treat. And we have some asparagus through too.

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